The Scams Targeting Indie Authors Right Now | Bitty Balducci

What happens when the scam emails stop looking like scams?

This week we're joined by author Bitty Balducci to talk about the increasingly sophisticated scams targeting indie authors. From fake HarperCollins editors and fraudulent book clubs to AI-generated audiobook narrators and manuscript theft, the stories are far more convincing than most authors realize.

Bitty shares scams she personally encountered, including one that cost her hundreds of dollars and another that nearly led to a major payment to an AI-generated narrator. We also discuss why authors are especially vulnerable, how scammers exploit the publishing industry's learning curve, and why more people aren't talking about these experiences.

If you're querying, self-publishing, marketing a book, or simply trying to navigate the publishing world, this conversation could save you time, money, and a lot of frustration.

What is the biggest scam you've encountered as an author—or in life? Let us know in the comments.

Guest: Bitty Balducci

In This Episode

•  The surprisingly sophisticated scams targeting indie authors today 
•  Fake HarperCollins editors, fraudulent book clubs, and manuscript theft attempts 
•  How scammers use real names, real companies, and AI-generated content to appear legitimate 
•  The audiobook narrator scam that nearly cost hundreds of dollars 
•  Why even experienced authors struggle to spot modern publishing scams 
•  The emotional vulnerability scammers exploit in writers and creatives 
•  Red flags to watch for when receiving publishing, marketing, or promotion offers 
•  Why authors don't talk about scams often enough—and why that needs to change 
•  Practical tips for protecting your work, money, and personal information 
•  How the publishing industry could do more to educate and support authors 
•  Why transparency and community may be the best defense against scams 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Do you have wine today? I'm loving it. I have wine today. We went shopping when I was hungry. Mm-hmm. This was last week.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Are you reading into the blue?

SPEAKER_01 0:10

It's uh it's like literally gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

I saw it. I'm just have you started it? No.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

So sorry. I know.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

When we first started, Biddy was one of the first people to approach us about being on the podcast. And she was one of the first people to approach us with a a pitch for an episode idea. And today we definitely will talk about scams because wow, I had no idea. I had no idea. And Jenna, like, I haven't even talked to you about this yet, but like I've gotten at least since publishing what two weeks ago my book came out. I've gotten at least six emails that are straight up scams. But I mean, they're not like scams in the way that you think they are. No. They are they seem you pay attention to them. I can't that's the only way I can describe it. Like you read them because you're just like, oh, what is this? And you think it's for a second, you're just like, is this a scam? Like, this has to be a scam, but like, how do I know it's a scam? You don't know. Like, you truly like it takes up time. I'm just gonna like that's the best way. It takes up time.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

What what kind of emails are you getting?

SPEAKER_02 1:28

So many different kinds, like, and it's not like you know, when you see on Instagram, people will post, like, oh, Elizabeth Gilbert sent me an email, ha ha ha. Like, obviously, it's a scam. They're not that obvious. It'll come from like an editor at HarperCollins, and it'll have the HarperCollins signature, and it'll be a real editor. And there's only certain ways that you can really this is when I use AI. You know, like this is when I use AI, is like I I just put the email into AI and I'm just like, and then in my head, I'm thinking like I'm warning other people because maybe AI will take it and like put it in its learn language learning system and be like, this is a known scam. But um it's fascinating. I even got some scam emails to my work email. So they're like so that tells me that they're Googling you, they're like going to your LinkedIn, they're going to because nobody like my work email is not an email obviously I use outside of work. And I have like, I'm an academic advisor, so I work in you know, at a university as well. You don't know that email unless you are like googling me and trying to find that email.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yeah. Weird. And now I'm really happy I have a pen name.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

