Writer Beware® Attacks Publishing Schemes and Scams

When I take my car in for servicing or enter a car dealership, I usually feel as if I’m jumping into a pool of sharks. I am easy prey. A made to order victim despite the workshop I took in auto repair and Consumer Reports.

A writer with a manuscript or a book is also easy prey for the scammers ready to take advantage of a writer’s desperation, especially after a flood of rejections. Unscrupulous agents, publishers with unfair contracts, fake reviewers, publicists, and publicity frauds of all kind are ready to lure writers with a glittering array of promises. I was pursued by a Canadian group who wanted me to pay $700 to post my book, The Two-Sided Set-Up, with them for possible movie deals. My friends in Sisters in Crime warned me away from this costly yet dubious scheme.

That’s why I always recommend to aspiring writers the Writer Beware® website, sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association ( SFWA®). Readers of crime fiction and mysteries will also find this a fascinating site to peruse.

Writer Beware® was founded in 1998 to address issues that affect not only professional authors but also aspiring writers by tracking, exposing, and raising awareness about schemes, scams, and other bad practices in the publishing industry. It works to provide tools writers can use to protect themselves from exploitation.

The latest email from them looks at cheap promotional schemes that aren’t. Go to the Writer Beware® blog to read the entire article. The website also provides general warnings about a wide variety of literary schemes and scams, along with information on how writers can recognize and avoid them.

The Writer Beware® blog unmasks schemes and scams in real time and covers publishing industry news and other items of writerly interest. The Writer Beware® Facebook page links to writing-related articles, blog posts, and news items, and provides a forum for discussion. There is also the Bluesky account of Writer Beware® co-founder Victoria Strauss.