Checklist: Is it a Book Scam?

When you receive an email or DM from someone offering book marketing services, use this checklist to help you determine if it’s a scam. No single one of these dings means you’re dealing with a scammer, but the more dings there are, the more likely someone is trying to con you.

• Offer is unsolicited
• Message was sent at an odd hour of the day
• Personal (especially Gmail) rather than company-affiliated email is used
• You’re addressed with not quite the right name
• Poor English is used in the email/DM
• Email is signed with a different name than that used in the email address
• Name of the company is written in two different ways
• Name of the company is fake (google it to see if it exists)
• Email sender’s name is that of a famous author, a celebrity, is weird, too generic, or a fictional character
• Profile of bestselling author who DM’d you is only a few days old or has only a couple of hundred of followers at best
• Virtual or residential address is given in the signature block or website
• Stock or AI headshots of the marketing guru are in the email or social media profile
• Over-the-top and generic flattery about your book or writing style
• Email claims you were discovered
• Over-the-top metaphors and similes used
• Made-up industry terms are used
• Paying to have a book spotlighted or tipping so a review will be left
• Pushy sales tactics
• Non-credible testimonials (no last names on reviews, AI/stock/stolen photos of reviewer, all reviews are positive)
• False claims about books they worked on
• Requests for personal information
• Big money promises
• Odd signature sign-offs (“warm regards” or “warmly”)
• Sender’s name is odd or that of a celebrity
• Sender has no website
• Sender’s website is by Lovable.app
• Sender’s website was written by AI
• Sender’s website has blurry images
• Duplicate websites can be found with the sender’s name on it
• Sender says “Let’s move to WhatsApp”

Determining if these are dings may require a little legwork, such as googling names, websites, and testimonial names. But less than five minutes of work can save you a whole lot of heartache.
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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: