The WritersWeekly Podcast

Our favorite professor, editor, and book marketer, Clayton Jones, joins us again for this episode! He is a HOOT!!!

In the “News from the Home Office” part at the beginning of the episode, we describe how Bigfoot has returned to our mountaintop neighborhood. THIS IS NOT A JOKE! Angela was a complete non-believer until she saw one two and a half years ago. They stayed for six months (lots of neighbors had encounters), and then left two years ago in March. Now, they're back!

Okay, back to the episode! 

Real Stories of Authors Who Saved Thousands After Contacting WritersWeekly About Potential Publishing Scams

In just 7 days, we saved authors over $28,000. In the past two years, we've saved authors an estimated $2.9 MILLION after they asked us if they were about to be scammed. 

Here are a few examples from the episode:

"Rick" was about to send $350 to a woman with an American-sounding name, but she wanted him to wire the money to a guy named Abdulkareem Shiyan. She called him her “financial secretary.” We told Rick exactly how that was a scam! (We also reported that scammer/money mule to Lead Bank!)

C.M. saved $5K! He was about to send that much to KDPBookPublishers.com, an Amazon impersonator. Unfortunately, he'd previously paid the scammer $499. 

K.C. was about to send a fake publisher $1,000. 

S.J. was about to pay a scammer triple what they'd originally quoted her for website hosting. 

One scammer quoted an author an astoundingly low price of 199£ ($400 U.S.) for editing, publication and more. Classic bait and switch!

Bobby G. was about to be extorted for an additional $1500 from a fake editor. 

David C. was about to send Pen In Charge, a scammer that was already on our list, $2199. We explained to him exactly how the scam works, and he didn’t send the money!

Cynthia M. almost sent $99 to a fake book club. We've saved LOTS of authors from sending hundreds, to even thousands to fake "book clubs."

We helped Gary M. recover $2,650, not from the scammer, American Book Publisherz, but from his credit card company. We have specific instructions for authors whose banks or credit card companies may be trying to force the author to "work it out" with the scammer. If more than 60 days pass, the bank can wash their hands of the entire transaction, so it’s imperative to act FAST!

On the day we recorded this episode, we save Eric N. from sending $3,999 to nybookexperts.com! 

There are MANY MORE stories in this episode!

Join us, and learn the new and ever-evolving ways publishing, website design, marketing, and other scammers are trying to fool authors into sending their hard-earned money.

We will also teach YOU how to recognize these types of scams! And, we’ll make you laugh at the same time! 

 JOIN US! :)

Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode!

Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

Have you ever found yourself in the following situation?

Someone comes to you to ask your opinion about some decision they are trying to make. Maybe it's dating or marriage advice. Maybe it's something about their career. Perhaps it has to do with some large purchase they want to make. 

You give them excellent advice based on your expertise, along with facts and logic; not emotion. Then, they go and do the EXACT OPPOSITE of what you advised.  

You wonder to yourself, "Why did this person ask for my advice in the first place!?" Kind of makes you want to slap them upside the head, doesn't it?!

Well, we suffer this experience on an almost-weekly basis. Authors write to Angela Hoy, who has been exposing scams in the writing and publishing industries for 28 years now. 

They ask: "What do you think about this publisher?" or "What do you think about this marketing service?" or “This company wants me to pay them $75K to make my book into a movie!”

As we've said many times, there are so many scammers out there now, they literally now FAR outnumber legitimate businesses!

Ninety-nine percent of the time, Angela will do the research, and discover that the "business" an author is looking at is indeed a scammer, and will advise the author as such.

Most authors thank Angela and are very grateful to her for saving them from making a huge mistake and losing LOTS of money.

However, some authors' responses simply baffle the mind. Some will argue that, to them, the scammer's website looks legitimate. Some argue that the person they have spoken to on the phone or traded emails with sounds SO professional. Some are even dumb enough to tell the scammers, "Angela from WritersWeekly.com says you're a scammer." Then, the author will literally come back to us and argue that the scammer PROMISED them that they are not a scammer! (Don’t EVEN get us started on the “money-back-guarantees” that scammers put on their websites. Authors actually think those false statements will protect them later!)

We've even had authors ask for our advice AFTER sending a scammer money, and then they send even MORE money after we warned them that the company or individual IS INDEED a scammer, and explained exactly what our research revealed!

