Why Scammers Target Authors

That scammers would target authors surprises the heck out of most of us who write. After all, authors rarely make much money from their books, and one of the plethora of reasons many of us write is because we want to make more money! So why target someone who doesn’t have money to part with?

The fact is that authors actually make great targets for scams. There are a number of reasons for this.

Chief among them is emotional vulnerability. Authors often pour their hearts and souls into their creations. This emotional investment leaves us eager to accept validation from prominent and reputable sources, believing that our work has finally been recognized and appreciated. The scammer merely needs to appear legitimate, and he has an in on parting us from our hard-earned money.

Another major reason is the desire for visibility. The intense yearning for recognition and visibility compels many authors to pursue opportunities that enhance their exposure, including awards or participation in book clubs. We’re always looking for the marketing secret that brings our book to prominence. This quest often leads us to take significant risks in hopes of gaining the acknowledgment we seek. Given this, after scammers praise our book, they offer an opportunity to be seen by readers.

In addition, many writers, particularly those who are new to self-publishing and especially family members who’ve inherited copyrights, often suffer from a lack of industry knowledge. For example, many don’t realize that reputable publishers and filmmakers compensate authors rather than require payment from them. For others, social media that they never use, like TikTok, seem mysterious with no entry point, and they don’t understand how to get their book to go “viral” using that platform. Scammers twist around how the profession actually works to trick us.

Lastly, scammers are increasingly leveraging AI technology to create and distribute a large volume of personalized and sophisticated scams, including fraudulent emails that appear to come from reputable sources like Amazon and actual publishing companies. This tactic allows them to target authors on a massive scale – and there are millions of indie and aspiring writers – making the scammers’ deceptive efforts more effective as it becomes a number game. If they send a million emails but only get 10 authors to each spend an average of $1000, the scammer has made $10,000. Now send 7 million emails with the same results, and their theft exceeds the annual median income of an American employed full time. Spending a few days getting those 10 authors is quite lucrative.

Of course, saying that authors don’t have a lot of money is done tongue in cheek. The fact is many authors have day jobs or are collecting retirement benefits. We authors may not be wealthy from our books, but most of us have enough disposable income that scammers are betting they can convince at least a few of us to part with some cash. And it’s apparently working or scammers would have given up by now.
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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out my book about marketing scams aimed at writers: