Six common publishing and book marketing hustles of 2024 – and what we can do

It’s really tough for authors to sell their books at the moment. And there are people who are hoping to make money from this.

I get approached almost daily by people on Linked In or Facebook who ask to connect with me, then try to sell marketing services of dubious value. Or I get emails of offers that are not what they seem.

These aren’t necessarily scams. If I pay up, I’ll probably receive some sort of service but it might not be worth the price – perhaps because it’s not professional, or it’s unsuitable for my kind of book, or massively overpriced. Or the service might not be worth paying for at all.

Here’s a rundown.  

1 ‘I’d love to review your book!’

This is an actual message I received, and it’s typical of many:I’d love to feature your book on social media platforms with a review. Your book caught my eye, and I’m genuinely eager to promote it to our audience. We offer affordable rates for reviews.
As a passionate reader and supporter of authors, I’m committed to providing genuine feedback and promotion. If interested, I can provide more details about our process. Thank you for considering this; I’m genuinely excited about the potential collaboration..  

This reviewer wanted $35 plus the cost of buying the book to review on an Instagram post and swipe-up story (whatever that is), Goodreads, Amazon, a Facebook post and a blog post.

Some reviewers are worth paying, but they usually have hefty reputations and good audiences who look to them for unbiased critiques – examples are Foreword Reviews and Publishers Weekly. Even with these, you’re not guaranteed a favourable review, so you’re taking a chance – however, that honesty also builds their credibility with followers.

Contrast this with the reviewer who contacted me. She has no reputation, because she would have mentioned it. She doesn’t say what her audience is, in numbers or in reading tastes. She presumably reviews anything she’s commissioned to, and says it’s good, so who’s going to take any notice of her reviews?

2 ‘I want to mention your book on social media!’

This is a real waste of time. A service tells you they’ll spread the word about your book on Twitter/X and other social media. But who are their followers? Are they suitable for your book? V doubtful. Usually, they’re spamming and nobody reads their tweets/Xs.

3 ‘We’d like to republish your book!’

These people offer to republish and get you better sales. They might hope you think they are a traditional publisher. But trade publishers rarely make offers for selfpubbed books, and when they do, they work a lot harder to convince you they’re legit.

Sometimes these ‘republishers’ give themselves away with sticky English, the classic calling card of scammers in all walks of life. And they often say ‘your book’, without using its title, a sure sign they are emailing vast numbers of addresses and hoping someone nibbles.  

4 ‘We’re a famous film company and we want to make your book into a show’

I had an email apparently from an exec from Castle Rock Entertainment who thinks my book would make a terrific show, with exclamation marks. How do I know it’s a con? Because I didn’t write a book called Unborn. Another asked about making a show out of  Nail Your Novel, and I might have written back to ask what they had in mind, except that it used exactly the same wording as the inquiry about Unborn.

But beware. This email was better written than most scams. It also used the names of real companies and real people, in case you did some searching on Google. The exec who ‘signed’ the email is real, though the email address isn’t Castle Rock. This is a carefully constructed scam.

What were they after? I didn’t wait to find out, but I’m guessing they want to be paid to write something, such as a treatment or a proposal, which will then go into a slush pile, if it goes anywhere at all. Am I being cynical? I refer you to the book they were interested in, Unborn, which doesn’t exist.

5 ‘I’d like to write you a Wiki page!’

A woman messaged me on LinkedIn offering to write me a Wiki page. She didn’t mention money initially, though it was surely only a matter of time.

Here’s something you should know about Wiki pages. They are written by volunteers. You can’t buy them. If you have a Wiki page, you might not know where it came from – my husband has a Wiki page and we don’t know who wrote it. Or when it appeared. And even if a Wiki page is published, it might be taken down, even if you paid someone $$$ to write it.  

I was feeling mischievous so I led her on for a while, saying how flattered I was, how lovely it was that she wanted to write me a Wiki page and she didn’t have to ask, she should go right ahead. I did this a number of times, feigning innocence, waiting for the moment when she’d ask for money. She did.

‘Our normal price is $1299 (WHAAAT) but as we are running a May month offer, after discussion with the team and looking at all tasks, our lowest offer cost is $649’ (still WHAAAT). Our payment ratio is 50:50 (50% advance and 50% after live the Wikipedia page. We will provide a professional Wikipedia page in 12 days for sure.’

