A couple of years ago, while searching the US Copyright Office’s public copyright registration database on behalf of an author wanting to know if their copyright had been registered as required by their book contract, I decided on a whim to check my own copyright registrations. I hadn’t felt any need to do so before.Read More The post If Your Publisher Promised to Register Your Copyright, Check Your Registration Now appeared first on Writer Beware.| Writer Beware
Last year, I began to receive complaints from authors with UK-based Fortis Publishing. Issues cited included poorly proofed and/or formatted books (missing images or chapters, for example); little or no marketing; delayed or missing sales reports and royalty payments; poor communication and failure to respond to emails and questions, editing fees, possible fictitious staff members,Read More The post Author Complaints, Conflicts of Interest at Fortis Publishing appeared first on Writer Beware.| Writer Beware
Almost exactly a year ago, a group of authors filed suit against AI company Anthropic over its creation of an enormous library of digitized books to train its Claude LLMs. In addition to purchasing and scanning physical books (a la Google for its Google Books project), Anthropic also downloaded thousands of books that had beenRead More The post Bartz v Anthropic: Find Out if You May Be Part of This Class Action appeared first on Writer Beware.| Writer Beware
Well, not actually a thousand. But a lot. It’s been a little while since I’ve written about ghostwriting scams (previous posts include the markers that identify ghostwriting scams and the scams’ misappropriation of the Amazon name and trademarks)…but given how prevalent they are, and their increasing aggressiveness in advertising, especially on Facebook and other socialRead More| Writer Beware
A literary agent recently reached out to me to let me know that one of their authors (a well-known literacy advocate) was being impersonated via a message falsely sent out under the author’s name. The purpose of the message: plugging a “perfect” marketing website called AllKidsBooks (I’ve redacted the author’s name and email address): FromRead More| Writer Beware
Marketing scams have always been plentiful. Over the past year or so, though, they’ve really surged. I’ve written about one type of marketing scam–the “friendly author” social media scam, in which someone impersonating a real (and often very well-known) author reaches out with a direct message, ostensibly because they’re interested in your books or yourRead More The post Return of the Nigerian Prince: A New Twist on Book Marketing Scams appeared first on Writer Beware.| Writer Beware
In a surprise move this past February, a new group called Must Read Magazines acquired five well-known genre magazines: Asimov’s Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. With the exception of Fantasy & Science Fiction, which was owned by Gordon Van Gelder, theRead More The post Contract Controversy (and Change) at Must Read Magazines appeared first on Writer B...| Writer Beware
A few months back, I began getting questions about emails like this one, from a UK-based magazine called Reader’s House: What author wouldn’t be excited by an invitation to interview in a seemingly established and reputable literary magazine (even if they’d never heard of it before)? Those who responded received a followup like this oneRead More The post When an Interview Isn’t Exactly What It Seems: NewYox Media and Its Suite of Magazines appeared first on Writer Beware.| Writer Beware
Shining a small, bright light in a wilderness of writing scams| Writer Beware
Publishing/Marketing/Fake Literary Agency Scams List READ THIS FIRST Below is Writer Beware’s most up-to-date list of names and email addresses used by the many publishing/marketing/fake literary agency scams operating mostly out of the Philippines, and to a lesser degree India and Pakistan, despite their US/Canadian/UK addresses and phone numbers. All of the listings here areRead More| Writer Beware
As if writers didn’t have enough to contend with, the past couple of years have seen a huge rise in scammers posing as literary agencies. I’m not talking here about the imposters who “borrow” the names of real agents and agencies (though they are certainly part of the same problem)–but about scammers who set upRead More| Writer Beware