The WritersWeekly Podcast
From the creators of WritersWeekly.com, the WritersWeekly Podcast delves into everything involving professional writing. WritersWeekly.com has been helping and informing writers and authors for over 25 years. We cover book publishing, article writing, getting writing gigs, paying markets, writing technology, etc.
The WritersWeekly Podcast
Episode 21: $20K Publishing Scam Victim Shares Her Own Story
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She spoke to them on the phone. They sounded like publishing experts! They knew all the lingo! But, one year and $20,000 later, she discovered that they had been stringing her along, and scamming money out of her.
Jennifer Westecott decided to let Brilliant Books Literary (AKA "Leap Write Literary") publish her book, Heartbreak Falls, after talking with their "representative" on the phone. They promised to help her with EVERYTHING: formatting, editing, cover design, distribution, and marketing. Their "team" would be there for her every step of the way.
However, that's not how things worked out. Then, they kept selling her additional "services," promising BIG returns. Those other "services" cost her thousands. They even tried to get her to pay $4K for an interview with a radio host who had previously been convicted of theft!
By the time she was alerted by a popular online scam fighting team that all of this was bogus, Jennifer was $20,000 in the hole.
Jennifer found Angela Hoy and BookLocker while in an online authors' forum. She agreed to let us publish her book, and to sit down, and tell us her story. You will be SHOCKED at the complex and devious actions of these scammers!
Most people picture a publishing scam as paying money for a book, and never getting one. However, many scammers are going after the "long con" - doing a minor amount of work while stringing the author along for more and more money. By the time the author figures out how much money they have wasted on undelivered promises, they have no hope of selling enough copies to make up the loss. Not even close!
Listen to this episode to learn what to look and listen for to avoid being scammed out of TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars!
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