in #YouCan'tMakeThisStuffUp, My books, My local history newspaper column 639 Words

Authors, Beware of This “Book Club” Scam

Non-writers have no idea what those of us who try to write books have to put up with.

Not a week goes by that I don’t receive a phone call from someone with a very heavy accept (and I don’t mean Southern) claiming to represent a production company. Every call – and I have received hundreds of them – claim that a company wants to make a movie out of one of my books.

Sounds like an author’s dream phone call, right?

My first book!

There’s a catch. Every single one of them wants to make a movie out of my book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

Does that still sound good?

Not exactly. In case you didn’t know, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, by Janet Morrison, is a book of vintage postcards.

Just imagine: A full-length feature film showing vintage postcards!

The latest scams

I was contacted several weeks ago by “Robbie who claimed to be representing the “Stimulating Book Club” in Washington, DC. Robbie said they were interested in reading Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus County History, Book 1 and even referenced several of the topics I wrote about in the book.

Keep in mind that this is a book of local history articles about Harrisburg, North Carolina, some 325 miles south of our nation’s capital.

Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1, by Janet Morrison

The whole thing sounded fishy to me, but I kept reading the email. “Fishy” turned into “You’ve got to be kidding!” when I got to the part that said I only had to pay them $200 to read my book!

Then, this week “Olivia Scarlett” with “The Vermont Book Club” contacted me. (I know Vermont is a small state, but really?)

Believe it or not, The Vermont Book Club wants to read … wait for it… Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus County History, Book 1. Just like “Robbie” of Washington, DC fame, “Olivia Scarlett” also referenced some details from my book – details anyone could lift from the book description on Amazon.

What were the odds?

Granted, I have touted my book of local history as perhaps being of interest to people outside of Cabarrus County, North Carolina; however, for book clubs 325 to 750 miles away to suddenly show an interest in it just a couple of weeks apart, using almost identical wording?

I was born at night, but I wasn’t born last night!

The icing on the cake came when Olivia Scarlett of The Vermont Book Club emailed me again on Friday with a “clarification” for purposes of “transparency”. She wanted to clarify that the $150 her book club charges an author is only a “logistics and promotional fee, which helps cover event organization, marketing, reader outreach, and related expenses. We understand if it’s not the right fit for everyone, but we wanted to be transparent about what the fee is used for.”

Funny… In her earlier email, Olivia Scarlett didn’t mention needing any money.

The gig is up, y’all.

When you contact me as one book club wanting $200, but then contact me as a different book club to clarify what you need the $150 for… you have committed a serious scamming error.

I belong to a book club. At our June meeting, I plan to propose that we have a fundraiser: Require authors to pay us $200 or we won’t read their book. I guess we’ll need to elect a treasurer and open a bank account. Things could get complicated.

Janet

Never take your right to read for granted.

You even have the right to read Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus County History, Book 1 – no matter where you live! After all, as I closed Saturday’s blog post about a D-Day veteran from Harrisburg, “All history is local, but no history is just local.”

34 thoughts on “Authors, Beware of This “Book Club” Scam”

  2. I guess they do not leave any genre of art out of it. Artists are always receiving scams like that. I have received many “invitations” to exhibit in a gallery only to be told how much I would have to pay them, and then give them a percentage of the sales. If there are any because they’ve already made their cut up front. There are scams everywhere and in everything, and when these people are not trying to scam old folks out of their livelihood, they turn to artists, musicians and now writers too! Having to pay for a book club to read your book is equivalent to having to pay a gallery to exhibit your paintings! Incredible!

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  3. I should have! I think I’ve gotten rid of them. Yesterday I received an incredibly long email supposedly from iabelraiwala2@gmail.com claiming to be a Book Specialist with Book Growth Hub. She didn’t ask for any money or but waxed poetic about how unique my devotional book, I Need The Light, is. It ends with a “important” note that the contents of the email are confidential and that I am not to disclose the contents to anyone or make copies of it. Since she (so far) is not trying to hoodoo me out of any money, I don’t need to ask for a copy of the contract. Will keep that option in mind, though. If I hear from the two “book clubs” again, though, I’ll follow your suggestion.

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  5. Yes, Francis. It is absolutely incredible. It’s starting to feel like more people make a living via scams than make a living doing honest work. And AI and writing is already out of control. Not a day goes by that I don’t receive an email from a formerly reputable person who offers online courses and webinars about the craft of writing. Many of them have now turned to offering online courses about using AI in writing. Makes my blood boil! Giving you a heads up… in my blog post tomorrow I am announcing that I will not be blogging very often for the foreseeable future. Honestly, at 73 years old and the multiple health problems I have, I am overwhelmed with the demands of maintaining a big yard and a house. I am stressed out right now, and I must back off on my blog a little until I can find myself in a better mental state.

