Types of Book Marketing Scams

Though every book marketing scam is just the Spanish Prisoner con, there are dozens of variations of it. Here are some of the most common types of scams that you’re likely to run into.

Amazon/Kindle Direct Publishing representatives
A scammer claiming to be from some division of Amazon or Kindle Direct Publishing says he can boost your sales by improving your Amazon.com page, somehow manipulating algorithms to your advantage, or running ads on Amazon for your book. The scammer’s goal is to empty your wallet and if possible to gain control of your KDP account and lock you out of it so they can reap the profits from higher sales. The Truth: Amazon and its KindleDP division don’t offer or allow such services.

Bestselling author
The scam starts by creating a fraudulent bestselling author’s profile on a social media platform. You friend them, and they DM you with some questions about your writing. You’re bedazzled that a writer of such high esteem would talk to you. After a few friendly back and forths, this “bestselling author” refers you to his marketing guy, who really is just the scammer that was pretending to be the bestselling author. The Truth: Bestselling authors never personally reach out to their followers because their social media is run by an assistant or their publisher’s marketing department.

Beta reader
This scam usually occurs on social media sites in which they respond to posts requesting beta readers or simply DM authors asking what they are working on. They offer to read a few pages or even several chapters for free. Often they don’t give a real name but something untraceable (like “juliette66”) in their profile and have no website – and if they do have one, it’s generic and produced by AI on Lovable.app. The Truth: If you go for the free sample read, your manuscript won’t be read at all but simply ran through an AI, which generates a summary. You then will be pestered to pay for them to beta read the rest of your manuscript.

BookBub
You receive an email touting how BookBub is a great place to sell your book and that they can get you on that platform. They’ll fill out the paperwork. You just need to pay a fee that covers getting the paperwork done and what BookBub charges to be on their platform. The Truth: BookBub’s online paperwork is easy enough that you can fill it out yourself. There is no guarantee that doing this will get you on BookBub, as an editorial review decides which submissions to accept. In most cases, the scammer never fills out the paperwork and keeps all the money you gave them.

Book clubs
You receive an email from a book club that apparently has hundreds, maybe even thousands of members. The email author usually is some coordinator who would like to put your book on the club’s reading schedule and asks if you’re okay with that. If you are, the email’s author suggests that you leave a “tip” for each reader to ensure they write a review of your book. A variation of this is someone claims they represent a “community” of thousands of readers who meet on Facebook or Discord, and they want to read your book or meet with you. The Truth: Book clubs don’t ask authors for permission to read their books, and they certainly don’t expect tips to read or review your book.

Book conference
Someone tells you that your book has been selected to be featured at a major book conference! You’ll need to send pics of your book’s cover and yourself and some information so they can make a banner and include you in a video that oodles of people will see. The Truth: Your publisher markets your book, not a third-party with no connection to your publisher.

Book reading/signing service
You receive an email offering to set up a book signing/reading at major bookstore chains, such as Barnes & Noble. After you pay, they never set up the book reading/signing and refuse to give you a refund for services never delivered. The Truth: Barnes & Noble almost never accepts indie authors for readings and signings. They do accept bestselling authors, however – and those are set up by your publisher, who is established in the business and not a new or a hybrid publisher.

Book trailer
Someone emails you out of the blue claiming the secret to your book’s success rests in having a great video – called a trailer – introducing readers to the title, in the same way that movie previews at theaters help turn those motion pictures into blockbusters. Often those emails use the names of real production companies, and the marketer promises to get your trailer on YouTube, TikTok and elsewhere. The Truth: Legitimate production companies won’t cold call you for business. If you do receive a trailer from the scammer, it will be AI-generated and of poor quality.

DMCA notices
Scammers pretending to be law firms will email you claiming that images on your website or blog violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and that you must pay a fee for the photo’s use, even though you paid for the right to use it by buying it from a stock photo company. The Truth: If a law firm really is representing a client who wants a fee for using his photo, you will receive a certified letter in the mail or will be served a summons to appear in court.

