I’m hearing more and more often from authors who are getting scam emails from people who claim they are promising giant royalties, offering to get the book turned into a movie or television series, get them published by a large publishing company for a giant royalty, or in some other way fulfilling their book publishing fantasy.
Unfortunately, there are hundreds more scammers out their than there are legitimate companies. And there are other companies with questionable practices. I have gotten this lit from the Writer Beware website. fhttps://writerbeware.blog/scam-archive/ and it is in no way inclusive.
Publishing/marketing/fake literary agency/impersonation scams, many of which do business under multiple names, contact writers via out-of-the-blue email and phone solicitations. Their primary targets are self-published and small press authors, especially older authors, but any writer can be a target.
If you think an offer is too good to be true, it probably is!
Here is a list of a few companies that the Writers Beware website has listed.
- @direct-acquisition.com
- @directacquisitionsteam.com
- *.directorsrepresentative@gmail.com (with * being the name of the person supposedly sending the email)
- @film-executive.com
- @filmstudiohead.com (John Holmes / Stephen Bruno / Ben Brandt / Lorenzo Cain / Bob Miller)
- *.filmtalentagent@gmail.com (with * being the name of a fake agent)
- @groupofacquisitions.com
- @hachettebookgroup.info (Michael Kaler)
- @independentauthorliaison.com
- @independentbookagents.com (see Limelight Pages and Media Agency, below, for the many “agent” names associated with this scam)
- @independentliteraryagents.com (an alternate email address used by Limelight Pages and Media Agency)
- @literaryacqusitionsguild.com
- *.literaryagent@gmail.com (with * being the name of a fake agent)
- @literaryendorsement.com (Gerald Timberlake / Nicole Sanchez)
- @literarytraditionalendoresement.com
- @literaryscoutagency.net (Simon Grant)
- @macmillanbookpublishers.co
- @netflixinternational.com
- @newyorktimesbooks.com
- @openroadacquisition.com
- @penguinacquisitionteam.com
- @prime-executive.com (Christine Vachon / Sarah Jones / Kate Anderson / Carlton Cuse)
- @primevideo-studio.com
- @producersrepresentative.com
- @talentagency-usa.com (Jim Davis / Hope Watson / Miles Taylor)
- @writersacquisitions.com