This scam has been reported to us by several authors. It was first reported by Jennifer Westecott when she appeared on the WritersWeekly Podcast – Episode 21.

Jennifer paid $4,000 (!!!) to have her book cover appear on the big Times Square Billboard for a few seconds. The scammers sent her a photo of her cover on that “billboard.” However, it turned out to be a very poorly Photoshopped image.

Another author reported the same scam to WritersWeekly shortly thereafter.

We are not only hearing from increasing numbers of authors who are VERY happy to pay a few hundred dollars for a few seconds of (fake) fame, but I, myself, have also been targeted by scammers attempting to sell this service via email.

According to Google, a single, 15-second appearance on the Times Square Billboard costs only $40. However, the scammers are convincing authors to pay hundreds to thousands of dollars for the exact same single, 15-second appearance.

Remember, your book won’t actually be featured on the billboard unless you buy an ad from a legitimate source.

TimesSquareBillboard.com sells ad space/time for personal photos and videos (think a birthday or a marriage proposal) starting at $150. For commercial ads, the price starts at $250.

In both cases, they will show your “ad” for 15 seconds, every hour, for 24 hours. That sounds like a much better deal than the scammers are offering!

TheAdFocus.com is also a legitimate seller of ad space/time on the Times Square Billboard, but they charge more.

BEWARE of scammers pretending to be one of these companies. Some “amateur scammers” won’t even pretend to be the legitimate source for purchasing those ads. They will simply spam you with a craftily-worded sales pitch, and then take your money and run (after sending you a really crappy Photoshop image).

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