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I think my friend is being scammed by a ‘publisher’.
A few weeks ago I asked a question about co-writing a book with a friend of mine. This same friend called asking for my opinion yesterday; she was contacted by someone who wants to work with her. The person told my friend that they will set up her website, publish her book using their own editors/publishers, and facilitate public speaking events, ted-talks, etc. This person has only heard about the story they have not read anything that my friend has written. There is a fee of almost $1,000 due upfront or in installments. 🙂 My friend was asked to send the first 200 pages of her WIP along with $200 by Friday.
I looked up the person’s name and they have an online/social media presence, they have published books and apparently have done a lot of public speaking. I would hate to lead my friend astray if this is legit. But I really think that she’s being scammed, or if not scammed, maybe being taken advantage of. I’m still so new to all of this that I wanted to put this out to all of you and ask for your opinions and suggestions.
I do know the name of the person and their business and would be willing to share it privately; however, I don’t feel it’s appropriate or professional to share before knowing if there is a concern or not. I don’t want to be negative about someone who is legitly trying to help others and this is how they run their business. It just doesn’t sit well with my gut so I’m reaching out to all of you. Please share any advice – thank you very much! See y’all tonight 🙂
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3 Replies
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My opinion: (I am not an expert.)
There are a few facets to this that bother me.
The first red flag (for me) is that they have not read anything yet and are offering to do stuff.
The second is that they contacted her. Not the other way around.If your friend had reached out to a company that offered those services, then i ‘might’ think “maybe legit.” Lots of companies will do those things for a fee.
The other factor that bothers me is the ” send me money and $200 by Friday” bit.A legit company would say ‘let us know when you are ready and we will set up a schedule.’
they might even offer a contract of sorts that would let her know time frame for things to be done and when payments would be requested.BUT only after ‘she’ asked for it.
If it’s coming ‘at her’ instead of her ‘asking’ for it, then that strikes me as very odd and wrong.
MTCW food for thought. -
Thank you very much this was very helpful 🙂
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This very much vanity press scamy. The money flows to the author in this type of publishing not away.
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