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  6. Sounds like a very good solution, I have mostly stayed distant from the blog since last December and realised I could do a lot of things (like writing) that I had neglected. Take a rest, don’t let thoughts of stress “stress you out”. Our minds want to control us but we must let them know that we’re in charge. I wish you all the best.

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  7. I don’t even bother to read them anymore. I just need to read the first sentence and the gmail address and into the spam/scam folder it goes. I’m starting to shift my promotion strategy to be more local with people and organizations I know and trust.

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  9. I’m glad to know people in the future will have the possibility of reading your writings.

    Isn’t it interesting there are trillions to deport people and tamper with sovereign nations but never a nickel to go after the landscape of industrial email fraud? Every store selling gift cards has a sign. This proves the scale. Not important, I guess?

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  11. Thank you, Francis. I already feel that a weight has been lifted off my shoulders… even though a part of me will miss blogging with regularity. If I had spent the time working on my novel instead of blogging, the rough draft would probably be finished. Even so, the blog is part of my writing journey and I don’t regret a minute of it. My purpose the last 18 months has turned into trying to make sure my readers in other countries understand that all Americans do not support Trump. I think I’ve made my point. I’m not attracting many new readers. I’ve tried to draw Americans’ attention to some of the things the Trump Regime is quietly doing while we are distracted by whatever the crisis of the day is. Perhaps some of my American readers are now paying more attention and looking beyond the headlines to find out what is going on. I’d like to blog about the Jared and Ivanka Trump Kushner’s proposed resort on that Mediterranean island that belongs to Albania, but I just can’t muster the energy. I love that the Albanians are turning out by the thousands to protest in the streets! I don’t know why that isn’t happening in the U.S. every day — except I guess we have lost our way. All the best to you.

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  12. I’m not even marketing any more. I gave up on Instagram. I doubt if all my efforts there resulted in one book sale. The owner of the bookstore in Harrisburg had a baby in January and hasn’t ordered any of my books since last year. The “local authors” shelf is empty. I don’t need to mention my books on the Harrisburg Forum Facebook page as long as they can’t buy the books locally. Of the 20,000 residents, probably 19,500 of them moved here from other parts of the country or India and you couldn’t make them read a book about local history even if you gave them the book and paid them to read it. I guess it’s a sign of times that people only worry about having their children on every sports team. I am appalled that people around here are now paying for their small children to be privately coached. It’s insanity.

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  13. Thank you, Liz. I’m really not doing well. Please, let’s keep in touch. I have not forgotten that you graciously offered to talk to me about my writing after you read my short story collection. I appreciate your support and encouragement. I think the roots of my problems right now are a combination of my writing going nowhere, the yard being more than I can keep up with, and the Trump Regime bringing the worst out in me. I don’t like being angry all the time. 31 more months?

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  14. Thank you. I sincerely wonder if anyone in the future will find my writings. What I write will be buried by AI-generated garbage called literature.

    Right. There’s no money for health care, daycare, or food for the hungry, but a limitless well of money for corruption anywhere and everywhere in the world the Trump Regime chooses. The Trumps and Kushners are making far too much money from a million different sources — mostly sources that leave victims in their wake. If something does not have an immediate dollar value, it has no value at all in their eyes. And don’t get me started on what Jared and Ivanka are doing in Albania.

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  15. You have done a splendid job of alerting all about Trump’s disastrous regime Janet and we all learned of many things that they do not necessarily report here. Take a rest, and you will see how much one can accomplish when one steps back a bit from the blog. For me the blog has been and is a wonderful experience but having stepped away I have really done a lot of writing and learning more and more of the craft and style of narrative and poetry, in two languages. All the best to you Janet!

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  16. Just out of curiosity, I went to the Harrisburg official website. There is no historical society listed for the town, which surprised me. Towns in New England have historical societies listed on their websites. I wonder if the K-12 state curriculum requires state history. It was mandatory when I went to elementary school. I enjoyed it very much.

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  17. You’re welcome, Janet. I’m sorry you’re feeling so discouraged. It’s certainly understandable. I have to keep reminding myself that there is a big difference between my writing not going anywhere and my marketing/sales not going anywhere. As for the current regime, I’m hanging onto the thought that we’re in the “getting worse” phase of “it will get worse before it gets better.” Please feel to email me if you need to unload.