True though, but but you can talk more on it because like she you you've you've been published for way longer than I have, but like it's been crazy. I had no idea.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Yeah, I would just echo what you said in the sense that it's the scams, like in general, but like just touching on email, there's many types of scams. I've been scammed multiple times, happy to share this information. But that's fascinating though, really. The email scams are sophisticated. It's not what you think. Because, you know, like remember okay, for example, remember when ChatGPT first came came out and it was garbage? Okay, so that's what we were like used to. Like it was very easy to pick that out. And per Kate's point, like you pay attention to these emails because there's just enough nuance to the email that you wonder if it is real. And for better or for worse, I have just decided not to believe any email that I get like that because they're all scams. And, you know, to her point, she's like, it's Harper Collins, it's somebody who's actually an editor. One example of a scam that I fell for was there was this uh book club, like a virtual book club based out of like Vancouver, BC, and it had, you know, a couple hundred followers or whatever. And I had somebody reach out to me and be like, hey, one of our members recommended your book. Would you be able to join us virtually, like, you know, to like answer questions or something? And I'm like, yeah, you know, sure, whatever. And like I literally, before I did, I Googled the last person's name. I found said book club online. I found the associated person's name. Like, you know, I'm like, and the email is like the person's first name.lastname at gmail.com. I'm like, okay, this is probably this person, right? Um, well, wrong. What happened was uh they have this whole little like orchestra where they like, like after they do that, they're like, okay, yeah, she's coming on. Oh, and by the way, we need some help for our media production. So can you give us like a donation? And like, you know, for me, I'm like, yeah, whatever. Like, I don't really care. Like, it's through PayPal. I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna like lose every dye my own. And if it goes to this book club, that's cool. I don't really care. Um, but then they're like, oh my gosh, there's so much interest in joining your session. Our Zoom only accommodates a hundred uh people, and we have more than a hundred people left. So we have to postpone it. And then the day after it was supposed to happen, they're like, Well, we ended up having the meeting, and you can already see the reviews coming in. And on Goodreads, it was just like bots reviewing my book, and it was all like the same review. It was crazy. And it was it was only after that that I stalked the guy on Instagram and sent him a personal message, and he had no idea that there was this whole like scamming scheme using his name and his book club. Like, so so that's the kind of stuff I'm telling you. Even when you are fact-checking, you can be fooled. It is just like totally bonkers. Did I scare all the indie authors out there? Sorry about that.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

No, it's so important to do because I think that like I definitely thought I was just gonna know going into it, and you you don't. It's so in-depth. I feel stupid even saying because I'm just like, maybe everybody, it's like one of those things. Like, does everybody else know this except for me? No, like let us know. If you're listening, let us know if like you've you've found victim and like which one. I've definitely gotten a book club email that was like, come, you know, like we want to have you at our book club. And it that seems legit because they're not like outright asking you for money. The HarperCollins one, I looked really in depth into it after I realized it was a scam. And it was they like take your whole manuscript. Somebody somebody said they sent them their entire manuscript for their book and was like warning people about it.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

So that is the author's worst nightmare. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Yeah, like they're like not as obvious as you think they're gonna be.

SPEAKER_03 7:19

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And even like if it's a platform that you know and trust, and there's a certain degree of credibility. Um, so like ACX, for example. Um so just I don't know if your listeners are familiar, but like basically ACX is a company that is run by Amazon and it connects authors with narrators. So typically narrators like will narrate your audiobook either for free and then they get a portion of the royalties, or you can pay them outright and then like they don't get any royalties or whatever. And so, like, it was through Amazon, like I was thinking, like, okay, they're doing some kind of checking for the people who are on here or whatever. Well, I got deep. I actually ended up doing my own flipping audiobook because I like got pretty deep into like having this person, air quotes, um, rec like do my audiobook. And it was very odd. Like, like, first of all, it was incredibly realistic, except for the fact that they the AI essentially was mispronounced, like pronouncing this certain word that I made, like kind of made up, like differently at different points throughout the manuscript. So I have like a social hierarchy system in my YA dystopian sci-fi, and it's called Aristoi. And like, you know, in some parts the AI would say it correctly, and other parts would be a steroid, or you know, whatever. Um, they would like met like use the enunciation differently. And that was kind of like the only indication that it was false. And when the once again air quotes person was like, hey, you know, can you send me, you know, a substantial payment, like down payment? I'm halfway done. Um, I contacted ACX to be like, is that something that you do? Because I I was under the impression you'd give them payment afterward. And like the ACX rep was like, definitely not. Like, if you want, I can run this through a program to determine if it was AI generated. And sure enough, it freaking was. So I just like, I mean, I'm telling you, like, how are you like, how are people supposed to know, even when like reputable organizations are like they're falling victim to this? How the heck is like an individual indie author gonna be able to navigate? I'm like getting sweaty listening to these stories. Honestly, me too.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Yeah, I am too. I feel like why aren't more people talking about why am I not hearing more about this? Because I I see like the goofy ones, like I see the ones on like Instagram that people screenshot, and they're just like, yeah, like got this scam today, and it's like funny. But there is some real wait, so I need to confirm because you said it was all through ACX. Yes, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 10:24

