Writers are a great bunch of people, but we receive a lot of rejection. This is why, when an email pops into my inbox promising great things, I am often very skeptical. In June, my book Ball! Ball! Ball! A Picture Book to Inspire Sensory Awareness made it onto Amazon's bestseller list in Special Needs Children's Health. Ever since then, however, I have started receiving emails all offering to make my book that one book in a million that makes it big.
Normally, when I receive an email which lists my name and book in the mail (unlike many, which just say Dear Author) I copy the website and research on Google whether or not the company can be trusted or not. Last week, I had an email from a company saying that my website billing information had been compromised. It wasn't. The week before, I had an email just offering my financial support if I just responded to their email. I didn't. Unfortunately, a lot of these phishing emails just want you to confirm that your email account is real. It is annoying to have to double check everything, but definitely worth it.
A few days ago, I was offered a true author scam and I thought I might share it with you. This is how the email began:
Al Cole would like to officially invite you for a Radio Interview. He is one of the broadcasting's most gifted interviewers with his nationally syndicated show People of Distinction. One of the best Radio Host Personality of CBS Radio Station.
As I have done interviews and podcasts before, I thought it might be interesting to do more research into this one to see if there was any harm in doing it. Many shows work under the pretense of- you plug my site on your social media, and I'll interview you on mine. A win/win. Not all of them are scams.
My first impression of Al Cole's website was that he definitely had his connections and liked to appear big in a way that only Trump might understand. However, what struck me as odd, was that when I typed his "bestselling book" into Amazon, it showed it as being made in Createspace and it had a horribly cheesy cover. I find it hard to believe that someone with as many connections as Al Cole could not find a publisher. However, the more I Googled the guy, the less I found (also strange). So, just for fun, I called the number on the email (not with my cell phone number, of course) and talked to a very impressive sounding man from Philadelphia who promised me Al would give me three hours of his time and an interview that millions of listeners would receive. The interview itself would cost me nothing, but airing in would cost 1,700 dollars...
At that point I politely declined and decided I had heard enough. Just as vanity publishers always offer you the world if you only pay them first, you should never have to pay for an interview on online radio. On the one hand, I had to laugh at the vanity of it all. On the other hand, it makes me angry. I'm sure there are many good people who are scammed by people like Al Cole into thinking that they are a "Person of Distinction." Such scams, as always, prey into our insecurities and our wishful thinking.
Hopefully, the next person who googles author scam will get to read my blog first. If you are an author, just remember, if it sounds too good to be true. It is.
22 comments:
Thanks for the feedback. I self-published Ageless MirrorAthlete "Overweight and Unfit No More" ... I also received a call back number, "For further questions please call Jon Stewart in his direct line 1-610-222-5405." Although I've not made the best seller list on amazon, I do have two grade A rated book review. It's all about exposure and the finances and wherewithal to market yourself if you don't have a traditional literary agent. I'm working on that now. I can relate to what your saying. The more I put into selling the book, the more services try to bait me. I could literally write a book on the does and don'ts of writing and marketing and scams. FYI: your blog was right near the top of the search engine listing. Good job. And Thanks for the heads up. @ MirrorAthlete
Thank you for your comment. It's great to hear that I am at the top of the search engine, as I hope that less people fall prey to such scams. Good luck with your writing!
You did save me from making a mistake. Thanks for the heads up.
thank you for this information, i just received the call a few minutes ago and am happy that i googled and saw your comment. when next the lady calls me, i will politely decline. am not ready for a scam, for a book that has not even been published nor yielding any money yet.
Received an email from some person named Gabrielle Perkins claiming to be some senior consultant for getting yourself doing a live phone call radio interview with Al Cole from CBS. Did some checking on this Gabrielle Perkins for some Author's Avenue, couldn't find nothing on Author's Avenue. Then went and checked to see if the phone number she was using if it was registered on the white pages. The white pages has around 500 million registered phone numbers and couldn't find anything. Reading the email was them asking for money upfront just to do some live radio phone call review. I rather have my publisher that I have been with for 6 years in doing something like that and not from who this one is trying to claim that they are from Author's Avenue. Oh by the way I even checked last night to see if there was a authorsavenue.com and there is no such website and that the domain name is available.
Over a year has gone by since your post but I just received the same call a few minutes ago. The scam must be successful enough to keep it going all this time, which is sad. I'm very grateful for the information you shared.
