I recently woke up to a minor milestone in my inbox: my first author scam email! Scammers have gotten pretty good at writing these emails, so even though I had heard about these scams through my networks and even heard from authors at my day job that they had received similar emails, I hesitated.

So, it seemed a good occasion to talk through some of the ways you can spot a scam email. Be aware, protect yourself, spread the word!

If you’re looking for more information on scams and issues within the industry in general, I always recommend Writer Beware, which does awesome work. They have already had some excellent and helpful warnings about precisely the kind of email I received, book festival and interview scams, and a lot of impersonation scams across the industry.

“Marshall Poe from the New Books Network” would like to interview me

No he wouldn’t.

Here’s an unfortunate truth about the publishing industry: Nobody is going to reach out to you for no reason.

There are, of course, exceptions, but we’re talking 1 in 1000000. If someone reaches out to you like this, STOP, DO NOT ANSWER IT, and think about it very carefully.

Here is the email that I received:

Dear Jes,

I hope you’re having a productive and enjoyable week.

My name is Marshall Poe, and I am the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the New Books Network, a podcast dedicated to in-depth conversations with authors about their recent books, intellectual journeys, and the ideas shaping their work.

I am writing to formally invite you to join us for a featured interview on the network. We focus on thoughtful, long-form discussions that highlight the creative process behind your writing, the inspirations that drive your work, and the broader themes your work engages with.

The interview is conducted remotely via Zoom, and we are happy to schedule a time that is most convenient for you.

If this is of interest, please let us know, and we will be delighted to arrange the session and share your work with our global audience of engaged listeners and readers.

We would be honored to feature you on the network and look forward to the possibility of speaking with you.

Warm regards,

Marshall Poe

Founder & Editor-in-Chief

New Books Network

Are they asking for money?

No. At least, not yet. The Writer Beware article on interview scams has an excellent example of why it is not not a scam just because it doesn’t mention money up-front. They provide an example of an author who has received a scam email and follows through with some responses. They express some initial interest in an offer and that is when the scammer makes clear that they need to pay in order for their work to be promoted.

Legitimate venues will not charge you for promotional appearances. In fact, it is usually good etiquette for the venue to offer the author who is appearing a monetary honorarium.

Is this venue real?

Actually yes, it is. The New Books Network is really a huge and well-respected podcasting network with over 30,000 episodes and millions of listeners, and Marshall Poe really is the founder and EIC.

Scammers deliberately impersonate real people and places like this and they’re counting on you not to look any farther. That’s exactly why we have to.

Strike 1: If this were real, Marshall Poe would not be reaching out to me directly.

First of all, this came to me from “hostmarshallpoe@gmail.com.” His real email address is “marshallpoe@gmail.com” (it is publicly available, otherwise I would not be listing it).

My day job is in books marketing at an academic press. I am not in charge of publicity, but I have worked a lot with our publicist and even coordinated some Zoom interviews and panels myself in the past. I have never reached out to an author we did not publish for our interviews.

If this request were legit, I would likely have received this email from a podcast employee at a generic internal email address (possibly something like interviews@newbooksnetwork.com, or even their publicly listed hello@newbooksnetwork.com), or maybe directly from one of their show hosts. If I were truly, ultimately going to be interviewed by Mashall Poe himself, I would not be put in contact with Poe himself until details had been ironed out and possibly a contract signed, and it’s possible I wouldn’t even really get to interact directly until the interview itself.

This can be different at smaller venues with fewer staff and less infrastructure, but the point remains. Ask yourself, why has the head of this podcast/magazine/blog/etc. reached out to me directly?

Strike 2: It does not make sense that they are reaching out to *me*.

I flatter myself, I’ve been making progress recently. People are learning my name (locally, anyway). I have a few local panel and reading events coming up and I’m so excited to read and meet new people at StokerCon. BUT! What have I done that merits the New Books Network reaching out to me?

Funny enough, the email itself cannot answer that question. They make vague references to “recent books” (I don’t have any yet!) and wanting to hear about the, “creative process behind your writing, the inspirations that drive your work, and the broader themes your work engages with.”

The email makes no indication that they have any idea what I write or why I would be a good fit for their podcast. Everything I have published is horror and the NBN only has one genre category: Science Fiction. Is one of their hosts planning to host episodes on horror? If so, why is that host not writing to me?

It doesn’t add up

It would be incredible to be featured on NBN! Alas, even if I waffle on every other point, the most damning evidence that this email is not real is the email address: hostmarshallpoe@gmail.com. Think about it: If you’re branding yourself as a creator, why would you not simply use your name as your email address? Which is exactly what he did. This email address does not belong to Marshall Poe. It cannot be real.

Take a deep breath, take a step back

It can be so exciting to receive an email requesting your participation in a podcast, panel, blog, you name it. It can feel like you’re being seen at last.

I’ve been taken in by a scammer at work before because I didn’t understand the game. Fortunately, I recognized it before everything went through and was able to keep the publisher from losing any money, but it was a very helpful experience. Scammers thrive off of making you believe that you will be missing out if you don’t do whatever they’re proposing, they’re often willing to negotiate (any money is better than no money!), and they’ll often make you feel like you have to make a decision right now otherwise you’ll lose this chance.

The best way to avoid being taken in by scammers is to not let them have that power over you. Give yourself whatever space you need to be able to read your emails logically and carefully. For me, that means taking at least 15 minutes or maybe even going for a walk to get myself away from the keyboard and let my initial emotional response die down. Do what you need to do, and then ask yourself these questions:

• Are they asking for money? If the answer is yes, that’s a red flag off the bat. The only opportunities where it makes sense for you the author to spend money is on convention table space. Submission request, interview offer, blog invite, agent query request? Nope, don’t give them money.
• Is the venue legitimate? If not, it’s a scam, but answering this question can be tricky. Many scammers impersonate legit companies, but they’ve also gotten good at faking nonexistent companies. Maybe the venue that reached out does have a website, but do they have an archive of previous posts or episodes? If you’re anxious about it, a quick search for “[company name] scam” will probably let you know if someone else has already identified the company as fake.
• Who is reaching out to me? Take a look at the email address and who the person claims to be. If they declare that they’re the creator, founder, editor in chief, head honcho of the venue you should take another look. Does their email address have numbers in it or some other modifier (e.g. “host” in my example)? Look them up. You might not be able to find a publicly listed email address for the person in question, but then why would they be reaching out to you?
• Why are they reaching out to me? Does the email include any information that indicates they understand who you are and what you’ve written? Have they added any details about why they want you to be a part of their podcast/blog/event? Perhaps they reference a type of publication (in my case, books) that you haven’t even produced yet.

Read carefully, think carefully, be patient. The industry is slow and the grind is long. Don’t get caught up with what can feel like a shortcut.