Today is April
1st. Many refer to it as April
Fool’s Day, the day to pull harmless pranks on the unsuspecting. Some are elaborate schemes that require time
to plan and carry out. Others are spur of the moment, with both hoping to
achieve an end result of laughter. What isn’t funny is the elaborate scheme meant
to cause harm, and in the writing world, such has been happening as far back as
last summer.
Authors are individuals who spend their days (and nights) sitting alone in front of a computer writing a story in the hopes someone will read it and enjoy it enough to brag about it to friends and family. Some may think we’re loony shutting ourselves off from society, and they may be right. But any author will tell you that days of eating potato chips for lunch and tuning out the sights and sounds around us are worth it just to hold our published book in our hands. What isn’t worth the blood, sweat, and tears we poured into a novel are the tricksters looking to steal our dreams.
Daily, authors are bombarded through email and social media accounts by people claiming to be professional book marketers wanting to help them succeed. They’re offering to put your book in front of book clubs to net you Amazon reviews… to market your book to thousands of readers via their own social media pages and groups… to turn you into the hot new break-out author earning thousands in just a short amount of time. Most will have the title to your book and offer a quick sentence stating they read the book and loved the plot and the interaction between the characters, which is nothing more than a lie. With the use of AI, it’s easy for them to locate character names and plot points to make you believe they are legit. In reality, these book clubs and social media accounts don’t exist; the sender (scammer) being from a foreign country hoping to steal your hard-earned money and then disappear faster than you can blink.
Since last year, I’ve received plenty of these emails and inquires. I’ve also been contacted by fake profiles of legitimate authors who want nothing more than to hook me up with an unscrupulous agent who is going to do the same thing; take my money and run. The best I can advise—be aware that these scams exist, and if you are contacted by someone, err on the side of caution by doing a thorough search on that person before inviting conversation with them. Keep your money (and sanity) out of the hands of the wicked.