I get 12-20 or so emails a day from “helpful” people wanting to ensure my book’s success, whether it’s Son of the Siren, or just now, The Name and the Key. Except, they don’t want to help you. They want your money, and then they ghost you. Not that I’ve let things get that far (I have responded to a couple out of curiosity to see if they are legit). I’ve just heard through the grapevine that after you pay for a “handling fee” or “appearance fee” nothing comes of any of what was promised, and authors are left hanging.

I’ve gotten emails with the following:

• Wanting to host my book and invite me as a guest to a book club meeting
• Wanting to verify whether or not my books were on Amazon or Goodreads so they can “add it to their library” [the laziest one ever]
• Promote the book on Medium or Substack
• Leave reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, etc.
• Make Instagram and TikTok videos
• Promote on Tiktok to 25,000+ subscribers
• Make short films/book trailers
• Interviews on podcasts or YouTube
• Submit books to awards and contests
• Posing as a successful author (in my case, Veronica G. Henry) wanting to start a business/mentorship relationship
• Submit to Hollywood producers who want to make the book into a movie
• Do a comprehensive marketing and promotion plan with keywords and SEO to get my book more visible on Amazon
• I even got a voicemail from someone wanting me to come to Los Angeles to be featured in some sort of convention or conference in April for a few days. How did they get my number?! I have paid for privacy protection and data farming deletion of my contact information for years. This one fell through the cracks.

Every email starts with a self-introduction, a generic “I found your book/read your book” with some gushing enthusiasm (although they often don’t mention your book title…though sometimes they do) and then they make their offer of what they can do to “help you,” ending it with, “what do you think? Just respond to this email.”

I have been reporting it as spam and blocking left and right. For the longest time Son of the Siren was their target, and truth be told, it needs a lot of marketing help, but now The Name and the Key is starting to pop up in these emails. Well, the joke’s on them…the book isn’t readable right now! It won’t even have ARCS until a couple weeks before the book releases July 21, 2026. They claim to have read the book? Bullshit.

I know it’s difficult to get your work seen out there, for traditionally published, independently published, and self-published out there. “2.2 million books are published every year” worldwide, according to research done by UNESCO. How can our books be discovered in such a wide sea of works? I think these predators know this and are taking advantage of this data to prey on authors who are desperate, which is really cruel.

Stay vigilant out there, friends!