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Member only guide to the Australian book industry.
MIN READ
It’s an upsetting reality that there are those who wish to exploit the passion of authors, and capitalise on the excitement that comes with being offered a chance to get published. The ASA has been hearing from members about a marked uptick in cold emails claiming to be from publishing houses, book marketing and publicity services, or film production companies, offering to publish, promote, or produce an adaptation of their book for a fee.
With the increased availability of AI tools, email scams are becoming more personalised, realistic, and targeted, using AI-generated copy to address you by name and provide details of your book, giving the impression they are a real person who has read your work. Gone are the days where scams were easily identifiable by spelling errors, strange formatting, and impersonal salutations. The use of AI is making scams more sophisticated, so our ways of identifying them need to evolve too.
As a general rule, a cold approach from a company offering services to publish or promote your work should be interrogated carefully, especially if they are requesting payment from you. If you are ever unsure about the validity of an email, there are some common warning signs to look out for, which you can see in the example we have drafted below.
1. Generic email address
The lack of a professional email domain is a good first warning sign, as a regular email account like hotmail or gmail can be easily set up for free and requires no verification of authenticity. A more realistic and professional email might look like [email protected]. The email in the above example also includes a number (opalbooks1@hotmail.com), which is not standard for professional business emails.
2. Cold email approach
The email indicates that your work has passed their ‘initial evaluation phase’, but an important question to ask yourself is how they found out about your work. Have you ever contacted Opal Books or visited their website? Have you submitted your work? Has your work garnered any kind of attention or sales levels that might legitimately warrant an approach?
3. Vague language
Publishing industry jargon is included to sound reputable, but there is no transparency regarding the business’ services, and claims of access to exclusive networks are not backed up with credible evidence of success or links to further information. Random words are incorrectly capitalised in an attempt to sound more official, like ‘Film and TV Networks’.
4. Extravagant claims
Promises of results and reviews that no service can guarantee, and offers of unusually high advances, or exuberant amounts of money play on the hopes of both aspiring and established authors. Remember, if it seems too good to be true – it probably is. Scams involving promises of film/TV adaptations may also name drop or impersonate a famous actor or director to appear more legitimate.
5. Request for payment
If this is a traditional publisher and you are being paid an advance, you would not expect to pay any fee for the publication of your work. If someone is asking you for any form of upfront payment, always proceed with the utmost caution.
6. Template nature of the email
These types of scam emails use similar template formats, often starting with high praise for the potential of the work, before leading into a generic list of services offered, and a request for payment.
This example has a similar template to the other example, including vague descriptions of services, a lack of clarity about how they’ve come across your work, requests for an upfront payment fee, no credible evidence of success, and no website link. At first glance, the domain name seems as if it could be legitimate, however it has slight differences to the official domain actually used by the company being impersonated – which you can check by conducting a search on the company.
While these examples cover common red flags, as these scams become more sophisticated you will need to remain vigilant.
If you are ever unsure, do your due diligence. Research the company or the person contacting you online. Chances are, if they have tried to exploit other authors, you will come across warnings from the community. Before engaging any providers or making payment, seek expert advice. The ASA offers free advice to members through our Member Advice Service, or, for a contract review of an agreement, you can access legal advice through Authors Legal.
You can find further resources and information on assessing service providers and the red flags to watch out for in our Frequently Asked Questions. The Alliance of Independent Authors’ Watchdog Desk and Writer’s Beware also offer resources that can help you identify reputable providers.
