As Dennis Miller used to say, “Now I don’t want to go off on a rant here..” – but here I go. A few years ago I wrote a blog post called “Do The Write Thing“, in which I moaned about the difficulties and costs of self-publishing, and how the only people who make any money are the people providing services and advertisements, not the writers.
Well, today I’m here to moan about another problem, this one I fear helped along by AI.
Don’t get me wrong, I use AI for research, to help design book covers and ads, even to help plan our trips abroad. My AI tool has worked with me to solve some image formatting issues, write some code that could batch correct some files for me, and help straighten out a problem I was having with URLs on my web site. In fact, I’ll be asking it create an image for this blog post. It can be a very useful tool when used responsibly.
That’s the problem with technology though — I’m sure the day after caveman invented fire, another man invented the hot foot.
Unfortunately, like fire, it can be misused as well. As I found out today when I had to fend off several dozen scavengers of the publishing world. People, or maybe even just bots, smelling blood in the water and looking to feed.
What prompted this feeding frenzy? A simple Press Release announcing the release of my latest book, “Before The Wheels Came Off: A Fly on the Wall in the U.S. Senate“, now available in Kindle, paperback and audiobook on Amazon, and in PDF format on my Square Store .
Not too long ago, issuing a Press Release was a good thing. Ten years ago it got me an offer to write an article for The Wall Street Journal, for which I was paid. Three years ago a PR got me on two podcasts. Two years ago, a feature article in a local newspaper.
Sure, I got some scam emails and some people who wanted to offer me their services, but it was mostly positive.
This latest PR went out at 6am this morning. By 7am, I had received dozens of emails. By 10am, I had over 50. I got five more just while writing the first few paragraphs.
90% of them had clearly been written by AI that had scanned the PR, checked out the info on the links to my website and Amazon page, and then regurgitated out a variety of chum and the frenzy began.
There are many variations on some basic themes. Most start with how much they loved my book (obviously had not had time to read it), throws in some verbiage taken right out of the PR or the Amazon page, then goes on to tell me how they can’t wait to help make my book a number one best seller for a small, small fee.
Some claim to be with publishing houses (but have anonymous sounding gmail addresses), book clubs with over 5,000 members, SEO experts, and so on. Several of the book clubs say they specialize in topics that have nothing to do with my book, like YA or Romance.
It’s not just me, this is a documented industry trend. Writer Beware (SFWA’s watchdog) and the Alliance of Independent Authors have both published warnings about the recent spike in AI-generated “author services” phishing tied to press releases and Amazon listings.
What Can You DO?
There are some things you can look for to identify scam messages.
- Generic email address – like using gmail instead of a company domain
- Agents who don’t name the agency
- They “love” a book they just heard about and haven’t had time to read
- All of the information about your book came from known sources
- Mis-characterizing your work (one called mine “a gripping mystery”)
- Always Google the names of Book Clubs to see if they exist
And Then The Phone Rang…
You may not believe this, but while writing that paragraph I got a phone call from Fort Worth, Texas from a woman claiming to represent a publishing agency. She said one of their “book scouts” had come across “Before The Wheels Came Off”, and after reading it they want to sign me up, and can she transfer me to one of their agents?
I asked the name of the publishing house so I could research it online first, but she was not keen on that idea, I really should speak to an agent. I politely begged off, saying I didn’t believe their “scouts” had actually read the book, and if they had, they would have found my email address in it so her “agents” could email me any information.
The worst part is that I do have to at least look at every email, because hidden in all the churn there might actually be a legitimate offer. I did after all recently get a real request from a real company to send in a voice audition. I was skeptical at first, but my own AI tool was able to confirm it was a real job posting.
It is a shame, because Press Releases used to be a good move, and AI can be incredibly useful. As a geek, I hate to see a good tool used by scavengers to scam and annoy so easily.
I think what is most insulting is the claim they have read the book, even though the PR had just reached them a few minutes earlier, and everything they say they like about the book is only what is in the PR and Amazon description. One gushed about how I had “fixed Ted Kennedy’s computer” when all I had written on Senator Kennedy was about a conversation I had with him in an elevator.
I mean, do you have to lie? If you’re that desperate for money, knock over a liquor store or something, that would at least be a more honest way to get some bucks.
UPDATE: 48 hours after the PR release, I have now received over 200 emails, 5 phone calls, and 2 text messages. Not a single legitimate offer. At this point, if all the people who have said they read my book and loved it had actually bought a copy, read it, and posted a review on Amazon, I wouldn’t need a promoter.
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