Over the years, we’ve experienced relatives of authors try to claim those authors were deceased in an attempt to get their royalties…but this week we discovered a whole new type of scam.

Two years ago, I had an unpleasant exchange with an author, via her author account, where she typed some bizarre statements, and terminated her contract. It was pretty odd but, when you’ve worked with more than 5,000 authors, you expect some oddities now and again.

This week, I received a new, rather strange communication from the author. She asked why her book no longer appeared on our website and why nobody could buy a copy from Amazon. I checked back through our communication, found the bizarre exchange, and sent her a kind note, reminding her that she terminated her contract back in 2010.

She wrote back saying she did nothing of the sort. However, that was the same time she’d been going through a divorce and she suspects her husband logged into her author account and terminated her contract, which removed her book from the market.

If she was a freelance writer, he could have very easily posted nasty letters to her clients as well. If she didn’t have a current project with a particular client, how would she ever know she’d, in fact, lost that client?

I, myself, went through nasty divorce many years ago and, I can tell ya, you never really know someone until they are in that position. If you, too, foresee a break-up in your future, you should go ahead and change all your passwords now. You should also consider putting a password on your computer so your soon-to-be-ex can’t access your publisher’s links in your browser, which may be using cookies and, thus, not require them to type in a password.

I haven’t yet heard back from the divorced author but I imagine her ex HAS!

Angela Hoy is the co-owner of WritersWeekly.com and BookLocker.com. WritersWeekly.com is the free marketing ezine for writers, which features new paying markets and freelance job listings every Wednesday. According to attorney Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print, BookLocker is: “As close to perfection as you’re going to find in the world of ebook and POD publishing. The ebook royalties are the highest I’ve ever seen, and the print royalties are better than average. BookLocker understands what new authors experience, and have put together a package that is the best in the business. You can’t go wrong here. Plus, they’re selective and won’t publish any manuscript just because it’s accompanied by a check. Also, the web site is well trafficked. If you can find a POD or epublisher with as much integrity and dedication to selling authors’ books, but with lower POD publishing fees, please let me know.”

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