Your book is beautiful: being scammed by fake book publicists
- Brandi Bradley
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
I’m being love bombed. By scammers. And not the “Hello, beautiful” kind.
I’ve spent a considerable amount of time reading about, listening about, and watching testimony from people who have found themselves being catfished by people on dating apps. And now those scammers are taking on a different market – book people.
It’s a little odd to open my email in the morning to discover that overnight someone with a name I do not recognize has messaged me asking me why an amazing book such as mine is not getting enough visibility on Amazon. They mimic my press release, they try to mimic my writing style to show we are simpatico, and some just ask me questions about my process, which I responded to at first, but when I pushed them to connect with me on Instagram they deftly deflected. It’s a scam. Just like a romance scam, I’m being love bombed, then I will be bread crumbed, and then I will be isolated, and then they will ask me for money. They will never Facetime me. They will never meet me IRL. They are not real. They don’t really love me – or my book – after all.
Here is the basic structure I am seeing from the emails I am receiving:
A benign headshot of a professional-looking human
A generic name.
An overwhelmingly flattering compliment about my book. (Like damn, my husband and best friend were not this complimentary).
An introduction of the service they are offering (often either publicity, book clubs, or a review service).
A call to action. Not a price point. Just an act now.
And this is how most business solicitation emails go. They have all these elements. In fact, where they are suspicious is how non-specific it is to the book community. I’ve attended a few events. The people who work in publishing – writers, book publicists, agents, or online publicists – don’t look corporate. They look like people who spend most of their time indoors reading books. As well they should! They look nice and professional, but I cannot remember the last time I saw anyone at any writers event wearing a suit.
In the content of one of the emails sent to me, they told me that “anyone knows that in business, if you don’t make your fourth quarter, you don’t make your year.” Which was kind of interesting to me, because I rarely do well in my fourth quarter. People are not buying MY BOOK for the holidays. People who buy books for the holidays are often buying gift books – classics, anniversary editions, recipe books, gold or gilded editions, painted spines, best of the year winners, and whoever is the hot author right now. Not to say my books are not giftable – please take advantage of the 30% off in my store right now – but my books are more like sneaking away and ordering a sugar-laden latte while listening to a juicy true-crime podcast. People want a good mystery novel in February, May, August, or September, when they are fed up with doing for others. It’s an indulgence in something the reader wants to experience, not necessarily something you gift to a niece. (However, big shout out to my niece who is a huge booklover but doesn’t want my book for a Christmas gift, and the woman who purchased a copy of Pretty Girls and Mothers of the Missing Mermaid this weekend for her best friend, knowing that her best friend would let her read it, too. That’s crafty shopping and further proves my point.)
I google the names of the people who send me emails. They don’t exist. I google the names of the companies they represent. Those companies do not exist. And they don’t just email once, but two or three times – circling back and “nudging”.
I have done my due diligence. I have checked the message boards and Reddit, for other writers to remind me, “If they are reaching out to you… it’s likely a scam.”
Which sucks.
Because I think everyone has a fantasy that they can effortless attract the people who want to support their dream. I want to think when someone sends me an email telling me how much they loved my book, that they are being sincere. Except they’re not. They are running a business. It’s a shady business, a possibly illegal business, but a business none the less. There is no rescue fantasy here. (And if anyone offers you to “tip” or “purchase” reviews, that can actually get you banned from Amazon, which – regardless of how anyone feels about Amazon – is how many indies get published to begin with.)
Traditionally, people who wish to enter the publishing industry are easy targets for scams. I even remember when I was a preteen knowing a friend of mine had a poem published in an anthology and then being charged $50 for a copy of that anthology She was even invited to purchase a ticket to a dinner celebrating her contribution. Even if she only purchased the anthology for $50, and there are 150 poems in the anthology, that’s $7,500 if they got everyone who they printed to purchase, for a book that only cost them $5 each to print. And this was back in the late 80s. The whole time I kept thinking, “why would she have to buy a copy of the book featuring her poem?” and when I asked my mom, she said, “Because it’s a scam.”
The internet brought about other book publicist scams or book publishing scams for writers, inspiring messages boards specifically for discussing which scams were circulating at the time. Writers always look out for other writers.
And toiling in obscurity has it’s benefits. I’ve been a published author for three years now and it’s only been the last few months that I have been propositioned. And the only bright spot to that is, “I guess I’m famous enough to scam now.”
I don’t approve of these actions, and I don’t want to be dismissive because I am sure there is a new writer out there being targeting right now on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or their own email. But often having a book available for people to buy is not greeted with applause and congratulations. Sometimes it is met with silence and a few terse reviews. Sometimes hearing anyone say nice things about something you published is enough to make you click, reply, or even send a credit card number.
I hope that new authors are being cautious, especially because not only are these scams increasing, but they are also impersonating other authors, editors, and publishers. Reedsy just sent out a newsletter warning subscribers of people impersonating them. One of my solicitors used the name of a romance author by pulling her photo from Instagram. They also posted that photo on their scammer website, a page so sloppy that they didn’t bother to remove the Wix starter text on their About page. I contacted the author on Instagram to let them know they were being impersonated, and sent them the phoney website. They were rightfully angry. I tried to console them as much as I could with a, “Hey. At least you’re famous enough to be impersonated.” Which I don’t think helped, because she said she would be consulting with a lawyer. To which I replied, “Get it, girl!”
And perhaps the reason scammers can target authors this way is because there is a lack of transparency in the publishing industry. People on the outside have little knowledge of what it’s like to “make it” in the book world. Advice online is contradictory, bad books get huge publicity and even made into movies, and AI is trying to make writing a story as antiquated as knitting or churning butter. I have to remind myself all the time that it’s a business. It has so little to do with quality and everything to do with marketability. If you can hit the sweet spot of both quality and marketability, then that’s how you “make it”. I struggled with the title of my book Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder because I thought it would be seen as tacky in the publishing world, but I was wrong because when I am at book events, people come to my table because they see that title and they are curious to know more. Marketability always wins.
If you are an indie looking for a publicist or someone who can assist to make your book more recognizable, check out book-specific publicity companies like Books Forward or other companies who do not solicit online, but, instead, make appearances at book festivals and conventions. Also, always google and check up on things that feel “off” on Reddit or websites like https://writerbeware.blog/
And above all else, just keep writing. Yeah, you gotta keep your wits about you because this is not your 2014 social media where people were sharing information and making long-distance friends. Don’t be seduced by the stranger who messages you “Hey, beautiful” or “Hey, You have a beautiful book.”
I might not have a beautiful book, but I know I have a fun book. Treat yourself this season with a copy of Pretty Girls Get Away with Murder, where I am offering 30% off.
And if ordering online from this website feels sketchy to you (no offense taken), then please frequent one of the many local bookstores carrying copies of Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder in select locations in around Georgia and Kentucky.
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