Receiving a single email filled with glowing praise for a book used to be a benchmark worth celebrating in an author’s career. Receiving several a week? That felt like a dream almost too big to admit out loud. But in the past several months, some authors have received nearly one of these emails a day—and have sent them to the trash.
“The email reads straight from ChatGPT,” wrote IAM publisher Chelle Honiker in a Facebook post about an email she received in September. Honiker’s email, like those other authors have received, began with praise for Honiker’s book, which included the book’s title and key details about the topics it covered. The sender then introduced herself as Avery Janet, an “international book marketing partner,” and offered marketing services that would provide Amazon reviews and a boost to the book’s sales on the platform. The signature even included links to a Gravatar portfolio, a WordPress site, and a photo, allegedly of the sender.
However, reading the email’s content and looking at the websites from the email’s signature, all were likely AI generated. Although the photo in the email signature was real, a reverse-image search revealed it was a photo of Mary David, the operations manager at Lockheed Martin—not Avery Janet.
Honiker’s email, and those that many authors are now receiving, according to posts in author groups on social media, was a marketing scam, similar to others that have targeted indie authors for years, says Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) Outreach Manager Michael La Ronn. But the emails authors are receiving today could pose more of a challenge for authors trying to identify them.
“In the past, these emails would usually have pretty terrible typos. They wouldn’t be very well written,” La Ronn says. “But now they’re written so that it feels like the person has read the author’s book, and in some cases, emails that I’ve received personally, it even references things in the book, like character names or things that might be in the book description—things like that that really make it feel personalized.”
Yet La Ronn offers the same assessment of the text as Honiker: “If you read the text, it’s very clearly written by an AI—copied straight out of ChatGPT.”
Spot the Scam
Unlike with previous scams, authors have noted that their email service providers have not reliably marked these marketing emails as spam, making them harder to separate from messages sent by real readers. There’s also still no foolproof way to identify works that have been AI generated; however, some authors have suggested the fraudulent emails they’ve encountered have felt overly enthusiastic or wordy, or they’ve flagged the message because of how intensely the sender promoted their services.
In addition, searching social media posts on the topic highlights some common errors authors have noted to help identify the suspicious emails:
- Odd or Flipped Names: The first name and last name of the sender can often appear swapped in the AI-generated messages. An odd word also sometimes replaces the first or last name, or the sender addresses the author the wrong way, such as by their last name alone.
- Strange Emails: Does the sender’s email make sense, or is it a random combination of numbers and letters? Although not all scam emails are identifiable this way, many come from randomly generated addresses that are unintelligible.
- Only One Book: Established authors with multiple books published have noted emails that refer to a book as if it is the only one the author has released. Senders often frame their emails as if they are messaging a new author.
- Straight from the Blurb: The fraudulent emails often include several details from an author’s book in the first paragraph and praise the author’s work, making the sender seem more trustworthy. However, in many cases, these details mirror the information included in the book’s blurb or marketing copy, without going deeper.
- Sender Does Not Exist: When in doubt, Google the name, email address, or any other identifying information listed in the email, La Ronn says. “Usually, you’re able to tell that these are problematic because you can look at the email, you can look at the name of the person, and when you go to Google them, they don’t exist, or there’s no website. There’s no presence at all.”
“It’s important to make a distinction that readers generally reach out to give you praise on a book or to point something out in a book. Rarely do they reach out with a marketing service,” La Ronn says. “And generally, there will be context clues in a reader’s email that won’t exist in an AI-written email that hasn’t read your book.” He recommends authors always proceed with caution regarding unsolicited tools or services. Paid book reviews are also often against retailers’ terms of service, and can include heavy penalties against the author if caught.
“The tried-and-true basics of avoiding scams still apply: Be cautious, do your homework and thoroughly vet any provider you want to work with, and use author communities and your personal network to verify if a provider is legitimate. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Author, Beware
The marketing scam, though common, is not the only one targeting authors. La Ronn warns of another AI-related scam affecting the industry in which a service provider, such as a copywriter, editor, or cover designer, falsely markets a service as if it is being completed by a human but primarily uses AI to complete the work. He recommends asking any service provider upfront about whether they use AI in their final product and, if they do, how it is used. He also encourages authors to ask for a written contract from any hired service provider in case any issues arise. “Ultimately, the author is responsible for anything they publish under their name, but having something in writing can help, and simply asking about this at all may deter bad actors,” he writes.
Pro Tip: Paul Austin Ardoin analyzed other common cybersecurity threats targeting indie authors in the January 2024 issue of IAM. Read more about these, and how to avoid them, from a cybersecurity expert.
La Ronn suggests authors review the ALLi service ratings directory and ask other authors for advice if something they encounter in their business seems suspicious. The ALLi Watchdog Desk maintains the organization’s service ratings directory, a database of author-related organizations, platforms, and service providers that have been reviewed by ALLi’s team. The database is available at https://selfpublishingadvice.org/best-self-publishing-services; a more detailed version of the database is available to ALLi members on the ALLi dashboard. Additionally, authors can submit information about a specific service provider for ALLi to review—though La Ronn asks authors to avoid submitting information from the email scams to the directory, as the names and contact information across emails change frequently.
“Scammers always evolve,” La Ronn says. Although he first noticed the marketing emails in the spring of this year, he expects they will have shifted formats by this time next year, once senders realize authors are no longer falling victim to the current tactic. In the meantime, he encourages authors to remain vigilant and to reach out to local law enforcement if they believe they may have fallen victim to a scam.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” La Ronn says. “Just like before the age of AI, we would always encourage people to use your best judgment. Use your network. If something doesn’t make sense or you’re not quite sure, there are lots of different author communities out there [where] you can ask your question, and I’m sure you can probably get an answer really quickly from other people on whether something is suspicious or not. Let’s lean on each other and use the community as well for these sorts of things.”
