My novel and I have been scammed. Not once, but twice. What the hell is going on? My husband says that everything comes in threes, so I guess I’m waiting on the third. Don’t people have anything better to do than to prey on an aspiring authoress? What is their motive? New author scams are mean, rude, and a waste of my time.

The first new author scam I received almost got me.

I missed a call one day from a name I didn’t recognize: New Reader Media. Being busy with my twins often causes me to miss calls. However, this one I think I let go to voicemail on purpose. Afterward, I listened to the message. This guy said he was calling from a magazine that wanted to feature The Manhattan Mishap. He greeted me by my name, knew my book, and was reaching out with an incredible opportunity!

How could I not be enticed? At least a little bit. I called back, but got no answer. Oh well, I thought, if they want to feature me so badly they will reach out again.

Months went by. Being a new mom, I didn’t really notice. And then, they called back. Even though I had my hands full with my babies, I answered. I put my phone on speaker so my husband could listen in. At first, it was like seeing glittering Hollywood lights. The guy I was speaking with said they wanted to promote The Manhattan Mishap and help make it a smashing success.

He said they were willing to republish it, market it, get it into bookstores, feature it in an editorial, the whole shebang. He wanted to give The Manhattan Mishap the recognition it deserved.

However, things started to smell extremely fishy. It was too good to be true. Way too good. First of all, he asked me to put up $6,000 and they would match it. Second, he was being very vague with details. And third, I asked him how he got my phone number and he was stumped.

Me: “I’m curious, how did you get my number?”
Him: “Oh, you see, my team found it and then I reached out.”
Me: “Okay… but I have my email listed on my website, not my phone number. So I’m just wondering where you found it.”
Him: “Yes, of course. We have a team that found it.”
Me: “You’ve mentioned that. But where? How? It’s not listed online.”

Needless to say, he couldn’t give me an answer. I’m still not sure where he got my phone number. Anyway, after the call — which was thirty minutes by the way — I did a little research. What I suspected was confirmed when I typed “New Reader Media” into Google. They were a new author scam! Way too many people said that they gave money to them and either never heard back or didn’t get anywhere near the results New Reader Media was promising.

The next new author scam I received, I ignored completely.

I mean, what’s the point of engaging? However, this time instead of a phone call, it was an email. Which is much more understandable. My email is easy to find on my website. But it was more of the same lies. (And I hate liars.) We want to promote your book! We want to handle the marketing! All you need to do is fill out this form and match our costs.

Ugh. It sucks. All I want is for my book to be a success. Have you been bamboozled by a new author scam?

—ᴍᴍᴍ

Update: Just as I had finished writing this post, I got the third scam. Someone named Chris Clark called me from an Ohio number and invited me to pitch to have The Manhattan Mishap made into a movie or TV series. That new author scam really stabbed me in the chest. It’s my ultimate dream to have my book adapted for Netflix or one of the big streaming sites. Sigh.