Publishing Scams

Andrew Hodges
Apr 18, 2023
4 min read

Updated: Jul 8

This week’s post is on publishing scams. I discuss why scams are so prevalent in the publishing world, different kinds of scams, and what authors can do to safeguard themselves and their writing against unscrupulous actors.

Publishing scams are very common, and they disproportionately affect new authors. The reasons for this are simple:

Books are like weddings in the sense that there can be a lot of aspiration, hopes, and wishes riding on them.
New authors usually don't know a lot about how the publishing world works, and that world is opaque and complex to understand.
Books are like lottery tickets in that a very small number of people earn a lot of money from book sales, and the success stories receive a lot of media attention. And so publishing can attract hustle culture types who are seeking to make a lot of money (spoiler: there are much easier ways to make money than by selling books)
Authors are often sharing a very personal part of themselves, which can put them in a vulnerable position. This is particularly true of fiction, self-help, and memoir, but it can apply to other non-fiction too.

It's super important to underscore:

Publishing scams affect people from all kinds of backgrounds and levels of education.

For the purposes of this blog post, I understand scams to be actions that involve malicious intent. I am not talking about situations where the author got an edit for a price slightly out of their budget, or requested and received the wrong kind of edit. The latter situation is more about a lack of informed consent, and I cover that situation in this article on vanity editing and buyer asymmetry.

Most of the scams I have seen link to traditional publishing (rather than self-publishing), and I expect this is more common because:

there is more aspiration linked to traditional publishing (even though indie authors can make a lot more money from their book sales)
traditional publishing involves gatekeeping, so authors depend on the authority of someone who claims to know the traditional publishing market

I will cover self-publishing scams too, though.

What kinds of publishing scams are there?

First, it’s worth distinguishing between unfavorable terms and conditions (for example, in a book contract), versus outfits that intentionally seek to deceive.

In self-publishing, for example, I’ve noticed:

Some service providers charge very high amounts of money for the book editing and production process. This is only a scam in the extreme: the price is agreed in advance; it’s up to the author to do market research and check that a provider’s value matches their fee. Watch out for one-stop-shop providers that provide subpar editing services for large fees, with the author unable to choose their editor.
Some providers take large amounts of royalties per book AND charge you for the book production process. Again, rarely officially a scam, but almost always a poor deal for the author; this is especially common among so-called hybrid presses. Due diligence is important here.

In traditional publishing, the scams I’ve seen can be divided into two kinds:

Those who try to take money from you dishonestly
Those who try to make money from you dishonestly

The second kind don’t honor the social contract implicit in traditional publishing: that you will exchange a written book for expertise in marketing, book production, and solid editorial help.

Some examples of publishing scams:

Agent scams

Someone posing as a literary agent contacts you and wants to work with you on the book. Their terms and conditions sound okay, but when you check their website, you find it doesn’t show up in any search engines, nor do the names of people listed as working for them on their website. After forming a relationship with you, they tell you a publisher is interested but they need a downpayment from you.

Agents should never charge you money for their services. They earn commission on your book sales only.

Fake publisher scams

A publisher expresses an interest in your book; you sign a contract and the book appears online a year later with Amazon KDP (self-publishing), and you note that the manuscript has received no editorial help: it has just been put through Grammarly and PerfectIt.

Pay-per-play scams

A scholarly publisher contacts you and says they’re interested, but they want a fee for copyediting the book. They put the manuscript through a peer review process and tell you it hasn’t passed, and when you ask for the copyediting fee back, they tell you it’s non-refundable.

These are all variations of stories I have heard on the grapevine. So, what can you do to protect yourself?

Do due diligence before signing anything. Check out the publisher or agent’s online presence carefully, and be careful about any time pressure
Be aware that querying a book manuscript as a new author can be a long process with failure more likely than success. Be careful of anything that sounds too good to be true. Use QueryTracker to target reputable agents
The golden rule in traditional publishing is that money should flow toward you. Alarm bells should ring if you’re asked to pay for any services offered by agents or publishers.
Take a look at the previous experiences of other people who have worked with them. If you can reach out to someone who has worked with them to get a second opinion, do so.

Where to check for scams

There are a few websites you can check, first of all. These include:

If you're worried about unfair conditions in a publishing contract, then you should sign up to the

Society of Authors (UK). They offer free contract vetting for all members – I've used their services myself and have even had unfavorable terms struck out of contracts for my own writing.

Have you experienced any publishing scams?

If you’re comfortable sharing any experiences, let me know in the comments below.