Ghostwriting
A scammer offers to write your next book, you just tell them your idea – and pay thousands of dollars for it. Ultimately, you won’t see the book, and if you do, it will be poorly written and done by AI. The Truth: Unless the ghostwriter personally knows you, she is not going to offer to write your next book with no idea what it’s about. Authors seek out ghostwriters to take on their book project, and usually the only authors who do so are those who aren’t writers but have an idea for a nonfiction book, such as a memoir or something to support their business.

Ingram catalog listing
To get your book carried by bookstores or libraries, your book needs to be listed on Ingram or distributed by a major publisher. Scammers will say they can get your book into the Ingram catalog that bookstores and libraries order from. To do that, they need some money for the service or a copy of your formatted book. The Truth: Besides helping you part with money, the scammer is also interested in gaining control of your book. They can get it listed on Ingram by publishing it through IngramSpark – but you’ll never see the royalties or have access to the account where your book was published. If you want to get into Ingram’s catalog, you can upload the book yourself at IngramSpark all for free.

Literary agent
This is a variation of the bestselling author con in which a scammer pretends to be a literary agent and recommends an editor whose work will ensure that your book can be sold to a publisher. That “editor” really is just the scammer pretending to be a literary agent answering from a different email address. Sometimes real agents’ names are used so that if you google their name, the scammer appears legit. The Truth: Literary agents don’t reach out to authors; authors approach literary agents for representation. 

Literary award submission
A scammer emails you and says your book has been nominated for an award! Finally, you think, the recognition I deserve. You’ve never heard of the award before, but an award is an award, right? There’s just one hitch: You need to pay money to enter your book into the award competition and hence receive the award. It covers the cost of printing and mailing the certificate and the contest judges’ time. The Truth: While there are legitimate contests that you pay to enter, you do so when entering the contest, not as an afterthought once you’ve “won.” For awards of real stature (such as the Edgars or a Hugo), editors in those genres typically nominate the book or short story for the award.

Literary service
You want to publish a book, but the process is confusing or was a disaster the last time you did so. Lucky you, someone has just sent an email offering to handle the whole process for you – editing, self-publishing tasks like formatting, cover design, and uploading it to Kindle Direct Publishing, and even marketing! The price is high, but rest assured, the emailer tells you, their work will ensure your book is a bestseller. The Truth: You’ll never see any of this work done, and if you do, it will be sloppy with much of it (such as the cover) done by AI. Real editors, book and cover designers, and marketing people may run promos for their business, but they receive more than enough work that they don’t need to cold call potential clients by phone, email or DMs.

Made-up products
Self-publishing a book is a steep learning curve, and there’s plenty of confusing information out there (Get a copyright! vs. You don’t need one!; Get your own ISBN vs. Use Kindle’s free one!; Buy a barcode vs. Take Kindle’s free one!). Scammers take advantage of this confusion by creating fake, meaningless products that sound like something you need or that will boost sales of your book. For example, they offer “book licensing,” “book returns insurance,” and an “international book seal.” The Truth: Other than an ISBN, there’s nothing you need to buy to publish your book (Though you might contract for some services, specifically manuscript editing, formatting the book so that Kindle Direct Publishing or IngramSpark can print it, and cover design).

Marketing agents
A scammer claiming to be from a marketing company tells you how your book has caught their attention and has so much potential to be a bestseller but needs some marketing to give it that boost. A variety of different marketing services could be offered depending on what iteration of the scam is being currently in use. Once you pay for those services, the scammer either disappears or provides some worthless marketing material. The Truth: Real marketing people don’t reach out to authors; authors reach out to marketing companies for help. Any marketing person who is good at the job doesn’t need to cold call.

Podcast interviews
Many authors and lovers of books host legitimate interviews of authors that then are posted on the host’s website. It’s a great way to get prestige. Then one day, out of the blue, you are asked to be on such a show! By the way, there is a fee for being interviewed. Certainly it’s worth paying for the exposure! The Truth: If a podcaster reaches out to you, it’s because you’ve done something big like hit No. 1 with your book or because you have a mega number of followers on social media. And a legitimate podcaster never charges. After all, your interview actually helps them sell their books, services, or advertising spots.

