Angela,
In just the last 6-months, I’ve received 3 contacts concerning my book. One was a phone call from a supposed production company “interested” in setting me up to pitch my book. Couldn’t catch the name of the company, but have wrote down the telephone number, and couldn’t bring myself to call it back.
Then, I received an email from a “media company” concerning pitching my book for a “movie”.
I also received an email from a a company offering to turn my book into an audio book.
Yesterday I had a voice mail (that was difficult to understand) about an “invitation” to somewhere in California for a book fair and they left a number, but hard to hear. I think I wrote the number down correctly. I’m considering calling back, but decided to ask you first.
You are the only person I know that might know how I can find out if these calls are legit or if I should stay away from them. There are so many scams floating around about just everything.
I did read one of your articles recently about these type of scams going around. That’s what prompted me to write to you and seek advice.
Hope this finds you and your family well.
There are countless bottom feeders in the industry now. They find new books on Amazon, hunt for the author’s contact info. online, and then flood you with spam and/or telemarketing calls. Some even find your family members’ contact info. online, and call them, trying to get them to talk you into using their services!
Any firm that uses spam and telemarketing should be avoided at all costs. If they were really good at what they do, they’d have customers coming to them. The only thing these companies are good at is emptying authors’ wallets.
Incidentally, I’ve been in the industry for more than 20 years. I have never spammed anyone, nor have I ever made even one sales phone call. The reputation of my company speaks for itself.
Avoid anyone who spams you or cold-calls you. Period. If that’s the way they’re contacting you, you’re most certainly about to get scammed.
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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I self-published a novel 6 months ago and began receiving calls from self-described “promoters” offering places at multiple Book Fairs, producing trailers, harking reviews, etc. Never once was I close to being fooled by them. Angela is correct. Cold calls are a giveaway, especially when they are obviously being made from a call center, the accents are very heavy, they keep repeating the talking points that they are obviously reading from a tip sheet, etc. I can almost smell a scammer from the time the phone rings. If my novel is as good as I believe it to be, the word will spread, slowly and surely.
Regarding scammers. Indeed, I get multiple calls from those wanting to promote my books — three books of poetry which were self-published over 10 years ago. (Some have even mentioned movie rights, which left me laughing.) Nevertheless, they often call you by name, but many times don’t even mention the title of your book they seem to be interested in — a dead giveaway they are phonies. However, am wondering about pitches I’ve received to have one or more of my books included for the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany. Is this also another scam, or is it legitimate?
That is a real book fair. However, book fairs typically make more money for the organizers (and those selling shelf space at that events) than they do for authors and publishers. I’ve advised authors for years to avoid book fairs.
Angela