Shining a bright light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls. Also providing advice for writers, industry news, and commentary. Writer Beware® is sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.

January 4, 2019

The Best of Writer Beware: 2018 in Review



Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Happy New Year! It's time for Writer Beware's annual (well, sort of annual; I missed the last couple of years) look back at the most notable posts of 2018.

New Scams, Old Tricks

Publishing and marketing scams operating out of the Philippines first started appearing in 2014. These scams, which copy the Author Solutions business model (including expensive publishing packages and an emphasis on hugely overpriced junk marketing), in many cases have been founded and are staffed by former Author Solutions call center employees. They take the relentless cold-call solicitation and poor customer service for which AS is notorious to new levels, employing blatant falsehoods to trick authors into their clutches, and often not providing the product for which authors have paid.

This is the most pernicious new scam to come along in some time, and it has been proliferating like mad these past couple of years. I've identified over 30 companies at this point (for a full list, see the sidebar). Fortunately, since they all follow pretty much the same template, they are relatively easy to recognize, with a distinctive complex of characteristics including egregious and sometimes hilarious English-language errors on their websites and in their email pitches.

Army of Clones: Author Solutions Spawns a Legion of Copycats Twelve publishing and marketing scams to watch out for (some of them run by the same people)--and how to identify new ones

Army of Clones, Part 2: Twenty-One (More) Publishing and Marketing "Services" to Beware Of As the title says, twenty-one more publishing and marketing scams--more than half of them established in 2018

Amelia Publishing and Amelia Book Company: Sons of LitFire Publishing One of the original clones attempts to create new revenue streams by setting up two apparently unconnected companies

Solicitation Alert: Book-Art Press Solutions and Window Press Club Two apparently unrelated clones turn out to be--surprise!--the same outfit

Information You Can Use

Does the Bankruptcy Clause in Your Publishing Contract Really Protect You? What happens when a publisher goes bankrupt? Can you rely on the protection of the bankruptcy clause in your publishing contract? (Short answer: no.)

Alert: Copyright Infringement By the Internet Archive (and What You Can Do About It) In January, SFWA issued an alert about massive copyright infringement by the Internet Archive, which has been carrying out a program of scanning entire books and posting them online for borrowing. Unlike a regular library, which only uses licensed, paid-for copies, these scans have been made without authors' permission.

How the Internet Archive Infringed My Copyrights and Then (Kind Of) Blew Me Off The Internet Archive's less than professional response to my efforts to get my own books removed from its unauthorized scanning program.

Troubled Publishers

Author Complaints Mount at Curiosity Quills Press I published this post in April, but the story is still unfolding, with the most recent reports indicating that emails have started bouncing. I think it's just a matter of time.

Small Press Storm Warnings: Fiery Seas Publishing Fiery Seas' closure was announced to authors via email in December, but there has been no official announcement that I'm aware of, and as of this writing the company's website is still live.

Publisher Enigmas

Would you be excited to hear about a publisher that proposed to pay you a salary for writing books, plus royalties and benefits? That's the premise of De Montfort Literature, the latest of many, many tech-oriented ventures that have sought (usually without success) to revolutionize publishing (yes, there's an algorithm). De Montfort is still auditioning authors (a process that has been curiously slow), so as yet there's no proof of concept. Plus, digging deeper into the background of De Montfort's founder turns up some very odd information.

De Montfort Literature: Career Jumpstart or Literary Sweatshop?

Trademark WTF

Can an author trademark a common word--for instance, "cocky"--and then deny all other authors its use in book or series titles? You wouldn't think so, but that's what author Faleena Hopkins tried to do in 2018--including threatening legal action against authors with existing titles that included the word. Fortunately, this story has a happy ending.

Trademark Shenanigans: Weighing in on #Cockygate

Questionable Contests

There are a lot of these, but here are three notable ones that caught my eye in 2018:

Contest Caution: The Short Story Project's My Best Story Competition Rights grabs and other alarming language in the guidelines.

Contest Beware: Fiction War Magazine Not only questionable rights language, but failure to pay prize winnings.

Contest Caution: Waldorf Publishing's Manuscript Contest Lots of reasons to be cautious of this one--including the fact that the publisher is a fee-charger (though it doesn't disclose this fact to potential contestants)

Bonus Weirdness

I'm including this one (about a publishing scammer also convicted of credit card fraud) because it's weird, but also because it's the single post about which I got the most harassment this year. People involved with the scammer have left comments, bombarded me with emails, threatened me with legal action, posted fake reviews on Writer Beware's Facebook page, and trolled me in public forums. Fortunately, after 20 years with Writer Beware, I have a pretty thick skin.

Scam Down Under: Love of Books Brisbane / Julie "Jules" McGregor

4 comments :

Marilynn Byerly said...

Thank you for what you do.

Unknown said...

Thank you. I had just gotten off the phone with an executive from urlink media and print regarding promoting my book at an expo exhibit in NY. I told him that I would get back to him, went on Google and happened to see your Wtiter Beware number 1 on the page. Talk about Divine Intervention! I will continue to read your blogs.

Anonymous said...

Hello. Love what you do! I had a recent run in with a book promoter that I just found out you did a write up or blog about (I think last year, not sure). The promoter in question is Book Promotions International. I believe the CEO/FOUNDER is G.E. Johnson. Here's the issue. I've done business with her in the past, she's promoted several of my books with minimal results (nothing to run happily to the bank about) but it seemed like she was a legitimate promoter. 1 week ago she sent out a mass email to all her author friends and some of her clients on her list with myself included in that last group. The email was requesting emergency funds for herself (she claimed to be stuck at the airport and needed a small amount of $35 in order to check into her hotel for the night). It was my mistake for even reading the email and yes I know it didn't sound right. She was claiming to give that $35 back the very next day and even adding $15 to it. I'm a very busy designer and so I didn't think too much about it and sent the money because like I mentioned before I had done business before with this individual and organization and just knew she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize her own business and reputation. Boy, was I wrong! The very next day I didn't receive my money back. The following 2 days, the same result. I consulted her by email and she acted like she didn't know who I was and even calling me by another person's name. She even claimed the money was sent back on 2 gift cards in 2 separate amounts totaling more than she promised to send (all lies). After I kept refuting each of her lies, she then became upset and said the money has been sent and don't email back until I've checked my account for sure. I emailed back and demanded my money and told her it would not look great for "business" if others became aware of her apparent "scam operation". She's no longer returning my emails and it has now been 1 week since her initial email and request for money. What can I do at this point? I realize my mistake and yes it was foolish to send her the funds in the first place. At this point it's not even about the money anymore (doesn't matter if it was $5, my money is just that, my money) but I don't want her to keep scamming people and thinking it is okay. Sorry about the long comment.

Charles W. Frank said...

Tate Publishing was the scam of the century. My book finally became out of print and the President and his son went to prison.
Fraud and more fraud. And here's the rest of the story. url print and media reprinted my book and here came more promises and promises even in emails. The people that hoodwinked me ere fired and my book, though printed and available online is supposed to be at either the LA Times Book Fair in April 2020 or being promoted sometime this year in New York. It's not happening. Promises and more promises. Another scam of the century. and I'm out $1000.00 even though urlink print and media made me edit my own book when they were supposed to do it. It took me two days to edit something that had already been done in the digital copy that I sent them. Then when it was made larger the entire book needed to be reedited by me not them? Unbelievable.
It seems that there is corruption everywhere with self publishers and other book scams. See my book online;
House of Lords: This Train is Bound for Glory, Author Charles W. Frank

 
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