Hi, Kelley...
Just got a phone message from a lady calling on behalf of Al Cole. I'm the biggest cynic in the world, so I couldn't wait to get home and Google who this guy and his "People of Distinction" radio show was. It took a few minutes to confirm my suspicions that it was a scam. Thanks for explaining what the exact angle of the scam is. I knew it was a big load of B.S.
I just got this text and phone call - same thing. I gave her an email I never use and said we could talk next week. I'll politely decline over email, but found it intriguing. If I paid $2000, they claimed they'd pay $8000 so I could get the interview. Weird.
Hello, I thank you so much for making this post on your blog. I received an email from al cole as well, two times as a matter of fact. Recently, I got the email on midnight and said I would have to pay 1299 dollars for them to air the interview. I was about to reply and asked them why they send this email then I got a feeling to look him up (Al Cole) on google and then this is how I found your blog.
Now that you said that they are just waiting response and usually online radio don't make you pay for an interview, I will not reply the email and just ignore it.
Thank you again and I hope you are well.
Hello, I forgot to mention. The second email I got was for an interview with his son, Benji Cole. I ignore it anyway because it says I have to pay for distributions of the interview. Again, thanks for making this post. :)
Wow wow. Thank you so much. This just helped me.
Thanks for the information. I, too, suspected it was a scam and researched the show, host and affiliated publisher after I received a call and an email. You confirmed what I found with the addition of the cost. I have also done podcasts and even hosted one for a few years. Writer Beware.
I was contacted by this same scammer today. They feigned interest in my book and touted their association with CBS Radio. The implication was that they were actually part of CBS, which, aside from the host's possible employment with CBS at some point, seems unlikely. Never once did they mention they would charge for their services. Fortunately, I've been around long enough in the publishing game to smell a rat, so I told them I didn't have time to finish discussing the interview offer and asked them to send me an email with the details, my intent being to verify my suspicions that they weren't who they represented themselves to be.
Once I received the email I could easily tell SweetSpire Literature was a vanity marketing company. I'm hoping my comments will help keep people from wasting hard-earned money on this type of vanity advertising company unless they truly have money to burn. Understand this for what it is: a chance to spend a lot of money for what will likely be little to no return on your investment.
I received a phone call saying my book was presented to cbs radio - only 10 books out of 175 were presented and mine was one of the 10. Sounded much too good to be true - so I know it's a scam...when I googled the return phone number, your blog post popped up! Thanks for confirming what I already knew was a hoax to scam me out of money...
Yes, many thanks.
I thought similarly. I figured I've never heard of him, but there are lot's of things I haven't heard of and don't know.
I did my research, which includes your posting, and came to the same conclusion that it is pretty much a scam. Also, I realized that my book is a small seller and paying $2000 to sell $100 in books is a loser. I don't need an accountant to figure that out.
Thanks to all for your contributions.
Doug
Thanks for the posting. I just received a call from a company offering to set up an interview for only $900. As you did, I immediately went to the internet to check it out an found this page. I was in radio for quite a long time and to my knowledge we never took money from anyone to interview them. Thanks again!
Thanks for this information. I just received a call from a company that offered me this interview for only $900. I'm always suspicious so I came to the internet to check it out and found your page. I was in radio for many years and to my knowledge we never accepted any money to conduct an interview. In fact, we wanted those interviews to fill air time! Again, thank for the info.
Thanks for your blog, I’ve bee a victim already from NEW READER MAGAZINE. I told myself never again. If it sounds too good it is.
Hi thanks so much for posting this. Same scam came to me and thankfully a family member advised me to never pay for an radio interview. Take care
www.inspirationbycarrie.com
I also received a email that Al Cole wanted to interview me. When I responded asked for more information, they responded that I had to call to receive the information. Ok called only to receive a voicemail with no name/company etc, This supposed to be affiliated with CBS should have voicemail with name of business or something.
Thanks for sharing. I too received this email. Like you I thought why not talk to them. That in itself has been difficult but I did call the number they gave me and got a very foreign sounding person’s voicemail. I will now not pursue this “opportunity “!
It's been already quite awhile since I first posted this and I am still getting comments from people who have been offered the same thing. Unfortunately, that means that this guy is still successfully scamming. Just remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Good luck everyone!
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