I received several emails last week from authors who were targeted by this increasingly common scam. Some claim they are publishers while others claim they are agents and/or publicists.
Here’s how it works:
Your book is already on the market.
Then, you start getting phone calls and/or emails from a so-called “publisher” (or “agent,” or “publicist”) making these types of promises:
“Our scout has a copy of your book and we think it’s could be a best-seller!”
They do NOT have a copy of your book! They’ve never seen your book. And, they don’t even care what your book is about. They only care about how much money they can convince you to spend.
“Publish your book with us instead and we’ll get it into bookstores!”
They don’t tell you it’ll only be ONLINE bookstores, which your book is already in.
“Amazon was so impressed with your book that they sent us a free copy!”
This is a total lie!
“Cancel your current contract today and we’ll give you a huge discount on republishing your book with us.”
Lots of not-very-smart authors do that, “sign” the new publisher’s contract, and only then learn it’ll be thousands of dollars to republish…but they’ve just signed over all rights to the scammer so they’re screwed.
“We can make your cover look better so you’ll sell more copies!”
Total B.S.
“We can make your interior look better so you’ll sell more copies!”
More B.S.
“We will send your book to movie producers for no extra charge.”
Biggest B.S. of all!
Here’s the low-down. These firms are the bottom feeders of the industry. They find “new listings” on Amazon, do some Googling, and start mass-spamming authors (or calling them). The only thing they do well is sending out sales pitches. What they’re offering is simply to republish your book (for thousands of dollars).
Once they have you in their clutches, and they have your credit card, and your “new” edition is on the market, you’re exactly right back where you started. Except, your pocketbook is thousands of dollars lighter.
PLEASE DON’T FALL FOR BOOK RE-PUBLISHING SCAMS! They are now more prevalent than ever and these people are CLEARLY desperate. They’ll say and do just about anything to get your credit card number.
HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING A BOOK?
a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
ASK ANGELA!
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
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Angela,
Like the police tell us, if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
These days I automatically distrust everything on the Internet/phone/email unless it is from someone already known to me. I don’t get it how people can fall for this stuff over and over and over….
Linda G