BEWARE THE SCAM!

 BEWARE THE SCAM!

    As an independent author - with seven books under my belt and another on the way - I'm used to ploughing my own lonely furrow. Not only to have to plan the narrative, write the words, edit the words, help design the cover and arrange printing, distribution and marketing. I don't mind doing these things but sometimes it would be nice to be relieved of at least some of the burden.

    Obviously an agent and a publisher would be desirable but getting the latter means finding the former and, so far, I've had no success in this department, despite sending numerous letters. So, when an unsolicited offer came along I was, naturally, interested to find out more.

    I'm used to getting fairly regular emails offering editorial and publishing services but am wary as it's usually quite obvious that these are far from genuine approaches and, if I bothered to engage, there would come a point when they started asking for money with no guarantee of providing anything that would increase my readership. So when I got an email from a publisher in San Francisco, I was very wary. However, the message from Jody Mosley's at the Chronicle Books Company was different. It really seemed, from what she wrote that she really had read Blood on the Rocks. Here's an extract. 

What stood out overall is the novel's ability to combine procedural authenticity with high-concept suspense. As hidden agendas, dangerous medical practices, and international conspiracies begin to emerge, the narrative appears to maintain a compelling balance between meticulous detective work and escalating danger, particularly as the investigation places members of Russell's own team at risk.

See what I mean?

Anyway, I replied, with caution, and we started a correspondence. We were getting on well and she recommended an agent who, she said, would be interested in my series of books. Not wishing to get my hopes up I talked to my wife, who is not only my editor but my greatest critic, and she got quite excited about it. The agent was called Henry Y Sheperd and his website, although a little difficult to navigate, seemed genuine, so I started exchanging emails with him.

    I am quite familiar with the process of approaching an agent, as I have done it several dozen times, so I knew the format and sent off my bio details, a synopsis and the first ten pages - double spaced - and I thought that would be it. I'd have to wait several weeks for a yay or nay. But he came back and asked for a formal letter of approach and said he would be able to guide me in writing it. This seemed a little extreme but I ready to comply. Then I showed it to my daughter Saskia, a savvy millennial. She was horrified! In a flash she put the title of my book into ChatGPT and, would you believe it, the same lengthy description came up, almost word for word. 

    You can imagine how I felt. The hopes I'd build up were severely dashed. Saskia was very apologetic but I'm so pleased she enlightened me and prevented me from getting even more involved in what now was obviously a scam. And do you know, when I didn't reply, I heard nothing back. A hard lesson learned. 

    As an addendum, I contacted one of the authors who, supposedly, was represented by Henry Y Sheperd. He informed me that he was a self-published author with no connection to the agent and was going to report it.