Category Archives: Scams and Hoaxes

Friends Don’t Let Friends Fall for Publishing Scams: Look for These Tell-Tale Signs – by Anne R. Allen…

I often see social-media posts from people who want to know how to get their books published. How NOT to get “published,” as explained by Anne R. Allen in this vital post, is where they should start.

So, if you know folks who are working on a book but are new to publishing, send them this article. Now.

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

When those “dreams come true” are publishing scams…

Because I have a lot of articles out there on publishing scams, I get frequent messages from writers who fear they’ve been ensnared by a scammer.

I hear even more often from their friends. These friends or relatives see something iffy going on, but don’t want to be the Debbie Downer who brings unnecessary negativity into a hopeful writer’s life.

The friend usually has a reason for being suspicious. Whether the “dream project” is a dodgy anthology, an overpriced no-name contest, a vanity press masquerading as a real publisher, or a junk marketing scheme, a lot of people will have a feeling the project isn’t passing the smell test.

But if they don’t know much about the publishing industry themselves, they hesitate to rain on a newbie writer’s publishing-fantasy parade.

Their writer friend is happy for the first time in forever, floating…

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Filed under business of writing, Money issues for writers, Myths and Truths for writers, Scams and Hoaxes, writing novels, writing scams

A New Form of Book Piracy

A cautionary tale from Chris McMullen. My past experience with pirated books echoes his sense that for many of the sites claiming to carry unauthorized copies, tracking them down is a lifelong enterprise. But this looks like something you can spot on Amazon if it happens to you. Thanks, Chris!

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Image licensed from Shutterstock.

BEWARE OF BOOK PIRATES

Earlier this year, after publishing a new book, I visited Amazon to check it out. When I finished inspecting the Amazon detail page for my new book, I clicked the link by my author photo to visit my Author Central page. And, boy, was I surprised by what I found.

(A little background: Author Central now shows only my Kindle eBooks by default. Customers have to click the Paperback tab to find my paperback books.)

I noticed one of my better selling books near the top of the list. What stood out is that book is only available in paperback. (For good reason. With thousands of math problems, this particular workbook would not be ideal for Kindle.) Yet, there it was on the list of my Kindle eBooks.

At first thought, I had hoped that Amazon was finally starting to show all…

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Filed under Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, business of writing, Copyright for writers, indie publishing, Scams and Hoaxes, Self-publishing, writing novels

Mysterious Phishing Scam for Authors!

Big dialogue bubble in a blue sky with a red question mark inside.

Via today’s New York Times, there’s an extremely strange phishing epidemic that affects both established, big-name authors and newbies alike—basically anybody involved in a querying and/or publication cycle. Someone is impersonating editors and agents, requesting drafts of manuscripts in progress toward publication, then “disappearing” the manuscripts. No one thus far has an adequate theory as to what happens to the drafts that have been stolen. They’re not being published online; there’ve been no ransom demands, no threatening follow-ups. The perpetrator seems to be someone with extensive expertise and contacts in publishing.

Since I’m not querying at the moment, I’m out of the loop that might be affected by this weird business, but it looks as if those of you who are should be extra vigilant. Confirm with your agents and editors that the requests for your latest draft are legitimate. Inspect email addresses carefully. A tactic appears to be substituting “rn” for “m” in some names.

The article will fill you in with more detail. Let us know if you’ve experienced a version of this.

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Filed under business of writing, Publishing, Scams and Hoaxes