THESE SCAMS NEED A HAM

 

And then there’s Spam, but I’ve already done plenty of blogging about that. This is something different, but equally despicable!

Being an independent author, I don’t have a publisher behind me to promote my work. But my phone rings constantly from scammers ready to pick up this slack. Every time I release a new book I’ve been told it’s so special or outstanding that it will be featured prominently at a book festival in some exotic part of the world. – Yeah sure!

One scammer offered to turn a novel of mine into a movie, -- but I was expected to pay for it! I told them they had me confused with the new billion-dollar lottery winner and hung up!

And then there was the scammer who pretended to be from Paramount Pictures who informed me that this same novel was set to become a movie and they wanted to buy all rights. A red flag shot up when he kept referring to me as Deanna. My name is Dianne.

Also, on my Facebook author page I’ve received messages from so-called other authors who claimed to love a novel of mine so much they want to help me promote it. “Oh my publicist is wonderful and she has helped me tremendously,” they say.

I tell them I’ve hired publicists in the past who made big promises, but all they did was take my money. I wasn’t interested! They insist theirs are different. And no matter how hard I try, they refuse to change the subject. I end up blocking them! – I strongly suspect they ARE the publicist trying to drum up work.

Recently, I discovered a call on my answering machine from a podcaster who wanted to promote my latest novel: A Balmy Winter on Topaz Waters. The call stank of phish, so I deleted it.

Next day, I received an email from this same podcaster praising my novel in gushing terms along with a fluffy romantic synopsis.

I emailed back inquiring if they’d actually read my novel. Despite the sound of the title, it wasn’t a dreamy romance any more than The Silence of the Lambs was about a shepherd who sang lullabies to his flock!

So, I was expected to promote it as something it isn’t. – Not happening!

This is the reason I rarely answer my phone anymore.