Diversion Books authors, are you receiving royalty statements and payments on time (or not)? Please contact #WriterBeware at beware@sfwa.org (in confidence). Paying/accounting has been a problem for Diversion in the past #WritingCommunity #Publishing https://writerbeware.blog/2021/04/16/publisher-storm-warnings-diversion-books/

Scam alert from #WriterBeware: have you gotten an email from Robby Robinson or Tony Terry inviting you on a podcast & offering to pay you $2K? It's a #scam to steal your Facebook page. Info here: https://geekmamas.com/2023/08/11/robby-robinson-management-podcast-facebook-scam/

Another article from Publishers Weekly about deadbeat publisher Adelaide Books, whose owner, Stevan Nikolic, has failed to address numerous author complaints despite promises to the Authors Guild #WriterBeware has written several blog posts about the situation #WritingCommunity https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/93076-adelaide-books-continues-to-ignore-author-complaints.html

Have you gotten an email inviting you to enter the Barnes Book Awards? It's a #scam . You have to buy a review to enter at a cost of $399. Claims it was est'd in 2015 but web registration just 14 days old (to an address in the Philippines) #WriterBeware #WritingCommunity #BookReviews https://www.barnesbookreview.com/

Jason Sanford's latest Genre Grapevine looks at the myriad problems at the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction: a controversial story acquisition, contract and payment delays, attacks on editor Sheree Thomas, and emerging insider accounts of dysfunction #WriterBeware #WritingCommunity #fantasy #sciencefiction https://jasonsanford.substack.com/p/genre-grapevine-on-f-and-sf

Scam alert: The Greendot Films, a fake film scouting outfit that has appropriated the name of a real, defunct company, is aggressively soliciting self-pubbed authors with fraudulent "representation" offers. Watch for an upcoming expose on #WriterBeware #WritingCommunity #IndieAuthors

New #WriterBeware blog post: a look at two new "human certification" services for writers that are responding to concerns about artificial intelligence by offering authentication of human authorship. Writers care about this issue...but do readers? #WritingCommunity #AmWriting #ArtificialIntelligence https://writerbeware.blog/2023/08/11/dear-author-are-you-human-certifying-authenticity/

If you're wondering what yesterday's kerfluffle over Prosecraft and Shaxpir is about, here's an overview from @Gizmodo #WritingCommunity #Publishing #Copyright #WriterBeware https://gizmodo.com/prosecraft-books-shut-down-ai-algorithms-novel-fiction-1850715319

New #WriterBeware blog post: Dogging the Watchdog: In Which a Scammer Tries to Troll Me (plus a peek into the hate I get from the people and companies I warn about on Writer Beware) #WritingCommunity #PublishingScams https://writerbeware.blog/2023/08/04/dogging-the-watchdog-in-which-a-scammer-tries-to-troll-me/

ANOTHER bogus agency alert: The Literary Firm https://theliteraryfirm.com/ False claims of books repped, fake "agents" whose bios have been plagiarized from real agents, a web domain just 97 days old. Plus out-of-the-blue solicitations claiming Big 5 publisher interest, which is not how real agents work #WriterBeware #WritingCommunity #PublishingScams #Agents

If you've gotten a surprise representation offer email from Chaucer's Literary and Talent Bureau, #WriterBeware : it's a scam. False claims of books repped; 1st-name-only "agents" are stock photos, and its web domain is less than 5 months old (despite its claim to have started up 7 years ago) #WritingCommunity #amwriting #Publishing #PublishingScams https://clatb.org/

Join me tomorrow (7/26) at 1:00 pm EDT on Draft2Digital's Self Publishing Insiders show! We'll be talking all things #WriterBeware , and discussing the latest schemes and scams that prey on writers #WritingCommunity #Publishing https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-avoid-author-scams-with-victoria-strauss-tickets-681844052917

New #WriterBeware blog post: Multiple reports from writers about months-long contract, payment, and communication delays at the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction #WritingCommunity #amwriting https://writerbeware.blog/2023/07/25/contract-payment-delays-at-the-magazine-of-fantasy-and-science-fiction/

Call for contact from #WriterBeware : Authors with Audion Media (formerly Spectrum Audiobooks), have you recently experienced any delays in royalty payment/reporting? DM or email me (in confidence): beware@sfwa.org . #WritingCommunity #audiobook Thanks. Pls boost

If it wasn't for an absolutely awesome #betareader, I never would have found out that two whole sections of my story had gone missing. The reader saw mentions of a critical event and asked about it. I went back and discovered the section describing it and the aftermath were both gone. 😱

Couldn't find them on backups. Fortunately, had notes and references. Took a week to rewrite.

Don't want to point fingers at the software, since it could have been operator error. Just grateful it was discovered in time.

#writerscommunity #writerbeware #writers

How Scammers Are Using Amazon and Amazon Trademarks to Rip Writers Off - Writer Beware

“In the past year or so, I’ve noticed an upsurge in scams that employ the Amazon name, or the names of Amazon trademarks, to try and trick hopeful writers into believing they are working with a company affiliated with Amazon, or even with Amazon itself.”

https://writerbeware.blog/2023/07/07/how-scammers-are-using-amazon-and-amazon-trademarks-to-rip-writers-off/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-latest-post-from-the-writer-beware-blog_154

#writerbeware #selfpublushing #indiepublishing #writing #writingcommunity #Scam #publishing

New #WriterBeware blog post: Beware the #Amazon fakers: how scammers are using Amazon and Amazon trademarks to rip writers off #WritingCommunity #PublishingScams
https://writerbeware.blog/2023/07/07/how-scammers-are-using-amazon-and-amazon-trademarks-to-rip-writers-off/

So...after years of reporting on impersonation scams (rampant right now), the scammers have done me the ultimate honor: impersonating ME. If you get this email, it is not from moi. (I mean, would I ever call #WriterBeware "Writers Beware"?) (P.S. I'm not a literary agent.)

I Feel Bad For New Writers… Part 11 – Dean Wesley Smith

“Traditionally focused new writers have a huge belief system, and expectation that no one can talk them out of until they get into what is left of the traditional system and it chews them up and destroys their dreams and often their souls.

This belief, this expectation, the myth, is that once they sell to a traditional publisher, they will be taken care of. (It happens, but not in a good way.)”

https://deanwesleysmith.com/i-feel-bad-for-new-writers-part-11/

#writerbeware #writing #publishing #indiewriter #myth

New #WriterBeware blog post: Small Press Storm Warnings: Adelaide Books, Propertius Press, and TouchPoint Press #WritingCommunity #Publishing #SmallPress https://writerbeware.blog/2023/06/30/small-press-storm-warnings-adelaide-books-propertius-press-touchpoint-press/