My consolidated response to the AI generated emails targeting authors

Like most self-published authors, my inbox is flooded with scammers using AI generated emails to trick us. Some impersonate book club organizers. Some promise to promote your book, and use AI generated summaries to trick you into thinking they’ve read any of your books. Some will even impersonate famous authors, and pretend to be interested in helping out a fellow author. Accepting any of their offers could result in loss of money, subpar service, or worse.

Instead of waisting my time replying to all their emails, I’ve decided to consolidate my responses into this one post.

  • Yes, your book club  may feature any of my books. No, I will not pay you to feature my book in your book club.
  • Yes, you may write a review of any of my books, assuming you’ve read them. No, I will not pay you to review any of my books.
  • Thank you for your email, famous author. Let me reply using your official email, instead of your Gmail account.
  • You want to interview me for your video series? I won’t pay you. Especially if my videos have more views than your videos.
  • If I ever want to hire a publicist, I know who I would reach out to. This person didn’t send me a blind solicitation. If I was able to find them, that tells me they something about publicity/marketing.
  • You want to make one of my books into a movie, but I have to pay you first? Sorry, I know an Academy Award winning producer who would look at my books for free, if I asked.
  • No, I will not pay an influencer to pretend to like my books on YouTube/TikTok/Instagram, etc.
  • I’m not William Brinkley and I think the Brinkley estate doesn’t need your help to publicize The Last Ship. (Real eMail I received.)
  • I’m glad one of my books changed your life. No, I will not buy a service from you. Please leave a Goodreads review instead.
  • I don’t recall ever sending you or anyone else a query letter.

I do feel sorry for the legitimate book club organizers trying to reach authors for legitimate bookings. We’re just buried in spam emails right now. If it’s bad for me, I can’t imagine what it must be like for more established authors.