I hate to tell you this, but that email you got with intimidate details about your book, offering you special placement in ___, is probably a scam. It probably wasn’t even written by a human. Spam/Scam emails are nothing new, but AI has meant higher quality emails targeting authors.
If you’re not sure if that email is real, ask yourself: How did they find you and/or your book? If they didn’t mention specifically how they discovered your book, then proceed with caution.
If you’re still unsure, check out these red flags to protect yourself and your marketing dollars.
They’re Trying Too Hard to Sell You
Why are they giving you so many details about your own book in their email? Why are they heaping so much praise on you right off the bat? Answer: A bot probably wrote the pitch.
With all this new AI technology, scammers are just scouring the internet for new indie releases and having bots write up summaries and pitches for whatever service they’re trying to sell.
The honest truth is, real book marketers and publicists don’t have time to do their own outreach to authors. We’re too busy doing outreach on behalf of our authors.
In fact, independent book marketers and publicists can be hard to find and are usually so inundated with requests from authors that unless you reach out to them, you are not on their radar.
When you are talking to someone—an actual person on a call—about book promotion, make sure they’re not just singing your praises or trying desperately to sell you on their work or service. You want someone who is honest and knows what they’re doing over someone who is just screaming empty promises into your inbox.
A real expert will tell you what you shouldn’t spend your money on as well as what you should.
They Ask for Money Right Away
Speaking of money, including prices in an initial pitch email is a big no-no.
In my experience, most publishing freelancers will request a call with the author before sending any prices for a number of reasons:
- They want to make sure the author and the book are a good fit for them and vice versa before committing
- They want to set expectations for what is and isn’t achievable
- They want to learn more about your goals and come up with customized recommendations
- They may be willing to adjust their prices or offer additional discounts for one reason or another
There is no one-size-fits-all approach for marketing your book, so getting a custom proposal is going to be the standard operation. If someone is trying to bypass getting to you know you and your project before collecting your money, something isn’t right.
They Promise Quantity
Whenever an author tells me that someone has promised them a certain number of book sales or reviews, I cringe. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, I can do to make someone buy or review your book.
Outside of extremely illegal and immoral methods (think blackmail and threats of physical violence), the only things anyone can do to encourage sales and reviews include:
- Making your book more discoverable
- Increasing your reach
- Adding credibility to your brand
- Raising awareness for your book and brand
Sometimes, a less experienced professional will promise that they will pitch your book until you have a certain number of events, sales, or reviews. That means they are on the hook until they reach that magic number they promised. What happens when they run out of contacts? What happens if that number is unreasonable or something in the world (ahem, COVID) changes and the media landscape shifts? A lot of apologizing and refunding on that professional’s part is what happens.
What many professionals will do instead is promise a certain amount of outreach and follow-up or maybe be on retainer for a certain amount of time. We can promise time and effort, but we can never guarantee results.
They Promise Quality
On that same note, unless your marketing professional is best friends with the editor, they cannot guarantee you placement in the New York Times, or any other major publication.
They also cannot guarantee you the quality of reviews or the ratings your book will receive. At some point, the quality of your work really will speak for itself. Reviewers are brutally honest. If your book is getting 3 out of 5 stars consistently, then it’s probably a 3-star book—and that’s ok! It means you have things to work on as a writer and your next book will be better.
Your marketing team may be able to adjust their targeting efforts to make sure they’re reaching the right demographic for your book, but ultimately, your team isn’t writing those reviews.
If someone promises you a certain amount of 5-star reviews, they’re probably having bots write those reviews, and Amazon and Goodreads will find out and they will wreak havoc on your book’s page. It’s not worth it, trust me.
And press coverage is considered earned coverage. If someone tries to sell you a NYT review, they’re probably passing off an ad placement as a review on the sly. Sneaky, and dishonest.
They Don’t Feature Real People
Who is writing you? Is this a real person, or is it AI? Take a look at their website URL. Most website URLs end in “.com”, “.co”, or “.org”. If the website URL ends in “.ai” and it isn’t specifically promoting a new AI tech advancement, then it’s fishy.
Check the website of anyone that pitches you and see if they have an about page for their team. There should be at least one bio and photo on the website that proves there is a real person doing real work.
Also check to make sure the names in the bios on the website match the names of the people emailing you. It’s a little weird if Stacy isn’t listed on the website but has followed-up about her proposal 6 times in as many days, no?
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It’s disheartening to see so many dishonest people out there, but I promise, there are real people too. Trust your gut and do your research before giving anyone your hard-earned money. Stay safe out there, authors!