Lately, I am getting swamped by email and phone with publishing scams…which is a mistake, since I am an experienced, published author. Their primary targets are self-published, inexperienced, and desperate writers, who are easy to sucker. Here are six common scams and how to avoid them.
1. If any agent asks you to pay upfront for representation or “publishing services,” it’s a SCAM. Reputable agents make their money by getting a 10-20% commission from your work (the percentage depends on whether it’s for Hollywood or print).
2. If any TV program or podcast asks you to pay to be a guest, it’s a SCAM. Reputable TV shows *never* ask for money…and don’t pay you to appear, either (with the exception of paying your travel and hotel if they need you to come to New York or L.A., for example, but it’s exceedingly rare in this age of Zoom etc).
3. If any celebrity podcast wants to pay *you* to be a guest and/or wants to access your Facebook page for a live event, it’s a SCAM.
4. Don’t submit your book to any so-called “literary awards” competition that charges an entry fee, especially any with a city title in their name like the Los Angeles Book Awards, Paris Books Awards, London Books Awards, etc., it’s a SCAM. The vast majority of reputable awards, from organizations like Mystery Writers of America, Western Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, etc. do not charge a fee. (I can think of only three exceptions — the Romance Writers of America, the Crime Writers of UK and Crime Writers of Australia all charge entry fees, and they shouldn’t).
5. Do not pay for reviews from any publication (Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Midwest Book Review), nobody in the industry takes the paid reviews seriously and using one to tout your submissions to an agent or publisher marks you as an amateur hungry for praise. It’s a SCAM and those industry trade publications should be ashamed of themselves for doing it. Kirkus and Publishers Weekly seperate their “legitimate” reviews from their “paid” reviews by putting them in different, monthly sections of their magazine. I think the Kirkus one is called “Discoveries” and the PW one is called “Booklife.” As an incentive to pay for Booklife reviews, PW occasionally selects one to feature among their legitimate reviews.
6. If you get a call or email out of the blue from a studio, talent agency, or supposedly a big company like HBO or Disney, that wants to option the movie or TV rights to your book, and maybe even offers you a huge amount of money, but first wants you to pay to produce a “pitch deck” or “theatrical trailer,” it’s a SCAM.
Finally, always Google the name of the company or individual that’s hitting you up with this incredible offer… and check Writers Beware before you act on anything. If someone claims to be a big producer or director, check their credits on imdb…usually they don’t have any or they don’t even exist… or, if they do, they could be pretending to be that real individual. Contact the “famous” or “reputable” person or their agent directly, not with the contact info you’ve been given, but through contact info you’ve found on your own for their agent, office or production company, to see if the person reaching out to you is the real person or a fraud.
Seems like you are a wise, experienced person. Be wary, and don’t let anyone take advantage of you.
You forgot to mention how hilarious you are when you receive those phone calls!
Just FYI, I think RWA does charge a fee for entry to their awards. There are a few awards I’ve entered in my career that do charge small fees and are 100% legit. I think it’s probably more about vetting the organization running the show. 🙂
https://www.rwa.org/the-diamond-heart
You’re right — and I am shocked. I’ve updated my blog post.
I was contacted by an “independent literary agent” who said he’d been told that there was renewed interest in my 1982 self-hypnosis book that had gone through 10 printings before Prentice-Hall collapsed after being taken over by Gulf+Western. It’s been reprinted by me on iUniverse and still sells a bit on Amazon. I then got a Skype (!) call from a person with a strong accent, who claimed to be from “Simon and Schuster Books” and mumbled something about a $160k advance. I then heard again from the “agent” who said a major publisher was interested in my book… I told him that was not the correct name of the publisher (it’s an LLC)… he got back to me once saying it was a misstatement. I didn’t respond and have heard no more from them…. Darn, it was getting to be entertaining!
Great advice, I’m an indie but I pay a cover artist, a formatter, and an editor these are legitimate expenses. Like a lawyer, they are worth every dime you pay them. But Amazon and D2D are free worldwide book publishing entities. Don’t waste your money on scams. You are a greater writer, love your books and advice.
Great advice on calling them direct. If nothing else, agents would probably be interested in knowing someone’s using their name in a scam.