I try not to be a conspiracy theorist, really I do. But these days, when nefarious forces loom large, it’s hard not to be. And when so many horrific things are happening in the world, from the killing of protesters and detaining of people who look like immigrants whether they are in the U.S. legally or not—or are even actually citizens—to the invasion of Venezuela to the attempt to acquire Greenland, and the list goes on and on, things like phishing emails sent to writers seem practically insignificant.
Yet I wonder.
If there is a grand conspiracy, isn’t it possible that shutting up writers might be part of the plan? Why target writers so heavily at this very moment? Is it just because the scammers think we’re all so gullible? Quite possibly that’s all there is to it, but I also wonder whether another motive is to sow distrust and thereby to undermine the value of free speech.
I would love to contact book clubs to market my collection of poems, and I would love to engage in conversation with writers I don’t know. Every scam email purporting to be a book club who will buy tons of copies of my book if I’ll just pay to help advertise it or every fake writer who sends spammy AI-generated compliments about my book or every publishing scheme that wants to buy up the paperback or movie rights if I’ll just invest in the project to help get the ball rolling or every scammer masquerading as an editor at a major publisher—every one of these scams and more make it just a little less likely that I’ll contact a book club, engage with other writers, trust an editor, or try to get my book in more markets.
Recently, I’ve seen several scammy ads on late night TV offering services to authors to help them find an agent, find a publisher, etc. These were on broadcast television, which I access over the airwaves, so I don’t think they could even be targeted at me because I am a writer, though the thought did cross my mind. I know better than to contact one of these snake oil salesmen, but what about the neophyte writer who has no idea how the industry works and can’t tell a fraudster from a legitimate agent?
Of course, vanity presses and so-called hybrid publishers have always been around. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen them advertise on TV, though. You were more likely to find them in the back of comic books. Maybe that speaks more to the devalued state of broadcast ads than to a grand, nepharious plot. And maybe writers are just the latest targets of the internet scammer set, and they will soon move on to another ploy and another group they think they can exploit. These people are making money off writers’ dreams, after all.
But if there were a force behind this craze of phony offers to writers, then it might make sense that the end game is to depress our speech by making us distrustful of each other and of the industry that supports our speech.
To learn more about the scams that are circulating out there, bookmark The Author’s Guild’s Publishing Scam Alerts blog or visit Writer Beware.
What else can you do?
Unfortunately, it is necessary to be skeptical of nearly every unsolicited correspondence you receive. Read carefully, be critical, but don’t just trash every offer you receive. I invite writers to the Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium all the time, and I live in fear of someone just ignoring my invitation out of distrust. I write detailed invitations, laying out our terms in both the email (in summary) and in a letter and agreement form, etc. I always include a link to our website that is current and has a long history. There are news articles about prior symposia and many of the people who have been invited are well-known writers. I rely on the people I invite to look closely enough to judge that my invitation is legit and worth consideration. Many already know us, but some writers I contact each year are new and won’t have heard of us. I can only hope our reputation preceeds us.
Like me, you can do your best and maybe even redouble your efforts to build relationships, extend networks, and fight against the rising tide of distrust. Whether or not that is fostered by a conspiracy, the distrust is a side-effect of all the scams out there, and it is worth combatting whether or not it is the intended effect. Don’t be too trusting, and don’t be so mistrustful that you hurt yourself and others. Trust your instincts when something looks too good to be true, and do your research even when it does look legit.
You’ll be happier if you trust but verify than if you blindly trust or don’t trust at all.
Kendall Dunkelberg 