Listen to this episode, and you will be shocked at the psychosis that some people suffer from. It's almost as if they WANT to be scammed out of their money! It always leaves us asking that infuriating question: "Why did they ask us to research that ‘company’ in the first place?!"

Listen to this episode, and you will, like us, be scratching your head…or pulling your hair out. Don't miss it!!

Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode!

Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

Music: "Light Rays" used with permission from Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters.

https://theboxmasters.com/store

Do you remember the movie based on the Stephen King novel "Misery?"

An author is stalked and captured by an obsessed fan. She proceeds to torture him while still professing her admiration of his works. “I’m your number one fan!”

Although most stalkers don't resort to such extreme behavior, being stalked can be a terrifying experience for anyone. Knowing that someone who is clearly not thinking right has set their sights on you is stressful, to say the least. Not knowing what that person is capable of means you must constantly be looking over your shoulder and never letting your guard down. That's a very traumatic way to live. 

In today's episode, editor and college English professor Clayton Jones joins Angela and Brian to delve into the dark world of authors who have been stalked by unhinged "fans" and how those events ended up. Clayton, Angela and Brian all share their own experience with stalkers. We even have an example of an author who stalked someone who left her a bad review!

Grab some popcorn and prepare to immerse yourself into psychological darkness and drama (with a little humor on the side.) You won't be disappointed!

Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode!

Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

We decided to have a silly episode.

Clayton Jones and Brian go head to head to see who knows more about little factoids in the literary world. 

How many of Angela's questions can YOU answer? 

Join us for fun, laughs, and some interesting information you may have never hear before as we play the Weird & Fun Book & Author Trivia Game.

Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode!

Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

Guest: Gary Sturgis, The International Bestselling Author of Surviving Grief – 365 Days a Year

In this episode, we continue our interview with BookLocker.com's international bestselling author Gary Sturgis!

Do you have a book on the market that's not accumulating the sales you'd like to see? It's likely due to your marketing strategy, and how you communicate with potential readers online.

In these two episodes, Angela and Brian welcome back Gary Sturgis, BookLocker's best-selling author, who earns thousands per month in royalties from his book sales.

Gary also has more than half a million followers on his social media channels now! How does he do it?! He’ll tell you in this episode!

If you want to succeed in any endeavor, it's best to find someone who has already succeeded, learn what they did, and imitate them. Listen to this episode (and the next one, episode 56!) to learn how you, too, can increase your sales, and maintain a positive cash flow from your books.

You don't want to miss this interview! You’re going to learn a LOT!

Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode!

Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

Guest: Gary Sturgis, The International Bestselling Author of Surviving Grief - 365 Days a Year

 Do you have a book on the market that's not accumulating the sales you'd like to see? It's likely due to your marketing strategy, and how you communicate with potential readers online. 

 In the next two episodes, Angela and Brian welcome back Gary Sturgis, BookLocker's best-selling author, who earns thousands per month in royalties from his book sales. 

 Gary also has more than half a million followers on his social media channels now! How does he do it?! He’ll tell you in this episode!

 Gary endured the loss of a spouse years ago, and began searching for online support for his grief and recovery. That led him to write his first book, "Surviving: Finding Your Way from Grief to Healing." That began a journey of sharing and interaction with his online community, leading to him becoming a grief counselor, a public speaker, and an online facilitator specializing in grief and recovery.

 In this episode, Gary shares his journey, and the specific techniques he used to build a massive online following. He’s also written six more books, including one for children, to help people continue through their own paths to recovery and self-healing. 

 His consistency and persistence have led to ever-increasing book sales, earning him thousands in royalties every month. 

 If you want to succeed in any endeavor, it's best to find someone who has already succeeded, learn what they did, and imitate them. Listen to this episode (and the next one, episode 56!) to learn how you, too, can increase your sales, and maintain a positive cash flow from your books. 

 You don't want to miss this interview! You’re going to learn a LOT! 

Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode!

Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

You've heard us say it over and over again: DO NOT PAY FOR BOOK REVIEWS!

 So, what is an author supposed to do? Wait around, hoping for readers who might decide to take the time to review their book? Beg people on social media for positive write-ups? Ask their family and friends to post reviews on Amazon? (DON’T DO THE LATTER! You could get banned from Amazon for doing that! We explain why in this episode.)

