How to identify a publishing scam

Introduction – What Every Author Should Know

For as long as people have dreamed of publishing a book, there have been people looking to take advantage of that dream. Publishing scams are not new and long before AI and online platforms existed, authors have been targeted by these predators that promise their success in exchange for money. At Green Hill we get at lest one phone call weekly from an auth or who has been scammed. These people are out-of-pocket, stressed and desperate for help. Some of them talked to us early in their search for a supplier but were unfortunately wooed by impossibly cheap deals and impossible to keep promises – tricked by a commission hungry hard selling and unscrupulous salesperson. Today though, it can be harder to identify what is real and what is not. These scammers have polished websites, emails that sound authentic, a large social media following. But under all of this their goals are always the same: to persuade authors to hand over cash in exchange for services that either do not exist, or fail to live up to what they promise. For authors trying to research and find a publishing pathway that suits them, it can be very hard to know how to identify potential scams.

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What are some Common Signs of a Publishing Scam?

While there will always be a new tactic, there are some very common warning signs that every author should look out for when exploring publishing.

1. No physical address and/or few staff

Many scammers don’t have an physical office or staff.

If they provide an address, make sure its not just a post office box. One UK company operates out of the prestigious London suburb of Kensington. When I attended the London Book Fair in 2019, I stayed in Kensington and thought I’d investigate. The “office” was down a side lane, and a further side lane where the bins were kept, up an external staircase into a landing where there were 20 post boxes at the entrance to a grubby paint chipped corridor. There were tiny 1920s offices behind doors that seemed to have had twenty coats of paint. I knocked on the door (painted black and yellow and decorated with peeling rock band promotional stickers) but no-one answered.

There are a lot of Australian based companies that operate out of “holes-in-the -wall” too. While everyone has to start somewhere – while we’ve now got professional well equipped offices (Green Hill did start in my house) it is a factor to consider. Ask for their address and look on Google to see the street frontage of the building.

More importantly, if the company has no staff you can be certain that quality and timeliness will be negative factors in producing your book. No staff means outsourcing things like book design. If book design is outsourced it usually means you will not be able to discuss design direct with the designer. It is a flawed process of ‘Chinese-whispers’ where you explain the book concept to one person, who has to relate that to another.

The cheapest way to outsource book design is in Asia or South America. The outsourcing issue becomes magnified if the book designer is in Bangladesh or Mexico with all the unavoidable language and cultural issues. One Canadian company outsourced design of a childrens book to India. The book about the adventures of an Aussie dog, featured an Indian looking rural house complete with an Indian mother in traditional dress, the Australian snake rendered as Asian cobra.

The bottom line is if a company is small with perhaps 1-3 staff, there won’t likely be sufficient specialised expertise. If its a one person company run by an editor, will they have the expertise for cover design. If a graphic designer is the principle, do they understand book distribution? Probably not. See how Green Hill is set up
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2. Unsolicited Contact

Always be cautious if someone (whether it be a “literary agent”, “editor”, or “publisher”) reaches out to you and offers you publishing services. This often happens even when a manuscript has not even been submitted.

Unfortunately at Green Hill, we’ve had to become adept at smashing the illusions of Australia authors who have been offered scriptwriting services of “leading Hollywood scriptwriters” who will present their script to “leading Hollywood film producers”.

Authors can be flattered when out-of-the blue they get an email from the USA. These scammers are extremely skilled at harvesting emails from the internet and then pitching to authors. Often these offers are from well disguised Nigerian crooks, but they can come form scammers based in Sydney or New York.

Emails that begin with phrases such as “We discovered your book online and believe it has bestseller potential” are very common among these scams and are used to prompt contact.

It is rare that any legitimate publisher would approach an author this way unless they have had a conversation with them prior.

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3. High-Pressure Sales Tactics

Publishing scammers often try to have authors make quick decisions in offer to get the scam underway. It is common to hear things such as “We have limited spots”, “This is only available to be redeemed today”, or “Your manuscript is important and needs to be published immediately.”  An all time classic is the “let me ask my manager” line that goes as follows:

“Let me see if I can arrange a discount for you, give me a minute to discuss with my manager. Hang on for just 60 seconds please, I’ll see what we can do.”

” Great news, I’ve arranged for you a $2,150 discount, but you’ll need to accept now. We won’t be able to hold that.”

Publishing is never a process that should be rushed. Reputable companies allow authors time to go through contracts, ask questions and receive advice on the best way forward.

Once you’ve enquired with a scam company, expect to get dozens of phone calls and emails over many months or even years. And expect for the discount to evaporate with unknown additional costs during the process of producing your book.

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4. Missing services

Some scam companies request large payments but provide little to no detail about the actual services they are offering. These services can be absent form a proposal, contract or invoice.

The contract you sign is important. Look for signs of ambiguity and even spelling mistakes. Most of the scam company contracts are legally sloppy copies from internet sites, most definitely not crafted by a lawyer. Some scammers don’t have contracts because this can slow things down when they are in for the quick kill. A contract should detail not only what you get, but how you pay for it and how the publishing company operates – often described as Terms of Service. 

Warning signs can include: no clear explanation of editing, design or distribution, generic service descriptions with no timeline or deliverables, and contracts that focus heavily on payment instead of obligations, legalities and deliverables.

Missing services can be factors key to the failure of the book. If a company run by a graphic designer offers a book deal, they will almost certainly not be skilled in distribution – for example production of sophisticated Thema metadata to make sure the book sells through findability. This service might simply be absent in the contract and because the author isn’t aware of the importance of proper distribution, the publishing process is fatally flawed by omission.

Authors should always know what they are paying for or entering into before committing to any services. It is also extremely important to obtain advice on contracts.
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5. Useless offerings

The opposite of missing services is the provision of useless or ‘hollow’ offerings.

Often a scammer’s proposal is padded-out with useless and ineffective gimmicks. The things offered as part of scammers book publishing  packages seemingly and increasingly ridiculous.

.A common one is .free book printing – a ‘hollow’ offering. There is no such thing as free book printing – you will pay  for book printing one way or another. It’s just included to provide the illusion of a bargain. The naïve author might think “they are a publishing company and can print books for next to nothing”. This couldn’t be further from the truth because printing remains an enduring cost of the publishing process.