I often receive emails from our authors who are approached by scammers after their books have been published. Almost all of them are outright scammers, as you can see at THIS LINK.
However, every once in awhile, they stoop to a new low. Before I share the email I received, you need to understand that companies that are “Accredited” by the Better Business Bureau PAID for that “accreditation.” It means NOTHING to be accredited by the BBB other than the fact that the company in question paid for that word to be posted on their page on the bbb.org website. A company can have an F Rating on bbb.org, and still be “accredited.”
As I have shared for years, we refuse to participate in that nonsense. We have an A+ rating on bbb.org and AMAZING reviews have been posted there from our authors!
Here is the email I received:
There is a writer on Facebook who wants to help publish my book. I told him I was satisfied with your company. He called back and advised me that the BBB no longer accredited you. He called me back, and I told him there were no issues with BBB and your company, and that you have an A+ rating. He said, and I quote, “You know she is lying.” I responded, “Making that statement says a lot about you.”
If you are being contacted by these scammers after your book is published, know that zero percent of them can help you. They are wanting you to pay them thousands to do what’s already been done – getting your book published.
The ones offering marketing services are even worse! If they have to resort to spam and telemarketing to market their own marketing services, that means they are TERRIBLE!
Finally, if you are contacted by a spammer or telemarketer in the manner our author was above, where the scammer spews lies that are easily proven wrong, let your publisher know about it! I’m sure their attorneys will be very eager to contact the scammer, as ours were.
The only way to stop these scammers is to hit them in the pocketbook by:
1. NOT sending them any money at all
2. Making them incur legal fees when they commit libel, slander, or defamation
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