Melissa Charles author

Okay, so for those who don’t follow me on TikTok, I recently did a four part series (with no doubt more to come) on ‘schmagents.’ Schmagents are those who pose as literary agents, often promising you a best seller, movie deal, and probably prancing unicorns for your yard, but… *insert a multitude of things you need to pay for here.* They’re scam artists, plain and simple, who prey on authors.

BUT, there are other scam artists who lurk in the shadows of the query trenches. Some masquerade as editors, some as book packagers, some as marketing consultants, so they’re targeting traditional, hybrid and indie authors. Why restrict yourself to one pool of potential victims when you can get them all, right?

Sifting through the scammers to find the genuine is a chore and a half. Seriously. There are so many predators out there, it’s a bit like swimming with sharks while wearing a chum suit. BUT IT CAN BE DONE.

The key? RESEARCH. RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH.

I mentioned Writer Beware here. And Absolute Write water cooler. And for the love of all that is old and new, GOOGLE. Seriously. Google the heck out of whoever you’re considering working with. Google their name. Google their name + complaints. Google their name and whatever other terms you can think of. You WANT to know if there’s dirt out there. You don’t want to only find the good stuff, you want to find any and all stuff, so that you can make a thoroughly informed decision about who you’re handing your money over to.

I’m not anti paid editor, marketer, etc. If I had the budget, I’d be hiring someone to handle social media stuff in a heartbeat, or at least work with me in an intense way to figure out how to build my brand. I’m absolutely not an expert on any of that. What I am against is predators who scam people out of their hard earned money.

I know it can be so hard to wear all the hats that comes with publishing. Even if you’re an agented author with a trad book deal, you still need to market yourself, build your brand, etc. For indie or hybrid, that’s even more demanding, because if you don’t do it, there’s zero way it happens at all. The temptation to throw whatever money you can spare at the problem rather than running yourself ragged seems like an amazing, wonderful, fantastic life saver.

But with scammers, instead of climbing into a lifeboat, you’ve tied weights to your ankles. You can still swim, but things are going to be a lot harder, because not only have you lost money, but chances are, your confidence has taken a hit as well. Not many of us can shake off being scammed easily.

So be careful out there. Scammers always come across as warm, caring, kind. That’s literally their job. Earning someone’s trust is the most important thing when it comes to getting folks to hand over money.

You, your work, and your money are worth protecting. Take care of yourself out there.