Another author contacted me after getting spammed by a so-called “book marketing company.” They wanted to charge her $1,199 (!!!) to have her book displayed at an overseas book fair.
Unless you are a celebrity with a presentation and book signing lined up at that particular event, or an author with hundreds of people vying to hear you talk (where you will be lugging your own books to the event), paying a third party to have your book displayed at a book fair or festival is a complete waste of money for authors.
Book fairs typically only make money for the fair organizers. Think about it. Your book will be on a table surrounded by countless other books. You probably won’t sell even one copy. That is NOT a good investment! Some scam companies convince authors to pay that company to print copies of their books for the fair. Of course, those copies never materialize. It’s just another part of the scam.
On Google, I looked up the “book marketing company” that had spammed the author who contacted me. It said they are “predatory” and “a book marketing scam” that targets self-published authors (via spam) with “heavily inflated promises” (it mentions major festivals), and that they charge “exorbitant fees” for services that result in “zero measurable sales or marketing impact.”
I’m not naming them because I don’t want our readers to focus on only one company name that is ripping authors off in this fashion. There are TONS now! Avoid ANY company that is selling these ridiculous services.
To make matters worse, countless foreign scammers are pretending to be book marketing agencies, and are charging authors thousands for their books to appear at a book fair, and then, the book, of course, never ends up there. The scammers later send the victims very poorly Photoshopped pictures of their book on a table surrounded by other books. Literally ONE COPY of the author’s book. Except…their book was never really displayed on that table.
An author sent me one of those Photoshopped pictures the other day. It was an English-language book, but all of the other books around it were written in Chinese. Even the signs on the walls were in Chinese.
Our advice is, and has always been, to NEVER participate in book fairs or festivals. EVER.
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I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this because it could be seen to be undermining confidence in the whole book publishing business? I genuinely now think there are more writers than readers in the free world. Do any publishers offer traditional publishing contracts to first time authors anymore? I bet they don’t. I’m now resigned to the fact that publishing my own book is a
Vanity Publishing Project. But it’s my own choice and I’m happy to do it. If it takes off, great! If it quietly dies a death, so be it. At least I’ll know I ‘gave it a go.’
Your last line really got to me. “Never participate in book fairs or festivals – ever.” I’ve been to two book fair/festivals and after all the hassle, I sold one book (to another author) at one and two at the other. I thought it was because the first one had practically no traffic – maybe so. The second was overrun with foot traffic, but the big-name authors there got all the attention from shoppers. I lost money for all my effort. Never again. Thanks for slapping me in the head.
The only book fairs & festivals I trust are the ones locally, run by known local people.
I agree!!
Angela
Watch out for “book clubs,” too. A US club contacted me about making my book the focus of one of their get-togethers. Oh, and all I had to do was pay $100 upfront to provide refreshments. But could I first get 15 min. with the organizer to talk about specifics? Noooo… End of that story, ignored after my request. 😉
Yep! We’ve covered that scam here on WritersWeekly. The refreshments part is a new twist. Usually, they ask the author to send free copies to the “book club president” (who then sells those on places like Ebay) and to send the “book club president” a few hundred dollars so she can “tip” the book club members. Of course, that “president” is a scammer in Pakistan, Nigeria, or the Philippines, and he keeps ALL that money as well. There IS NO BOOK CLUB.
A NEW WAVE OF SCAM EMAILS IS TARGETING AUTHORS! “My book club wants to review your book!!”
Angela
I paid (not much) for a book to be reviewed on IG. The next thing I knew they were sending me invoices for some kind of exhibition in Dubai. And then I got another invoice from a company I had never heard of. (Both through Paypal). I very aggressively sent messages and threats of lawsuits to every contact I could find for either company, and haven’t been bothered since. I haven’t engaged in any “pay for exposure” requests from that time on. 2027 will be my year for marketing, and I plan to work with a reputable company! (Lots of prior vetting will take place)
I receive several such invitations, typically at 3 month intervals. I decline to take any such phone calls. Surprisingly, I have gotten a number of solicitations by various film production outfits, mostly LA-based, wanting me to pay for a professional movie producer to review the book, pay for a screen writer or to provide a promotional film trailer and screen play or simply to purchase film rights. One super aggressive individual wanted me to immediately digitally sign a binding contract. Beware! Hollywood is not known for business ethics. Seems half the world is out to scam the other half – Authors are a favorite target. BookLocker is an outstanding exception to the seemingly sordid world of publishing. Count my self lucky to have found BookLocker – None better!.
Those people aren’t really in Hollywood. They’re scammers in Pakistan, Nigeria, and the Philippines who are impersonating real production companies, real screenwriters, and real agents. That’s not how the industry works. They don’t contact authors out of the blue and they never charge authors any money. In reality, they’re all the same person with different email addresses. The article below explains exactly how it works:
AUTHOR ALMOST LOST $50K!! We Saved an Author from a FAKE “Fox” Movie Deal, Which is Connected to a Known Publishing Scammer! By Angela Hoy and James M. Walsh, Esq.
Angela
I disagree. They are not ALL rip-offs. I have been involved with the Tucson Festival of Books for a couple decades. The real coup is to be on a panel but you have to be a big deal or have a current topic to be invited. But if you are part of a group who can go together to rent a tent you can sell a lot of books. I have been in the Women Writing the West tent and sold 11 books last March. A Phoenix romance writers group buys a large 4-sided booth and they sell lots of books. There is also an indy tent where you pay a fee and get 3-4 hours sitting next to a bunch of other indy authors. They do sell a few, but it’s the organizations, like the Women Mystery writers, the Western writers or romance or science fiction that do really well.
This article refers to paying companies who claim they will display your books at a festival. It does not discuss people attending festivals and taking their OWN book there, thus ensuring your books WILL be on display. We’ve even heard from authors who hired “travel agents” they were referred to by the scammers. The authors show up at the airport and their “tickets” are not real. Those authors also paid the scam travel agents for hotel rooms. Of course, none were ever reserved.
Angela
Is there a difference between Festivals and market fairs when it comes to the author’s books? Thank you.
Nope. They are all rip-offs for authors.
Angela