Thanks for this. I forwarded your email to my group of writing friends. I've fallen victim more than once, as your note makes clear happens all too often. However, I've also wised up. I recently checked a testimonial "from a grateful author" on one scam. When I looked her up, I discovered she was quite successful, and her contact info included agents and others. I found a way to reach her directly and asked if she'd endorsed this service. She said she'd never even heard of them, and after checking their website, contacted me again to thank me for calling it to her attention, saying she would put her people on this. And then a few days later, from a different sender, I received the identical very elaborate website, with names changed. I didn't bother following up with that one. But you're right: these scams pop up like mushrooms because we're such fertile ground for them!!
First and foremost, thank you for taking the time to read my post and for sharing it with your group of writing friends. It’s readers like you who make the hard work of raising awareness about these scams truly worth it.
Your proactive approach in verifying the authenticity of testimonials and reaching out to the supposed endorser is commendable. It's disheartening to see how pervasive these scams are, but stories like yours empower others to be more vigilant. Your experience reaffirms the importance of due diligence, especially in an industry where many have dreams and aspirations that scammers seek to exploit.
Would you and your writing community find it helpful if I continued to shed light on similar scams or shared more tips on how to safeguard oneself from them? Your feedback would be invaluable.
And how do I build an audience when everything I post, regardless of platform, link or no link, gets ignored and lost in the ether? I'm as popular online as I am in real life, it seems.
I'm on Twitter. I'm on Facebook. I'm on Spoutible. I have a website. I have a blog on here. I have a newsletter. I used to be on Instagram. Traffic and exposure and all that are practically nonexistent everywhere, no matter what I do or how often I post. I hemorrhage subscribers with every newsletter I send, with no one subscribing to fill the void. Really makes me wonder sometimes why I put so much time, energy, and money into this.
I looked at your profile and your problem. Building a readership is a big problem of majority of the authors. I am researching on building an audience for fiction authors and I can not sum up the solution in one comment. So I have decided to write a series of guided posts based on building audience online for authors. And it will really help you and anyone who is facing the same situation like you. Keep reading my blog and newsletter.
Thanks for this. I forwarded your email to my group of writing friends. I've fallen victim more than once, as your note makes clear happens all too often. However, I've also wised up. I recently checked a testimonial "from a grateful author" on one scam. When I looked her up, I discovered she was quite successful, and her contact info included agents and others. I found a way to reach her directly and asked if she'd endorsed this service. She said she'd never even heard of them, and after checking their website, contacted me again to thank me for calling it to her attention, saying she would put her people on this. And then a few days later, from a different sender, I received the identical very elaborate website, with names changed. I didn't bother following up with that one. But you're right: these scams pop up like mushrooms because we're such fertile ground for them!!
Hi Dave,
First and foremost, thank you for taking the time to read my post and for sharing it with your group of writing friends. It’s readers like you who make the hard work of raising awareness about these scams truly worth it.
Your proactive approach in verifying the authenticity of testimonials and reaching out to the supposed endorser is commendable. It's disheartening to see how pervasive these scams are, but stories like yours empower others to be more vigilant. Your experience reaffirms the importance of due diligence, especially in an industry where many have dreams and aspirations that scammers seek to exploit.
Would you and your writing community find it helpful if I continued to shed light on similar scams or shared more tips on how to safeguard oneself from them? Your feedback would be invaluable.
Stay vigilant and keep writing!
And how do I build an audience when everything I post, regardless of platform, link or no link, gets ignored and lost in the ether? I'm as popular online as I am in real life, it seems.
Which platform you are using primarily? Is it twitter?
I'm on Twitter. I'm on Facebook. I'm on Spoutible. I have a website. I have a blog on here. I have a newsletter. I used to be on Instagram. Traffic and exposure and all that are practically nonexistent everywhere, no matter what I do or how often I post. I hemorrhage subscribers with every newsletter I send, with no one subscribing to fill the void. Really makes me wonder sometimes why I put so much time, energy, and money into this.
Hi JD,
I looked at your profile and your problem. Building a readership is a big problem of majority of the authors. I am researching on building an audience for fiction authors and I can not sum up the solution in one comment. So I have decided to write a series of guided posts based on building audience online for authors. And it will really help you and anyone who is facing the same situation like you. Keep reading my blog and newsletter.
Thank you