Thank you for sharing all of this valuable information, Evelyn. I have yet to encounter these scams, but I can imagine how others could easily fall prey to them. And, holy guacamole! Thank you for reading and for sharing "Swanksgiving"!!! That piece holds a special place in my ❤️! 🥹 Forever grateful for your kindness. 🙏🏼
I have received several emails from these scammers. I took my book down from another website and they still have the book cover up. And I constantly keep getting emails from those scammers about my book. It’s annoying.
The book club thing is becoming so common that I had three emails like that today alone. They are generally better written than other scams but all sound kind of the same. I think they're being generated using ChatGPT or similar and usually include details about one of my books (drawn from the product description and from reviews.
The sad part is that I'd probably delete a genuine request without even reading it. Real book clubs will have to figure out how to let us know that they aren't a scam and don't charge anything.
There is usually enough online about the real book club for it to be easy to tell the difference, but it takes work.
It's also important to be aware that scammers pivot quickly. I've just gotten two emails from people professing to run companies that specialize in helping authors get movie deals. I'm sure that's prompted by the brief announcements I've made regarding my movie which have really only occurred here and on a private forum elsewhere.
wow, that is "impressive" how quickly the scammers pivoted to the movie angle, Bill!
It is indeed sad that the legitimate book clubs now face an uphill battle for their emails to even be seen amongst the many scams. I don't know how they do that, other than to make sure they don't follow the formula of the scammers' emails.
Thank you so much for sharing, Evelyn, it’s really terrible and I’m sorry to hear this is happening to you. I have a friend who is published by an independent press and was approached by the fake silent book club you mention and used the public library to demonstrate they were legit (but weren’t). I read the email from them and it was very convincing. I really hate hearing stories like this. It makes me very angry. Thanks for sharing and I hope it stops for you.
Thank you for posting this. I get these annoying emails every day, all day long. I've even heard from Aldous Huxley, who wanted to feature me in a book club that doesn't exist. I just mark these scammers as spam, block their emails, and delete them.
I recently got a "supposed" email from Substack saying that the Substack servers had been hacked and my personal email was impacted. Wondering if anyone else received that notification?
Thank you for posting about the scams. I've gotten a few emails from "A Famous Author" but the book club and marketing emails are relentless! I probably get 10 or more a day some days. It's hard to resist their flattery sometimes, but when the greeting is "Hey, Eastman" I head straight to delete! :)
These scams are horrible. I recently reached out to an author to ask if she would attend my book club’s meeting to discuss her book. I’m glad she didn’t think I was a scam.
Thank you for sharing all of this valuable information, Evelyn. I have yet to encounter these scams, but I can imagine how others could easily fall prey to them. And, holy guacamole! Thank you for reading and for sharing "Swanksgiving"!!! That piece holds a special place in my ❤️! 🥹 Forever grateful for your kindness. 🙏🏼
You have worked so hard on your writing and it shows, Katrina!
Coming from you, that means so much! 🥹😭😭😭
I have received several emails from these scammers. I took my book down from another website and they still have the book cover up. And I constantly keep getting emails from those scammers about my book. It’s annoying.
Super annoying... it's like playing whack-a-mole but there are too many moles!
The book club thing is becoming so common that I had three emails like that today alone. They are generally better written than other scams but all sound kind of the same. I think they're being generated using ChatGPT or similar and usually include details about one of my books (drawn from the product description and from reviews.
The sad part is that I'd probably delete a genuine request without even reading it. Real book clubs will have to figure out how to let us know that they aren't a scam and don't charge anything.
There is usually enough online about the real book club for it to be easy to tell the difference, but it takes work.
It's also important to be aware that scammers pivot quickly. I've just gotten two emails from people professing to run companies that specialize in helping authors get movie deals. I'm sure that's prompted by the brief announcements I've made regarding my movie which have really only occurred here and on a private forum elsewhere.
wow, that is "impressive" how quickly the scammers pivoted to the movie angle, Bill!
It is indeed sad that the legitimate book clubs now face an uphill battle for their emails to even be seen amongst the many scams. I don't know how they do that, other than to make sure they don't follow the formula of the scammers' emails.
Thank you so much for sharing, Evelyn, it’s really terrible and I’m sorry to hear this is happening to you. I have a friend who is published by an independent press and was approached by the fake silent book club you mention and used the public library to demonstrate they were legit (but weren’t). I read the email from them and it was very convincing. I really hate hearing stories like this. It makes me very angry. Thanks for sharing and I hope it stops for you.
oh no, I'm sorry for your friend!
Thank you for posting this. I get these annoying emails every day, all day long. I've even heard from Aldous Huxley, who wanted to feature me in a book club that doesn't exist. I just mark these scammers as spam, block their emails, and delete them.
Aldous Huxley!! 😂 That's amazing.
I got a good laugh out of it.
That's how you know you've made it to another league, you're being impersonated by scammers!
haha I *did* have a good laugh about it!
I recently got a "supposed" email from Substack saying that the Substack servers had been hacked and my personal email was impacted. Wondering if anyone else received that notification?
oooh that is a sneaky one!
omg I've had 2 "authors" contact me in the last few months like this! So annoying (and kinda creepy)...
sigh 🙃
Thank you for posting about the scams. I've gotten a few emails from "A Famous Author" but the book club and marketing emails are relentless! I probably get 10 or more a day some days. It's hard to resist their flattery sometimes, but when the greeting is "Hey, Eastman" I head straight to delete! :)
Smart thinking, Eastman! 😂
My favorite is when they write to me with the wrong author name and the wrong book... talk about spammy.
I get that, too! But they're always with "warm regards" 😏
These scams are horrible. I recently reached out to an author to ask if she would attend my book club’s meeting to discuss her book. I’m glad she didn’t think I was a scam.
I'm glad she didn't, either! It's getting really hard to tell what's real and what's not.
Damn! The internet is filling with more and more fake stuff. Why they gotta ruin making friends online?
right? Well, at least we already know each other!
🥰