Yes, it was all through ACX, exactly. I mean, yeah, and I think the reason why you don't hear people talk about it is because they're embarrassed. I mean, like, I'll be the first to admit, like, I've had a little bit of time pass between some of these things, and it's embarrassing. Like, I literally almost paid a fucking bot like 600 bucks, you know? Like, and the only reason I didn't is because my fiance was just like, I don't know. Like, you should really like call and double check because I just happen to be a very trusting person, and I'm like, okay, like, you know, whatever. And he's like, no, that doesn't sound right. And so, yeah, and I mean, like very early before I even published my manuscript, a little over a year ago, I sent it to what I thought was a company affiliated with Amazon because it was branded very similarly to like the KvP. Like it has the same like font, colors, logo, whatever. And um, like to like go over my manuscript because otherwise, you know, I had beta readers and things like that, but besides that, it was just me. And so I wanted to have like an extra set of eyes on it. And um it was all AI, and it literally turned every like like letter B in my manuscript to an M. And like I don't even know how that happens, and it added all these weird like spaces in there, and I did end up spending $600 on that. So I paid some and some bot money to actively mess up my manuscript. So yeah, it's just kind of wild.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Okay, this is really weird. This is absolutely this whole entire thing is making me queasy. Yeah um, this is this is odd because it's like I at my like day job, we are like really strict about like scams and like cyber attacks and stuff like that. Like we have like really intense protocol about it. And so does my husband with his job. And he told me about how there's I don't I'm probably gonna like edit this out of the episode because like it's just like so creepy. So he used to be a recruiter um for his company. He's in a different position now, and all of their like their entire team is virtual. Like everyone works from home, and he would encounter this very particular scam of people that were paid by the North Korean government, you I think you know this one by the North Korean government to like pose as potential employees. They are American, but they are paid by North Korea, and all of their answers are like they're what like if you're like talking here like to the camera, they like keep looking over at like a teleprompter because people are like typing them answers and their entire paychecks, so they have like essentially like computer farms in somewhere in the US and in North Korea, and all the paychecks go to the North Korean regime, and it is like they had one person get really freaking close, like through the entire process, and then they're like nope, not sitting right, not sitting right, nope, so yeah. I'm like, so the the intensity of the complexity, excuse me, the complexity of these scams is absolutely obscene. And I hate to be that skepti like, but you were saying like you're like a trusting individual. I would hate to be super skeptical, but it's like it's exhausting all the time to have to like vet everything. So yeah, let's just like not answer emails anymore. Okay, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of where I've gotten to, is just like, if this actually is real, they'll they'll indicate in some way, I don't know, send an email, show up at my doorstep, I don't know, but they'll figure it out. Like, yeah, and and to your point, Caitlin, I've had people call my cell phone as well. Like scammers call my cell phone, like about publishing specifically.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

So yeah, that's new.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

That's next level. Because where is your phone number? God, probably everywhere. Cause I'm one of those people that I've had the same number since I've had a phone. So I've like multiple times considered getting a new number just simply because I think I'm on every list possible. Um, so it's out in the ethers for sure.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Oh, here's a good hack. So we have we do this with our coworkers that are um work outside of the US. Uh they have Google numbers. So you can get like a free phone number from Google and it routes it to your phone, but it is not your personal phone number.

SPEAKER_03 15:47

So yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

So that may be like a good one of like if you want to put your phone number or like give your phone number to particular vendors or anything, like you can get a free Google number and it routes everything through your actual phone. I actually don't think it's free. I think it's like super minimal dollars, like a dollar a month or something down. Um but it registers as you, so it's not like a bot number. But yeah, maybe worth a shot.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

Gotcha. Yeah, I might have to look into that.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Yeah, because I I already get enough like spam emails uh or like spam calls about like mortgage rates.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Like I've got so many since opening, since Diana and I opened a business or like basically registered a business, all I get is like business thinking calls now. But I'm I'm amazed at the depth that the scams go to. And I'm I don't know, I'm fascinated by these stories by just Biddy's stories, and I want like comments. I want to put this out there for comments. Can we like get this as like the teaser for the episode or something?

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Like I don't like no videos today to want to like this interview, but um I it's like what's the hardest what's the biggest scam you fell for? And it's okay. We all have done it because the internet's kind of a scary place. But what's the biggest scam you fell for? And you know, what's your like hot tip to keep it from happening to others?

