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Aug 13, 2020 · The solicitation is the main indicator, but scam sign is all over the website: non-working social media and other links, false claims to rep trad-pubbed books, and there’s no independent evidence of the existence of any of the supposed agents.
Find out the trustworthiness value of a website (powered by MyWOT) so you can easily identify untrusted and potentially unsafe websites.
- By Anne R. Allen
- Phishing Scammers Are Stealing Manuscripts
- How to Stay Safe
- Never Pay An Agent An Upfront fee.
- Real Publishers Don’T Make Offers on Books They Haven’T Read.
- Traditional Publishers Aren’T Paid by Authors; Authors Are Paid by publishers.
- Million-Dollar Advances Mostly Go to A-List Celebrities
- Agents Rarely Solicit Unpublished Authors
- Book Review Scams Are Everywhere
- Beware Junk Marketing Packages
2020 was a terrible year in so many ways. But one group seems to have thrived: the scammer community. Publishing scammers are everywhere now. I hear about new ones every week, each more heartbreaking than the one before. And more outrageous.
Yes. This is happening. It’s a bizarre and complicated scam targeting traditionally published authors, often famous ones. But unknowns have been hit too. Authors will get an email that appears to be from their agent or editor, asking for the latest draft of the WIP. But it’s not from the agent. It’s from a scammer. The unsuspecting author doesn’t k...
Plenty of scammers show up in my own inbox. I usually know enough to send them directly to spam, but I know some writers will be caught by them. And it only takes a few successful hits to keep these crooks going. Here are some basic things you need to know to stay safe. And so does your sweet next door neighbor who’s got a half-finished memoir and ...
I thought fee-charging scam agents disappeared a decade ago, but they’re ba-a-a-ck. The old-school scammers set up “agencies” that either charged reading fees and “copying and postage” fees, or they had cozy relationships with “editing” companies and demanded the author pay a hefty fee for a bad edit. The contemporary scammers are much bolder. They...
If the only reason a company contacts you is that you put the word “writer” in your profile, then be prepared to meet a publishing scammer. I saw a sad little post on Facebook a few months ago from an author who was over the moon because a publisher had approached her saying they were interested in “her book.” She was surprised they didn’t know it ...
Yes. We live in the age of self-publishing and “hybrid publishing.” Unfortunately, a lot of iffy presses pose as “self-publishing assistants” or “hybrid publishers” when they’re just overpriced vanity publishers. There are some very good companies that offer self-publishing services. Companies like BookBaby and Lulu offer excellent formatters and d...
If anybody approaches you with promises of an advance with more than three zeros after it, do some serious investigating. Especially if you don’t have an agent. Memoirs especially don’t tend to sell in large numbers, so unless your book is a high-concept novel or a biography of a major celebrity, be very wary. Some of these scammers are promising u...
Yes, I do know of authors who have been solicited by legit agents, but they were journalists or well-known short story or essay writers who were multi-published in venues other than books. They were not newbies. Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware warned us in December about one of the current scams that snags the dewy-eyed newbies. They approach a w...
Authors are obsessed with book reviews, especially on Amazon. That’s probably why solicitations by paid book review services are the most common scams I find in my inbox. Most of the contemporary scammers have the sense not to promise Amazon reviews any more, because Amazon now has fierce penaltiesfor paid reader reviews. (Paid and exchanged review...
These have been around for at least a decade, and they’re still going strong. (Edit 2/5/21: a reader recently reported a nasty junk marketing company called Book Writing Hub. Our reader paid over $5000 for “marketing” that was not only junk, but nearly non-existent.) There was a time when Tweeting your book title might grab the attention of a possi...
Oct 15, 2024 · Several authors have received fraudulent DMCA notices from fake law firms claiming that the author’s website contains an image that is owned by the firm’s client, that the use of the image is copyright infringement, and that unless the author links to a certain website, the author will be sued.
- Reedsy
- Goodreads. Review styles: star rating, community reviews. It’s impossible not to mention Goodreads when discussing book communities: it’s the Facebook of book reviews — the ultimate social media platform for bibliophiles.
- LibraryThing. Review styles: star rating, recommendation, community reviews. This is the OG of all online book catalogues and discussion boards — take a look and you’ll see that it’s an oldie but a goodie.
- Reedsy Discovery. Review styles: star rating, recommendation, editorial reviews, community reviews (video option available) Now, if you’re searching for some hidden gems to peruse, Reedsy Discovery’s got your back.
- LoveReading. Review styles: staff and guest contributor reviews. Though it’s UK-based, this prolific site caters to audiences around the world. LoveReading is strictly a reviewing site, with a base of staff writers and carefully selected contributors, so you know the reviews are top-notch.
Jun 28, 2023 · Here are 30+ book review sites to read, write, and bookmark. 1. Independent Book Review. Does this logo look familiar? (Hint: You’re sitting on it). IBR, the website you’re on RIGHT NOW, is all about indie books.
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Nov 29, 2023 · We've found businesses manipulating review systems, misusing genuine review tools or even incentivising customers to leave good reviews in exchange for free products or vouchers. Check multiple review sites, and don't rely on star ratings alone - not even if a company has a five-star average rating.
