"Hello, I am XXX from XXX publishing agency. We recently read you book and are very impressed by it. We would like to help you market it..."
Every person who writes a book and self-publishes (or vanity publishes) it wants it to be famous. You think it was great, so it must be right? Then you get a phone call from someone who is in the business and thinks it is also great. This is your dream come true!
Except, it isn't really the dream you wanted--it is actually a scam. Most people who are trying to sell their own books without the help of an established, authentic agency or publishing house, know that it is hard. We rejoice over the 5-10 books we sell each month, even though we put hundreds of hours into getting those books sold and our return for all that time is about $5.00. When someone notices our book, we want it to be true. We want to have finally made it.
Sadly, this is not the way it works. Unless you managed to sell so many books you ended up on the New York Times Bestseller List, don't expect a call from anyone who really is going to help you. To make matters worse, the more you promote your book (and yourself) online, the more you are going to make yourself a scam target.
I cannot tell you how many times these people call me--but I do know why they call me. My son happened to pick up the phone early on, and he was fooled. These people have not read my books. If you really think they have read yours, ask them specific questions about it that they could not answer based on any online summaries or question/answers you have posted. More important, find out what they are selling and how much it is going to cost you upfront.
In the real literary world, you make money. No one pays to have their book published through a real, traditional publishing company. I warn people away from vanity presses because you can find a local printer to print your book for a fee if you really want to see it in print. You can also have it printed for free on Amazon--why would you pay someone who may or may not be reputable to do it for you?
Now, there are certain things you should pay for- professional graphic designers/artists to make your cover, professional editors to make sure your book is free from errors, and finally a professional proofreader to make sure the book is properly formatted for your publishing platform. All these services you can find yourself through Upworks or Guru. Why would you pay a vanity press for these services when they are just going to go to Upworks or Guru to find someone to do it for them and take a cut of the fee they charge you while doing it?
That said, please do not pay anyone anything who calls you on the phone and tells you how great your book is. When I get these calls, I simply say- "No thank you" and hang up. I have in the past told them I wasn't interested in a scam and various other things, but I have way too many real things to do with my life to talk with someone who only wants to cheat me out of money.
The first time I had one of these people call, I knew it was a scam, but again, someone else had taken the message, so I actually looked into it. There are many ways people can scam hopeful authors (for example, sending them checks to cash and then asking them to wire some of that money to other publishers or contests--two weeks later you find out the check was fake and has bounced) but in this case it was far less involved. They would ask you for a fee (thousands of dollars) and "market" your book for you. The person on the phone (when she finally caught up with me) did smash together several jobs- publishing, marketing, literary agent-- which is always a flag, but the gist of it was I paid them to market my book (based on a website under their name that I looked up from the message that was left for me).
I have no clue if this was a take the money and run or if it would have been more involved (they actually buy some of my books with the money I send to make it look like it was working and then ask for more money to keep up sales). But I did feel the need to warn other authors to avoid this.
Whenever anyone contacts you by phone about your book, red flags should always come up. This scam would have taken in several of my family members.
Other things that should warn you: (1) phone numbers on your caller ID that are not in service when you call them back or that go to voicemail (2) people who sound as if they are from a third world country and who misuse or misspell English (3) people who say they are from XXX (major publishing company) but have a different contact information that what is found on the XXX (major publishing company) website--note sometimes these people do their research and use the names of actual people who work at the company.
If you are reading this because you have been scammed, stop right now and contact law enforcement, contact your bank, contact any credit card issuers that you used, contact the credit reporting agencies. Chances of recovering lost money are very low but you do not want to continue losing money. Don't be embarrassed- it is easy to be taken in by these liars.