SPEAKER_02 17:28

I know because the specificity of them is like far beyond what I we do with them at my job too. Like I work with international students in an MBA program. Like, we they're constantly they're they're so desperate to get jobs because they're on the visa. They have to get a job within a certain amount of time that like there are so many scams that target them to try to take advantage of that. Um and it's like this is the most niche thing on the planet. It's like your scam is targeting international students on this one visa who have 90 days to get a job. Like it's in it's so, and then that makes me like think about the indie, like you're targeting indie authors. There's not a lot of us, but not and and it's also like the the lengths, like having an entire book club meeting thing, and then having bots comment on it's so in depth. Like anybody, I just think that anybody, I know you said you're a trusting person, love that, but I think anybody, it doesn't that's not like very specific to you, like any anybody of any trusting, whatever, like it's not on any spectrum of trust, like can I think fall for these. And I didn't, I honestly had no idea until the last two weeks how prevalent it is in this industry.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

Well, and you know, like similar to your story about like those students on like on the visa that need to get a job, it's like you know, with indie authors, I don't know, it's like I feel like they're kind of like taking candy from a baby. It's like, can you go after like corporate executives, please? Like, I don't have that much money, by the way. And like what, like, what is going on? And I think like with authors in particular, like, and you kind of mentioned with the students, like perhaps they're preying on like a certain level of desperation, right? Because like as an indie author or an author in general, I mean, all we really want is people to read and enjoy our our work. That's truly, I mean, at least for me, I think I could say. Like, if I made money, that'd be cool. But if I just had people reading my work and like getting enjoyment out of it, that that's all I really need. And so you get these emails or calls or you know, what have you, uh, notifications over Instagram. And, you know, you want to believe it because you just so desperately want to get your word out.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

Yep. And a lot of us have paid for it and or like have to or they going back to the original point is that we don't know how it works. We don't know how it works. So, like, you know that there's this level of not not ignorance, but just like we're just kind of doing this on our own and we're trying to figure it out as we go. So, like, with the payment thing you were just talking about, for all you know, that's how it works. Like, yeah, you don't know it's supposed to be a different way. So it just kind of going into it with this kind of like, okay, I guess this is how we do it. And I think that that's probably how also most people get taken advantage of. I will say the only thing I the one thing I did notice in the emails I've got, I haven't gotten anything um to to the extent that you have Bitty yet. But um the emails I get usually they start off like, hey, like either like we really enjoyed your book, here are the specific things about your book we've done. Those specific things will not be that specific. It'll be like very AI generated. We love that she's like a woman on a journey and blah, blah, blah, blah. But it's still talking about your book. But not, you know what I mean? They're not like quoting your book, they're not like mentioning a specific scene, they're just kind of like generally like synopsis.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

Yeah, and and I, for what it's worth, because I've uh unfortunately received a lot of these types of things, I think what they do is they take language from your existing reviews and your synopsis and like incorporate it into. And I I swear, like, because I've noticed like phrases like, you know, I don't have I don't have enough reviews where I haven't read them. Like I know what the reviews on my book say. Um so like I can see like, oh yeah, that like very specific phrase is used here. That's kind of strange. So So yeah, I've kind of noticed that. And also if your email is summarizing for you, like it is probably an AI because ain't nobody write as much as an AI. You know, like that's just kind of where I fall with it.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

So would you say that? I'm gonna back up just for a hot second. I don't care if traditional publishing companies are pissed off at book talk. How about we collectively get pissed off about the scammers trying to like take advantage of all of these authors? Yours, mine, everyone else's in between. And I think it would be a wonderful thing if some of that gatekeeping in the safety area per in particular was like no longer there. Of like, how did they capture? Like, I'm sure like they're getting billions of scams like emailed to them all the time. But like as an agent, as an editor, like how do you handle this for your clients and like for your authors? Because it, yeah, there's it's really scary, but we're not the only ones experiencing this. Like every, you know, your career, anything that has to do with you earning money, there is a scam. And it's not just Nigerian princes anymore. It's it's some bold people, individuals that are coming up with these networks of sketchiness. So I would, I don't know. I would love to hear like an agent's perspective or an editor's perspective of how you guys handle this because we're I feel like we're flying blind a little bit, and there's always a new one every week.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

You know what is so funny too, is like even podcasting. I'm just thinking about as as podcasters now, like I don't think we've gotten any. We've had maybe two emails and they're pretty obvious. They're just like, I can help your YouTube growth. They're like, they're the obvious things that like when you post on Instagram and they're like, send me this post, those type of things. We get those in our email. Outside of that, I and I feel like how many fucking podcasts are there? So many. I feel like you would think that they're we would be targeted more because that would be like a more prevalent scam, but there's no like so far, yeah. But I like I said, my first week as an indie author, it's like and it goes back to that desperation, I think, of like we are we are like trying to put ourselves out there, we don't have a lot of education on how to do that, but it is like taking advantage of that emotional like uh I don't know, vulnerability that we have in that day, but we always like pr producing a book is very vulnerable.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

And when you are vulnerable, like emotionally, because you are putting your art out there, it's so easy to have that vulnerability in your financial safety and like digital safety too. And maybe we'll just start like a cohort or something, Kate, where like, hey, if you want eyes on like, is this a scam? We'll just like start our own like side hustle because we have so many of those now.

