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Q –

Dear Angela,

I published two books in 2025, and one of them was a fantasy story book that received a great deal of attention because it could be easily adapted to movie/film/TV if someone could write a good script or someone could promote it well.

So, I have received so many scam messages from people calling me, texting me, and e-mailing me that I was totally overwhelmed. I never expected this!

Some of the scams were very obvious. But now companies contact me about selling my book to bookstores (overseas and in the U.S.) by republishing (new ISBN, and one of these companies wants to change the price also), and I am confused as to whether these are scam companies or real distributors.

Of course, the two listed here asked for money to redo the book. Enclosed is what they have sent to me. Are these scams or perhaps real chances of selling indie books in bookstores? Any chance you can take a moment to look at this? Would really appreciate it.

I would love to sell to independent bookstores!

Thank You

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A –

I looked at your attachments. They are scammers. There is no need to have your book republished. Any bookstore can buy copies of your books right now.

Here’s how the scam works:

1. They charge you to republish your book.

2. They don’t actually publish the book. They just make you think they did.

3. They they say you need to pay thousands of dollars to print copies for bookstores, promising that you’ll get paid back by the bookstores later. That’s not how the industry works. Bookstores order and pay for books. Authors don’t pay for those copies. So many authors have lost thousands of dollars to this type of scam.

4. They never print the books and, of course, no bookstores get copies. They take your money and run.

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