Author scams – stay safe out there – Deborah Shaw Adventure Editing

Kia ora,

One of my regular authors had a run-in with a scammer last week. I want to tell you about it so you can notice the red flags should the same thing happen to you.

A senior editor from Penguin Random House emailed this author and told them Penguin were keen to acquire their latest book. But to do that, the author would first need to send a query letter via an agent, and the senior editor helpfully gave the author the email address for said agent.

First red flag: publishers rarely reach out to authors directly like this. Harsh, but true.

Second red flag: giving the author just one agent’s contact details, and just an email address, no website.

But the fake-editor is right about the author needing an agent. Most of the big publishers will only work with authors via agents.

In the email chain, the editor and agent gave my author a deadline: they had to get the query letter to the publisher soon for the publisher’s next round of commissioning meetings. And the author would have to pay for the agent to help them write the query letter.

Third red flag: traditional publishing moves slowly. So slowly. Rarely is there urgency at this acquisition stage.

Fourth red flag: agents don’t take payments from authors. The publisher pays the agent a percentage of your advance. And in most cases, if you need help with querying, they will do that as part of them representing you. Or they will direct you to a third party who you would pay.

Then there were the editor and agent themselves. I googled both of them. I found a senior editor by that name at Penguin Random House, and I found her LinkedIn profile. But I couldn’t find the agent. No website, no LinkedIn, no Threads or Twitter accounts.

Fifth red flag: no online presence for the agent.

Finally, there were the email addresses. The senior editor’s email address included her name and “penguinrandomhouse.co.uk”, but it was actually coming from a gmail account. Same with the agent’s email address.

Sixth red flag: Even if Penguin Random House uses the Google Workspace suite, their emails would never come from an @gmail address.

The scammers were using the identity of a real editor at a real publishing house to con my author into paying for a non-existent query letter. Sucks for my author and the editor who the scammers were impersonating. Fortunately, my author figured all this out and didn’t send anyone any money.

But it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and not see all those red flags, right? Or to see how some of it tracks with how publishing works, but not notice the parts that don’t. Being traditionally published is a dream for many authors, so to have a publisher contact you is huge! But it shows just how careful you need to be.

Check those email addresses. Look up the names, check for websites and a LinkedIn presence, follow-up via a different contact channel if in doubt.

Stay safe!

Cheers,

Deborah

PS: The Authors Guild has a great article that outlines other scams and what to look out for.

PPS: The Department of Conservation starts opening bookings for the Great Walks this week. Radio New Zealand has a great list of Very Good Walks should you miss out on a Great Walk spot.

📚 What I’m reading

I finished Empire Antarctica at the weekend. Loved Gavin Francis’ way of crafting a sentence and pulling out fascinating descriptions. This line has stayed with me:

“Despite my lack of equipment or direction I got on with studying [the penguins] in my own quiet way, not contributing anything to the world’s knowledge but attending to my own curious sense of wonder, and gratitude that as human beings we were not alone in this place.” (page 139)

“Attending to my own curious sense of wonder” – doesn’t that just sum up the essence of the human experience?

And I’m still reading Final Destination: Riding Britain’s Trains to the End of the Line, by Nige Tassell.