SPEAKER_03 25:25

Well, I was kind of thinking, like, you know, one of my main reasons for pitching this idea to you guys is because I think the reason why these scams are able to keep going and keep proliferating is because people aren't talking about them because they are embarrassed. They're capitalizing on uh, you know, that the desire to get your work out. And then they're also banking on you, being too ashamed to say, hey, I did fall for this scam and paid $600 for it. You know what I mean? And so I think like if we like the only like if we had like some kind of, I don't know, Reddit thread or anything where just we could just say, hey, this is a scam, indie author scams, and we could just say, hey, this happened to me. This is the book club that is like claiming to, you know, do this. Or if you see a similar appeal, it's probably not legit. I think like that would go a long way because my guess is that a lot of people, myself included, are Googling after they get such emails or or some kind of outreach. It's just that there's nothing out there to say that it's a scam because everybody else is just so embarrassed that they fell for it.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Yeah, I think it's time. I think it's time we just put, I don't know, like like you said, let's just stop being embarrassed. Let's start being like looking out for each other, not just, I know, as indie authors, I feel like it's this it's this like fun club of like go-getters and like badass people. So let's just take, let's just take this and do something with it. Because I don't want it to just stay in the group chat. I want this to make it out of the group chat.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

But the last thing I would love for Biddy to do is just to um pitch your book, whichever book you want to pitch, and like we'd love to like feature that pitch and and let you have a second to talk about that.

SPEAKER_03 27:19

Okay, so um, well, I'm like, which one should I pitch? I don't know. Um, well, okay, so I guess I'll pitch, I'll pitch my YA dystopian sci-fi novel because that one, um, it's not that I'm not proud of my novella, but I actually spent a lot of time on that one. So I feel like I should, you know, focus on that. Um, but okay, so I have a young adult dystopian sci-fi trilogy, and it is called The Clockwise Chronicles. The first book in the series is nascent, and it takes place in 2120, uh, sorry, 2113, so not too long in the future. And all that's left of modern society is housed within 24 company-owned units scattered across the globe. So there aren't borders, there aren't countries, there's only a single world economy, and it's uh all organized by this company. And the product at the center of this company is time. So a team of skilled scientists have found a way to capture and repurpose the restorative properties of another's sleep. And life at one of these units, Dreamcore Onyx, is all the main character has ever known. She was born there, raised there, etc. But she receives an unexpected message that prompts her to question the nature of her reality. So Naycent is the first book in the trilogy where her and her best friend go on an epic adventure to uncover what's going on with Dreamcore, and they reveal some very disturbing truths. It sounds really good. It sounds like really good. It does end on a cliphanger, I will say, because it's the first in the trilogy. I know. That's why I feel particularly bad for the readers, because like they're like, why are you publishing a novella? I want book two. So I don't blame them. So I'm working on it.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

And then I always love to end with, what are you reading? What are you doing to keep yourself creative? What is kind of like keeping you going as an author right now?

SPEAKER_03 29:31

For me, it's more just like being in nature. Like that's the way for me to remain creative. So uh I happen to live in Washington State, which I'm very biased, but is gorgeous. And this is a beautiful time of year to live here. And so I get a lot of inspiration and fill my creative cup just by going on hikes and being outside and like sitting on a rock and looking at the water. So that's what keeps me going.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Nice. Oh, that's such a good one, especially now that it's summer. It's like get outside. Mm-hmm. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Bitty, thank you so much. This was like one of the most, we never say that you're gonna learn stuff on this podcast, but this was like one of the most like useful things to talk about. I feel like, which is why we obviously wanted to have you on. Um, but it's been so amazing to like talk to you and get to know you. And um yeah, I'm gonna get you on the group chat because I feel like like we're we need to talk more. It was so literally so nice to meet you. I knew we were gonna connect and have a great time. So this was great.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

Likewise, thank you guys so much for having me. It's really cool to be a part of this, so I appreciate it, and I look forward to continuing the conversation.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

This has been another episode of Marks in Manuscripts. Thanks for listening. Your hosts are Jenna G. Judith, Kate Wynelevich, our writer and public relations manager is Kate Wynelovich, music by John Wynelevich, editor, Jenna G. Judith, Creative Direction, Jenna G. Judith, and our podcast manager, Kate Wynelovich. Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, all that jazz. Visit our website at marksandmanuscript.com, and don't forget to hit that subscribe button.