Q&A Thursday

Hello friends,

It's question time again! Want to ask your own? Paid subscribers can fill out this form. Ask away! No question is too big or two small. Now, let's get on to today's Qs.

Anon Asks: I've been receiving what I think are scam emails lately targeting my book. The email address on my website goes to my publicist, but these emails are coming directly to my personal account. They arrive at weird times, 2:45 a.m., 9:25 p.m. etc. and the writer is knowledgeable about my book. They ask if they can write a review on Good Reads about it--but they like to ask authors first, or, they invite me to speak at an international book club with a large audience and its free except for a small admin fee. Are these phishing attempts, trying to get something from me; money, click on a malware link, something. Are other authors experiencing this? And why now--my book was published in 2021?What scammers take the trouble to find my email address, scrape info about my book from the internet, and insert it in a fairly decently written email with correct punctuation and grammar? Or, maybe I'm being paranoid in this crazy world and the are totally legit. Your thoughts?

Yeah, they're scams. The best way to tell is that they ask for money. Very, very, very few legitimate publicity opportunities will come to you asking for money. A legitimate review does not cost money. (Yes, you can pay Kirkus to review your self-published book and yes it is legit, but they are not knocking on your door.) It can also cost money, sometimes, to be considered for a prize or enter a contest. I'm getting a lot of these too, for my own book and my clients', and I'm deleting them