I took this to the Alliance of Independent Authors watchdog, John Doppler, who said: ‘That’s an outrageous fee, but this scam is nothing new. The writing is generally of poor quality, and the new page is often deleted within a day, if not hours. And then the perpetrator vanishes into the night with your money in hand.’

Wiki perp hassled for a reply, so I said I had a friend who’d do it for $100. I haven’t, I just wanted to see what she’d say. Her answer: ‘Give me his name, we have work for him’. (Wow, do the maths on that mark-up.) I said: ‘he won’t do it for that price for you.’

She’s gone quiet now.

6 ‘Can I talk to you about your marketing plan?’

The short answer is no, but again, sometimes I feel like baiting them.  

One of these conversations started when I was invited to join a Facebook writing group. They asked members to put up their book covers. I did. Well, why not?  

It was a trap. Next was a direct message.

I got your comment on my post, can we discuss further?

Me, already suspicious: ‘Discuss in what way?’

I see your book is on different platforms. That’s unique. Different distributors

(Ah, a faintly patronising tone that indicates she thinks I’m a newbie.) ‘I actually have eight books, on all possible platforms.’

If I may ask, how do you market your book?

I replied with two links from my website.

‘Oh good, you’re taking advice.’

Me: ‘Look again. I WROTE the advice.’ (It’s here and here.)

She went quiet.

A bit later: I noticed you have a low review and fan base.

(These are standard panic buttons that marketers try to push. Like the 1970s TV adverts that tried to make you anxious about your deodorant.)

‘I disagree about my reviews and fan base. But I do hope you enjoy my work.’

Would you like to discuss that further?

‘No.’

How will you market your next book?

Me: ‘Get my newsletter for news of my next book. Here’s where you can sign up.’

Now it gets funny. The following day I saw her on Facebook again, with a slightly different name and the same picture, asking people to post their covers. I commented: ‘Weren’t you called xxx yyy yesterday? Now you’re called yyy xxx.’

No, she said. (Note she is not surprised.)

I screenshotted a picture of the identity I believed she was using the day before. It wasn’t just the picture that was the same, it was her description and other posts. She had two identities (and possibly more), which has to be the tactic of a person who is not being straightforward. Meanwhile, other people saw my evidence of her double identity and liked it. She then put up a gif about having arguments with stupid people, and that’s how we left it.

What can we do?

This is a worrying situation. There are a lot of these hustles, a lot more than there used to be, and they’re persuasive. They know we need reviews, and we need to meet readers, and we need people to spread the word about our work, and they know we might hope someone will discover our book and make it the next big thing on TV or film.

The Wiki page offer really shocked me. By luck, I knew how Wiki pages work, but many authors don’t, even experienced ones. It’s not within the general remit of the publishing and self-publishing world.

If there’s a service you’re tempted by, it’s worth checking with online writers’ groups and professional bodies. The Alliance of Independent Authors keeps a list of self-publishing services. Also search Victoria Strauss’s Writer Beware site. 

Also, I don’t think we’re entirely powerless. We can spread the word about bad actors, especially the new, smarter evolutions. The one that was posing as Castle Rock Entertainment is obviously trying to crack the kind of author who notices details and checks things – they’re upping their game. Others will too.

Sometimes the hustlers get me just as I need a five-minute break doing something silly. If so, I might string them along and pretend I think they’re genuinely complimenting my books, as I did with Wiki girl. I get a perverse pleasure in making them admit they only connected with me because they want to sell me something, because where I come from, it’s bad manners. Or I might challenge them, like xxx yyy who started with bad manners and the next day seemed to have a new identity. While they’re wasting time on me they’re not scamming someone else and they might learn we’re not all easy marks. Maybe that’s pointless, or maybe it’s something that makes the world a slightly better place for honest, hardworking authors.

How about you? What scams have you come across recently? Any warnings to pass on?

There’s a lot more about writing in my Nail Your Novel books – find them here. If you’re curious about my own work, find novels here and my travel memoir here. And if you’re curious about what’s going on at my own writing desk, here’s my latest newsletter. You can subscribe to future updates here.