 Getting real, legitimate reviews for your book doesn't have to be a passive exercise. There are plenty of regular, prolific reviewers (even "professional" reviewers) out there who won't charge you a penny to review your book, and who will do it fairly and honestly. Better yet, many of them have tens of thousands of followers! When they post a review for a book, their followers are notified!

 But, how do you find them, and what should you say when you contact them? 

 In this episode, Angela and Brian explain, step-by-step, how you can find PROLIFIC and popular book reviewers with thousands of followers. And, we’ll teach you exactly how reach out to them, greatly increasing your chances of getting your book reviewed by them. 

 You might be asking why these book reviewers review books for free? How do they make money? It’s NOT on the backs of authors! Quite the opposite, in fact! We explain that in this episode as well.  

 Getting good book reviews from well-known reviewers can mean significantly more BOOK SALES! And, the entire process is FREE! Nothing we recommend in this episode costs any money at all. 

 You don’t want to miss this episode! 

Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode!

Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

Approximately 90% of banned Amazon KDP accounts are never reinstated!

We were recently contacted by yet ANOTHER terminated Amazon KDP author. His unpaid royalties are $38K (!!!), and there is NOTHING he can do to get his account back (he’s tried!), nor to get his $38K. He can’t even access his files, nor see his past sales reports. He’s completely and permanently LOCKED OUT of his Amazon KDP account. 

Could it happen to you? According to Google, it’s happening to thousands of authors per year now. Think about that. You've had your book(s) on Amazon KDP for several years. Sales have been pretty good. You may not be getting rich, but the royalties have been regular and dependable. Things have been good!

Then one day, you receive an email from Amazon KDP saying your account has been terminated. You think it’s a scam email, or a joke. But, it’s NOT! You quickly go to KDP to login to your account. Your username and password don’t work. The “forgot your password?” option doesn’t work. Your account is simply GONE. You’ve been permanently banned by Amazon KDP. Worse, they tell you that you’re not permitted to open any other Amazon KDP accounts in the future. EVER. (Many authors have tried that, even under different names and email addresses, and it never works. Amazon always knows everything!)

You go back and read the email from Amazon in its entirety. It says your account has been terminated. It says you violated KDP's terms of service, but it doesn't say which term(s) you violated. It simply says your account has been permanently closed, and that you can never open another account with Amazon KDP. 

You send multiple messages to Amazon asking (begging!) for some explanation. You have every intent to correct anything you may have done wrong…if only you knew what that was! Their automated replies just keep saying they’re upholding their decision to ban you from their platform. 

You start to panic, of course! You've not only lost your account, but you've lost whatever royalties you had coming from the previous two months. More emails simply get the same canned response: "We are upholding our original decision to terminate your account."

Here's the real rub: You AGREED to all of this when you signed up with Amazon KDP. It was in the "Terms of Service" when you clicked "I AGREE," including the fact that they get to keep ALL of your unpaid royalties. For some authors, that’s in the thousands of dollars. 

In this episode, we crawl under the dark underbelly of Amazon KDP, and the growing problem of authors having their accounts closed down for any number of reasons, known only to KDP's AI/bot systems. 

Amazon has specific reasons why they don’t tell so many authors why their accounts were terminated. We discuss those reasons in this episode as well. 

Amazon KDP can immediately terminate your account at any time, at their sole discretion, with no warning, and with no human being at the helm to rationally weigh the facts and listen to your side of things. 

If you are currently using Amazon KDP, or thinking about using Amazon KDP, you need listen to this episode to know the potential risks of working with that organization! There are OTHER WAYS to get your book on Amazon, and those won’t lead to your books being taken down, nor your royalties being withheld! 

Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode!

Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

In this episode, Professor Clayton Jones joins us again! Being an English Professor at the University of Tennessee, a professional editor, AND a professional book marketer, he’s seen it ALL! And, so has Angela, who has been in the business for 28 years! While Clayton discusses authors who have behaved badly when working with him, the examples Angela shares are from folks who contacted her through WritersWeekly.com asking for advice. Of course, we haven’t used any names in this episode…except for the celebrity authors who got caught doing stupid stuff!!

Here’s just a tidbit of what we have for you in this episode (and there’s a LOT more!):

The author who got scammed three separate times after Angela WARNED HIM THREE SEPARATE TIMES!

Famous authors who got caught using AI, and even left AI prompts in their books!!! One of the authors was accused of using AI in his anti-AI book!!

