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Hi There,

In July I published a book of short stories via KDP. Today I received a text message from 315-543-3377 and a person named Ella. Text msg contained the following:

"I am reaching out to inquire about the possibility of featuring your book, "had the title here" in our bookstore catalogue. I believe it would be a fantastic addition to our collection and resonate well with our readers.
"This is free of charge, so please let me know if you would be interested in this opportunity"....

So I asked for the name of the bookstore catalog and received this:

"We are digital bookstore based in New York and I would love to discuss it further with you, if you have time. Are you available for a quick call today."

I thought, why not. I'll talk to her. See what this scam is ;-) So I said okay and then she said the call wouldn't go, she'd tried three times. I said the texts were coming through so not sure what the issue was.

I went to look at the website (on my linux machine, ha!) and it looks like a very basic website. But it has a legit certificate - that doesn't mean it's not a scam, though.

She asked me to call her. She's asked for another number. I just don't think it is legit.

My question to you all... have any of you received anything like this, particularly from indielitcatalogue?

I know it has to be a scam - just wondering what the scam is...

Thanks for reading.
k

I haven't received this particular offer but I'm glad to see you're being careful.

One thing you can do is check the registration of the website. When was it established? Most scams are fly by night and this will help tell you that. As for what the scam is, my guess is some type of information gathering. Tread carefully.

Eldon wrote: "One thing you can do is check the registration of the website. When was it established? Most scams are fly by night and this will help tell you that. As for what the scam is, my guess is some type ..."
Yes, I used lookup.icann to check them out. Did some searches. No doubt they are a scam but I'd love to know how their scam works, specifically. Everyone needs to get much more cautious as the scam technology improves. In hindsight I wouldn't talk to them under any circumstance due to the way your voice can be cloned with only a 15 second clip. So, everyone stay cautious and remember, if it's too good to be true, it probably is!

After 10 years of receiving all sorts of "offers" I've come to the conclusion that if they contacted me, and I have no clue who they are or didn't contact them first--it's a scam. I've had a book out for years that just sort of languishes there selling a few here and there. No legit company will be scraping the lower ranks of Amazon for : publicity, movies, turning it into a screen play, features, etc. Just doesn't happen.

So make it your rule of thumb--if you didn't contact them, you aren't interested and hang up. If by email, delete the email to your spam folder. (That will eventually get their email closed.) Just had one this morning who was using a publishing house look alike and was wanting to republish my book. Sent to spam. No editor at a publishing house has time to go looking for already published books and they certainly are not going to redo that book.

Had a bad experience with Coach Wendy Stevens and Guerrilla Marketing. She claimed she could make thousands of sales for my books. I paid her and got zero sales due to her efforts.

Rob wrote: "Had a bad experience with Coach Wendy Stevens and Guerrilla Marketing. She claimed she could make thousands of sales for my books. I paid her and got zero sales due to her efforts."

Sorry to hear that Rob. So many vultures out there :(

Hi. I have moved this thread to the proper folder. Thanks. Carry on.

Kelley said: if it's too good to be true, it probably is!

So very true and it's struck a chord with me as it's a line I'm using in the blurb for my soon (hah hah) to be published book.

I'm being bombarded with 'guaranteed reviews' emails at the moment. All get sent, as naughty children, to the spam folder.

B.A. wrote: "After 10 years of receiving all sorts of "offers" I've come to the conclusion that if they contacted me, and I have no clue who they are or didn't contact them first--it's a scam. I've had a book o..."

I totally agree.

Hi K, I read your post with interest. I am glad you did not become excited and accept the offer without thinking about it. I have been a published author for over twenty years and I must say I have never received as much scam invitations over the years as I have this past two years. It seems to be open season to scam authors. I have not received anything from indielitcatalogue, but I have received offers from people wanting to make my book published last year into a movie, another person called more than once wanting me to be on a podcast hosted by an actor and TV host. The thing about these offers they never mention money upfront. But I always ask first. One of the people wanting to produce a movie about my book stated it would cost $39, 000, but I only had to inject $8,900 and they would loan me the rest! The other scams I receive almost daily since my new novel was released September 1, are reviewers promising as much as 46 reviews. I have a list of at least twenty of these “reviewers.” As authors, new or established, we must put our egos aside and be careful and prudent. Scammers are out to get us!

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. I wholeheartedly agree that we must put our egos as well as hopes and dreams aside and realize scammers are out to get us!

I literally just got this as a text message. Zoe wants to know if I’m the author of my new book.

Rob wrote: "Had a bad experience with Coach Wendy Stevens and Guerrilla Marketing. She claimed she could make thousands of sales for my books. I paid her and got zero sales due to her efforts."

I also get a number of approaches to market my books. My approach was to tell them if they could sell ten of my books, I would consider it. They tend not to be interested.

Pretty much everyone who has contacted me on Facebook has only been interested in seeing if I would pay them for something...my answer is 'no'...cept that, I just stop looking at them, so they just wither.

I would be wary of anyone contacting me about this without me first starting the process. Not that I am an expert of what is a good place and what is not, but I feel I would like to pick my targets and not have them pick me.

If I was more widely read, I might relent on that a little, but since I am still an unknown, this strikes as something that almost certainly has a catch.