“My job is to figure out how they’re going to screw you,” the lawyer says. He is a friend of one of the members of my local writer’ group. A publishing lawyer for at least a significant part of his career, he has seen it all. But, before we get to the lawyer, you need to know why I am talking to him in the first place.
It is around 9:30 in the morning, ten days before the lawyer conversation, when my phone rings. A professional-sounding man, with a New York Society-grade voice, is on the line.
“Hi, Gary,” he says. “This is Jim Smith.” (This is not the name he used, nor, I think, was the name he did use, really his. Got that?) “I’m from ConMan Press.” (Also fictitious, but fitting.) “Did you get the email I just sent you?”
Dude, I’m retired. I’ll get to email after yoga, a walk on the beach and a swim in the ocean. That’s what I think. What I say is, “Uh, no.” Flipping my computer open. Clicking on the email. Waiting for our jungle-grade internet to wake up. (Who knew electrons move slower in the tropics?)
“g-w-e…”, he begins reciting my email address. Except, there is one number missing. I correct him. He sounds like he’s noting it down, then promptly drops off the line. My phone shows a New York area code. Seconds later, the email appears in my inbox.
Dear Gary,
I trust this email finds you well. Thank you for taking my call. Once again, my name is Jim Smith, and I am the Executive of Corporate Communications and Social Responsibility at ConMan Press, a traditional publisher located at
XXXWestXXth Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY1XXXX. We recently received an endorsement for your book, “Breaking The Weak Link.” BLAH-BLAH-BLAH…
The polite, and seemingly direct, language carries an air of real authenticity. The right industry words are used correctly. The language is impeccable. The letter goes on to say how my book has been recommended by ConMan’s acquisition team. If I am interested, and my book passes some kind of initial investigation, there could be good money in it for me.
This is the book that started it all: Breaking The Weak Link
Click here for the full Cinematic Book Trailer of Breaking The Weak Link
Not yet excited (I get a dozen author scam emails every week), but interested because the guy actually called me. I look up the company. ConMan Press is indeed a real publisher that has published quite a few books, including best-sellers and a few really controversial books. It is called an Imprint because it is a subsidiary of a very large, independent publishing company. I can’t check out this particular guy’s creds with the company, though, because they don’t include any names on their website. Security, and all.
For the next ten days, Jim and I trade numerous emails, wherein I try to expose the holes in his story. He judiciously answers every question with the perfect response. It is only though reading between the lines that the truth can be exposed. I consult with my friends in the Writer’s group. One day we all think it’s a scam. The next day, Jim Smith says something so perfect that we can’t help but think it sounds great. He’s either incredibly honest or a really good liar.
Next, my inbox contains an email from Jim Smith, with a “Confirmation Letter” attached. The letter offers me a shit-ton of money for Breaking The Weak Link, along with unheard-of royalty percentages. I search the internet about high-dollar books deals. They do happen, rarely. I search author scams and find dozens of websites warning about this and that companies, this phony email address. Hundreds of entries. Nothing suggests there is anything wrong with the contact I am having. Finally, I decide it’s time to play the Ace.
“I’m going to send this ‘Confirmation Letter’ to my lawyer,” I tell him. His response is excited and encouraging about having my lawyer look it over. A grifter doesn’t encourage a mark to include his lawyer. That would be suicide. This must be real. Right?
So, finally, back to the lawyer.
“It all checks out, as far as I can tell,” this really top-shelf publishing lawyer says. “But this is a really sweet deal that seems too good to be true.” And, down the roller coaster we go again. “I have three things I want you to ask them about.”
I relay the three things to Jim Smith. Jim answers promptly, as he always does. The answers to the three questions are the exact things we want to hear, except for one little phrase buried in there that finally achieves Breaking The Weak Link in this scam.
I would have to spend marketing money upfront to try to qualify my book for publication. The publicist I would pay for would be a person Jim Smith has specifically briefed about my book and is standing by to get going. Nowhere does anything he writes over the course of ten days worth of emails allow that publicity expenses would come out of my pocket. He even states in one email, “Additionally, we do not ask for upfront payments from authors.”
Still, ConMan Press is a real business (of a different name, remember?). It just operates with a shady set of business practices designed to rip people off even as it maintains a minimal facade of legitimacy. Even when I email Mister Smith that our conversation is over, he persists by pleading sympathy and trying to explain why this upfront expense is necessary. Then he tries to sweeten the deal by guaranteeing the purchase of my other books without upfront money for them. That’s a deal?
No.
That’s a scam.
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