Self-Publishing: Scams, Scams, and More Scams | Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi

Scams are all over the place and touch on almost every facet of life.

From paying off student loans to car maintenance insurance about to lapse to calls that your Amazon account has been hacked.

Well, children’s authors, and all other authors, aren’t exempt.

There are a number of scams going around targeting self-publishing authors.

These scams range from online services that will publish your book, edit and proofread your manuscript, create your illustrations (if you’re a children’s author), market your book, and even create a website for you.

Dealing with numerous ghostwriting and rewriting clients (over 400), I’ve heard about and seen some of the horror stories.

One client hired a self-publishing company, a subsidiary of a major publishing company, to do the illustrations for a book I wrote for him.

This client believed that because a major publisher was ‘somewhere in the background,’ it would ensure quality work, so he chose to work with them.

The illustrations cost him over $10,000, and they were poorly done.

Another client decided to use one of these self-publishing services to market his book and create an author website.

He gave me the link to the website to check it out, and again, another unprofessional job. The web copy was weak and full of errors.

Yet another client hired a marketing firm to handle her children’s book marketing. They subcontracted the work to ‘who knows who’ to create the website.

The subcontracted service had no idea how to write copy for a children’s site. They didn’t even know what web pages to create. When things began to go awry, the client hired me to oversee the website project.

Most of these services use ineffective marketing strategies, resulting in the author paying for nothing. Probably eight out of ten services don’t know what they’re doing. And they don’t care.

The scam stories go on and on and on. It’s horrible. Authors spend thousands and thousands of dollars on noticeably unprofessional and ineffective work.

In regard to editing, proofreading, and even ghostwriting, many of these services hire non-English-speaking writers, and most often, they’re not professional writers. Along with this, they charge top dollar for the work. I’ve even seen manuscripts where it’s evident that the writers didn’t know how to write for children.

I’ve had a couple of clients who also allowed the self-publishing service they hired to edit the manuscript that had already been edited manuscript.

UGH.

I know this happened because the clients came back to me to request revisions to the work they had received.

This is a primary reason I never allow clients to include my name in their books. I have no idea what they do with the story once I hand it over.

A Newer Scam

The latest scam in town, which had been around a couple of years, targets books that are already self-published.

According to Writer Beware, “scores of publishing/marketing/fake literary agency scams that are super-aggressively soliciting self-published and small press writers these days with an offer to re-publish or ‘re-brand’ your book.” (1)

I get these scam emails regularly.

You should read this article, as these services can be convincing, using flattery and playing on the author’s ego. They also use ‘pressure’ tactics.

You can read it here:
(1) Say NO to That Offer to Re-Publish Your Self-Pubbed Book

Another article to check out is:
3 Ways to Identify a Publishing Scam

If these articles can stop one author from jumping in blindly, they’re worth their weight in gold.

As someone who has been in this business for a while, it’s disheartening to see authors taken advantage of by unscrupulous scammers… by thieves.

So, please beware, and remember that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I’m a working children’s ghostwriter, rewriter, editor, and coach. I can help turn your story into a book you’ll be proud to be the author of, one that’s publishable and marketable.

OTHER HELP I OFFER:

HOW TO WRITE A CHILDREN’S FICTION BOOK
A DIY book to help you write your own children’s book.

FICTION WRITING FOR CHILDREN eCOURSE
4-Weeks / 8 Sections Guided Self-Study Mentoring Program

You can contact me at: kcioffiventrice@gmail.com. Or give me a call at 347—834—6700. (Please leave a message- I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.)