What is a House of Brands?

“The strategy behind the illusion of choice has a formal name in business: the house of brands. A parent company acquires or builds multiple brands that operate independently, each with its own identity, pricing, and marketing. The parent company stays invisible to the consumer. ” – FemFounded.org

According to Google: “Vague Corporate Identity: The site is tied to corporate structures like Techno Dimensions Limited, which operates a network of similar generic digital and publishing landing pages.”

I have discovered many “publishing” houses of brands in the past few years while hunting (and baiting) scammers. Who are the targets of these houses of brands? Aspiring authors in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other Western countries.

Angela Hoy, the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, and I have been at this for a long time. Angela much longer than I. We couldn’t help but notice the following telltale signs:

1. BritishBookPublishing.co.uk claims to be located in the UK, and they use this address: 21 Kingswood Park, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, HP13 6GR

According to Google: “21 Kingswood Park, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, HP13 6GR appears to be a private or residential address used as a business address for multiple online service entities.”

Guess which companies/websites also claim to be at that EXACT same address?

• Book Cover Designer UK / Book Cover Designers / bookcoverdesigners.co.uk
• Children’s Publisher / Children’s Book Publisher / Children’s Book Publishers / childrenspublisher.co.uk
• Ghostwriters UK / Ghost Writers UK / ghostwritersuk.co.uk
• Self Publishing Book UK / selfpublishingbook.co.uk
• The Book Printing UK / thebookprinting.co.uk
• Wiki Writers (no website listed in Google, but Google lists the address for that company)

2. This is the phone number that British Book Publishing has on their website: 44 20 3930 1313

That is the EXACT same phone number appearing on Google searches for and/or on these websites:

• Article Writing Services / articlewritingservice.co.uk
• Audiobook Production UK / audiobookproduction.co.uk
• Biography Writer UK / biographywriter.co.uk
• Book Cover Designer UK / bookcoverdesigners.co.uk
• Book Marketer UK / bookmarketer.co.uk
• Book Writing Service UK / bookwritingservice.co.uk
• British Book Publishers / britishbookpublishers.co.uk (their address is a “virtual office”)
• CV Writers UK / cvwritersuk.co.uk
• eBook Writer UK / ebookwriters.uk
• Ghost Writers UK / ghostwritersuk.co.uk
• Self Publishing Book UK / selfpublishingbook.co.uk
• Share Your Life Story UK / shareyourlifestory.co.uk
• The Ghost Writers / ghostwriters.co.uk
• UK Children’s Book Publishers / childrenspublisher.co.uk
• UK Business Plan / ukbusinessplan.co.uk

3. This ad on British Book Publishing’s Facebook page is for a book that was published by Book Publishing Canada. (Hint: According to Facebook, that company is also in Pakistan!)

4. This ad on their Facebook page is for a book that isn’t on Amazon at all (nor could we find it on Google):

There are other books they claim to have published that are also not for sale on Amazon, like Re-Organisation Revited: A Personal Account by Frank Harvey. BBP claims it’s a “top seller,” but the Amazon links that Google provides for this book are dead. Of course, you also can’t find it while searching on Amazon.

5. Grammatical Errors! Read the text on that image above. There are other errors on their website as well.

6. BBP’s Facebook Page was created on July 7, 2023. Their website wasn’t registered until 11/19/2022. As Angela always says, “Never do business with a publisher or someone claiming to offer publishing services if they haven’t been in business for at least 10 years. Most of them go belly-up.”

7. The primary country/region location of people who manage their Facebook Page includes: Pakistan (10). Imagine that? Ten Pakistani managers at your beck and call! Why would they leave this information out of their internet content? And, remember, Book Publishing Canada also has page managers in Pakistan. Are you starting to see a pattern?

8. BBP’s Domain name was registered on November 19, 2022. The true Registrant has been redacted. Why?

9. The BBC, NBC, Esquire, ABC, The New York Times, and Forbes ribbon on their website?

Meaningless! We see that “ribbon” on lots of scam websites. BBP has neither received coverage from those news outlets, nor does it have any affiliation whatsoever with those entities.

10. BBP’s website is chock full of rubbish, has poor grammar, and features cartoon character faces in place of real photos of their supposed “Top Publishers With Most Hits This Month” (which means employees, I assume?).

11. More fake and stolen book covers! BBP’s exemplars of published works are bunk.

Last Star Standing, prominently displayed as an example of BBP’s work on its website, is a stolen novel (copyright infringement and fraud), and was published by Warleigh Hall Press on May 4, 2023 – before BBP even existed. AI and the Art of Government was published by ‎ South Cliff Press. The list goes on and on!

Read enough? At least now you know more of the warning signs to look out for! If you haven’t seen it yet, this is a MUST READ: 

11 Ways to Know If a “Publisher” or Other Service Provider is an Overseas Scammer (You’ll probably only need to check #1 to prove it!)

Why intelligent, aspiring authors continue to fall prey to these types of websites is a source of deep consternation and befuddlement for me. A recent article may shed some light on this recurring phenomenon among aspiring authors: The Lucrative World of Literary Scams

Angela Hoy and Brian Whiddon at WritersWeekly were interviewed for that piece.

My take on BritishBookPublishing.co.uk?

Abort! Engaging this enemy will not end well for you.  It’s as simple as that.

Oh, and don’t miss this article!

USA Pen Press: The Ghostwriting Scam of a Thousand Websites

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JAMES M. WALSH, ESQ., is a former Navy JAGC officer and a recipient of the American Bar Association’s coveted LAMP Award for excellence in military legal assistance practice. A rolling stone, J.M. has globetrotted most of his adult life. After the military, J.M. pursued commercial real estate development, leasing, and asset management. He resides in Catania, Sicily. He spent almost twenty years in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Luzerne, Erie & Lackawanna Counties. His handiwork as an editor and author is interspersed throughout this novel. Leo A. Murray fondly refers to J.M. as his collaborative, literary ‘Coach’ or ‘Lieutenant.’ 

HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING A BOOK?

Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com,
a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.

ASK ANGELA!