Producers and filmmakers
Scammers pretending to be Hollywood producers or other filmmakers say they’re interested in making your book into a movie or a television series, especially on Netflix. Of course, you’ll need to pay them for the adaptation and licensing rights or will need to pay for a book trailer to be made to convince the higher-ups at corporate to give the green light on your book-to-screen project. Once you pay, though, nothing ever comes of it. The Truth: If a producer truly is interested in your book, he’ll contact your literary agent and will pay for the rights to your book, not the other way around.

Representation to trade publishers
A “sales rep” from a marketing company emails you to say that your book is really good and that they can get it sold to a big time publisher. You just need to pay a fee for them to be your representative, and you should have a big book deal in a matter of weeks. The Truth: Literary agents – not sales reps or marketing people – sell your books to publishers, and they don’t charge you a fee but take a percentage of what the publishing house pays you when they purchase the rights to your book. Very rarely do literary agents ever seek an author’s book to represent; instead, authors pitch their books to a literary agent.

Reviews
Every author knows the value of reviews in making sales and boosting your book’s visibility. Scammers know this, too, so will promise to get you dozens of reviews on Amazon or Goodreads – but at a price. The Truth: If the reviews do appear once you’ve paid, they will be generic sounding (as they’re written by AI) and come from reviewers who’ve not made a verified purchase. Always remember that paid reviews violate Amazon’s policies, and your book could be taken down for having them.

SEO support
Someone pretending to be a marketing or website guru tells you that you can improve your ranking on Google or get more hits on your Amazon page if you work on your search engine optimization. They’re not wrong that optimizing your SEO is a good idea. The problem is that they want far too much money to do that. Not only that, they want your website/Kindle sign-in info so they can make those changes. The Truth: This is just a way for the scammer to steal your account. Anyone can read a couple of articles online about SEO and improve their website and book description on Amazon themselves.

TikTok video
Every author dreams of their book going viral, and what better way to do that than through a video on TikTok, the viralest of the viral? Because TikTok feels mysterious and inaccessible to many, especially those who grew up in the era before the Internet, an offer to feature your book on TikTok or to make a TikTok video about it instantly appeals to authors, many of who are willing to open their wallets. The Truth: Presuming the scammer even delivers on the services, the video will be made using AI and will offer only generic statements about your book. The scammer’s TikTok page is followed mainly by fake accounts that the scammer set up, so almost no one who sees the video actually buys books.

Website design/development
You receive an email or phone call or DM saying that a great looking website is important to your book’s success. That’s true enough. The person reaching out to you proposes building a new website for you or redesigning your current website. The cost often is high, but the promise of high book sales makes it sound all okay. The website you get (if you even get one) will be designed using AI … and if you hand over the sign-ins to your website for a redesign, you can bet the password will be changed so you’re locked out. Now the website you’re paying for is being used to sell porn or fraudulent services. The Truth: This is just another way for scammers to steal your account. Legitimate, skilled website designers receive enough work that they don’t need to cold call clients.

Writing certificate
Want to become a better writer? Learn how to edit or design book covers or build websites for authors? One day you decide to respond to an advertisement on social media (probably Facebook) to learn how to do just that. Once you complete the course, you’ll receive a certificate! The Truth: You probably won’t receive a certificate or even a course, and if you do, the course provides very little useful information while the certificate is meaningless. What counts in the writing business is real-world experience … Did you go to an actual school for this and get a job afterward to do what you studied? Did you prove yourself by writing books that sell in which you also did the formatting, cover design, and website build? Did you write four horrible novels, gradually getting better each time, so that the fifth one was publishable?

Website/social media promotion
Visibility is key to book sales, so who wouldn’t grab at the opportunity to appear on another person’s website or appreciate that someone is posting about your book on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok or Bluesky? The problem is when you need to pay for someone to post your book on their website or social media pages. The Truth: Sometimes the website posting is free, but you’ll then be spammed with emails encouraging you to buy a promotion package to ensure you get more visibility. As for the social media promotion, the marketer’s followers almost all are entirely fake accounts, so no one actually sees your book.

This list is hardly exhaustive, and it never can be. As new promotion strategies and social media arrive on the scene, scammers will come up with new cons revolving around those techniques and platforms. But the one thing their cons always will have in common is that you must pay for something you think will make your book a bestseller, and you’ll either never see those services rendered or if they are they’ll be useless.
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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.

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