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  18. We tried to have an historical society about 20 years ago. It didn’t last very long. Most of the long-time residents weren’t interested. The ones who were wanted to come to meetings and just talk about something funny they remembered from school and I’m afraid there was a lot of embellishment and stretching of the truth. They weren’t very welcoming of new residents — who were sincerely interested. It struggled for three or four years and then those of us who were trying to be the officers and plan the meetings finally just gave up. One or two braggadocios individuals can ruin an organization. When people want to tell inside jokes knowing they’re surrounded by people who don’t have a clue who or what they’re talking about, it gets embarrassing. Since I grew up and live again five miles out-of-town, I was considered an outsider, too. People can be very close-minded. When I was in school, a year of state history was required in the eighth grade. I had an excellent teacher. I can still probably identify the 100 counties and county seats on a blank NC map! I hope state history is still part of the curriculum. My 5th grade teacher and 8th grade history teacher really encouraged my love of history. Harrisburg is a funny little place. Although some businesses sprang up after the railroad came through in 1854 and established a depot there, the town didn’t start growing until the late 1960s. It wasn’t incorporated until 1973, and that was only because people realized that once the Charlotte city limits came within five miles of the village, incorporation would not be allowed by the State. In the late 1960s there was an unbelievable level of cross-county bussing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg after school desegregation became mandatory. People got fed up with their children being assigned to a different school on the other side of Mecklenburg County from where they lived and many started moving just across the county line into Cabarrus. A friend of mine in college was from Charlotte. She was assigned to a different high school every year. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools were under a federal court order to make sure every single school in the system had an exact percentage of white students and black students every year, so children were assigned a different school every year and spent half the day being transported to and from school. It was not a pleasant time and not conducive to learning or creating any school spirit or school pride. That is essentially when Harrisburg experienced an influx of residents. The influx in more recent years has been people from all over the US and many from India and other countries. It is a rare day to visit the public library (which we finally got in 2001!) and not see several out-of-state cars in the lot. Property taxes are lower in Cabarrus County… and I’ve always thought our schools were better.

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  20. Thank you, Francis. I definitely need to back away from some of my self-imposed tasks and stress for a while. I hope to get my novel’s rough draft finished this summer. 68,000 words down, approximately 22,000 more to go. How you write in two languages absolutely blows my mind! Best wishes as you continue learning and polishing your craft. It seems the more I learn, the more there is I don’t know. I find it is easy to get bogged down in the mechanics of the inciting incident, plot points, beats, character arcs, etc. and then I start to lose sight of the story I set out to tell. Too many rules. Rules that the famous writers don’t have to follow, but novice writers are told we have to. I’m tired of the rules. I just want to finish the rough draft so I can start editing and fleshing things out. All the best to you, Francis. I plan to blog again in about a month, unless I feel compelled to rant about something before then. Take care. Have a wonderful summer.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Ah, that explains it! Enosburgh was founded in 1780, shortly after Vermont become a republic. From where I sit, school bussing did more harm than good, fostering hatred and resentment in addition to not being at all conducive to learning.

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  23. It caused lots of problems in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. I can’t recall the racial breakdown at the time but forcing every school to be an exact reflection of the total population was unsustainable, to say the least. School buses were on the roads from well before daylight until well after dark. I don’t know how the children learned anything except they were being used as pawns by a court order.

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  24. Wishing you all the luck in the world Janet! I know you will succeed as you have the will and the determination. Finish the first draft, then worry about all the rules, you will edit out the rough parts and in the good ones. Don’t stop the process, let the energy flow first. All the best to you and I look forward to your next post and to hear how you are happily engaged in writing your novel.

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  28. Omg, the madness! I am getting all the same junk and repeats and ‘you haven’t replied to my earlier emails’. Add nauseum. Let’s just say that if someone was REALLY offering me an opportunity, I would most likely miss it with all my deletes. LOL 😋

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  29. LOL! Yes, if I ever get a real offer I’ll delete it or never find it in spam. The funniest are all the phone calls I get saying they want to make a movie out of my vintage postcard book! That would be a blockbuster!

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  31. Hilarious. I do have to say, I haven’t answered my landline in some years, it rings long distance a few times a day. I never check messages – or answer the phone. I use it to let delivery packages and friends up. 🤣 Who knows what fame I’m missing. 🤣

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  33. I never answer my landline either unless I recognize the caller. These “movie producers” leave messages and they are good for a laugh. They are poor readers and have trouble pronouncing the name of my book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.” You might want to check your voicemail, Debby!

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