Authors who got VERY upset after they couldn’t land a traditional publishing contract…because their mother told them their book was the best one ever written. We’ve received the same comment from authors who didn’t win writing contests. “My mom says my story was better than the winning stories!”

The author who got scammed for thousands, and then asked Angela for advice on how to hide what happened from his wife. 

Authors who libel others in their books, and state, “I don’t care if I get sued!” 

The co-authors who provided zero proof of severe allegations they made against many individuals and businesses. Some authors, who clearly don’t have attorneys, believe that publishing the book alone will be “proof enough.”

Authors who committed copyright infringement under the false (but common!) belief that “everything on the Internet is free!”

Parasite Book Marketers! Yes, that’s a real thing, and it’s very low-class!! DON’T DO IT!

Authors who don’t read the fine print, and who are allowing AI programs (like Grammarly) to “train” their systems. 

Authors who are beating the pro-AI drum, and using AI to write their books, while not realizing they themselves can get sued for copyright infringement someday. 

AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

Let’s be honest. There are things that work in the publishing industry - and things that do NOT work in the publishing industry. 

Today we reveal ideas, attitudes, habits, and actions we have seen that inevitably tank authors' chances for success (and that can lead to not only embarrassment, but also litigation). We weigh these behaviors against the realities that exists in the publishing and writing worlds. 

There are two approaches you can take with this episode:

Some authors who have done some of the things we discuss might be insulted and offended by what we say. However, we’re using real examples and humor because, if we don’t laugh about these situations, we might just cry! Some of the stories are actually not funny at all. They are simply sad. We don’t laugh at those. 

If you want to learn from others’ mistakes, listen to and learn from two experts in the field, and apply the "Don't do this" lessons that they offer from their vast experience in watching bad ideas and actions fail time and again.

This episode will teach you what NOT to do if you want a smooth, efficient, and non-embarrassing book publishing experience.

Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode!

Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com

Could that very active fellow Facebook author group member really be a SCAMMER? Chances are pretty high THEY ARE! 

 Publishing scammers have infiltrated Facebook’s author groups to perform DATA MINING! What’s the problem, you ask? All they have is your Facebook profile link. So, what’s the big deal? 

 Nope, that’s not ALL they have! They start with your profile, and within minutes, they likely know more about you than your next-door neighbor. 

 When someone in your Facebook Author/Writer group posts thing like this, BEWARE!

"Authors, drop your book cover! Show us your masterpiece!" 

“Post the links to your books! Let’s help each other out!”

“Show us your author website!”

 But, what if they simply ask a very general “tickler” question of all the members? They’re starting a specific discussion for a specific reason! They know what they’re doing, and hundreds of unwary authors respond! 

 "Tell us what you're currently working on!"

"Tell us what makes your book special in one sentence!"

"What's the best platform for me to market my book?"

 And, guess what? Some of these data mining scammers are actually the MODERATORS of author groups on Facebook! And the group members have NO IDEA!

 If you respond to those ridiculous posts, it may seem innocent on your part (and it is) but it is NOT innocent on the part of the scammers. How can engaging them hurt you? A bunch of other folks in the group are doing it. It's free publicity. You are proud of your book. And who knows: someone may BUY A COPY! So, you engage the scammer (who you think is just another author.)

 CONGRATULATIONS! You've just painted a target on yourself for scammers.

 Many Facebook groups for authors and writers have hundreds and even thousands of members. Many of those require nothing more than to click a "JOIN" button. Many in the group, however, never post in the group, or even look at it again. Some groups are old and the “members” have gone stagnant on Facebook. The scammers are looking for living, breathing members who have active manuscripts to publish, and books to promote. That means YOU are far more likely to become their next target!

 Overseas scammers want to target authors with offers to publish their books, edit their books, offer fake movie deals, promote their books – you name it. They have literally dozens of fake services to offer! And, finding an active author with a book to publish or sell is the very FIRST step they take with data mining. 

 Listen to this episode to learn how scammers can take one small link (your Facebook profile) to gather TONS of personal information about you from across the Internet! 

 And, we’ll tell you how they use that information to fool potential victims, and suck their wallets dry. 

 Listen to this week's episode, #41, and learn the tricks and tactics these parasites are using to get your personal information to target you with opportunities to give your money away, and never see it again. You will also learn how to protect yourself.

Join us as we dissect the dark underbelly of Facebook Author Groups!

Text us directly and tell us what you think of this episode!

Learn more at https://www.WritersWeekly.com