Is Shandong Huayang Culture Development Co. a scam?

[sidra0813]

I was yesterday approached on Tapas by this company called Shandong Huayang Culture Development Co., Ltd offering me to publish my story as an e-book (if I am correct). I've tried to search them up ut nothing comes up. I send them an e-mail asking if they could show me some proof that they are a real company, so they send me a link to their website http://www.huayang-culture.com/
Their Licensing Agreement seems legit and so does their website.
So I am wondering if somebody else here got approached by them and if so what happened?

[joannekwan]

Are you based in China? You could easily publish your own e-book in the West with companies like Amazon or IngramSpark. Unless you want to file a copyright for your work in China or translate it into or from Chinese and have it edited, you can do everything else on your own.

I'm just wary because they don't have a list of other works they've 'published' before, nor do they have a link to a site or even internal bookstore where they promote the books they sign.

[sidra0813]

Thank you so much for your input! I am not based in China, so you’re totally right about being able to publish an e-book on my own. I asked them about the website and people that they have worked with. They said that they have worked with Webnovel, Ficreader and many more, but because of their company policy and guideline of protecting the author’s personal information they couldn’t provide me with the author’s book nor name.

[Zaboem]

Well, promoting their clients would be a part of the service that they preform and in their own self-interest. The claim of privacy doesn't make sense. It's the company which is authoring the privacy policy.

On the other hand, if they are shady, what is the motive? If a shady Chinese company wants intellectual property, it just steals it. They can publish your work with or without your agreement.

In all likelihood, this us a scam similar to the old Nigerian Princess racket. They build trust and excitement until they hit you up for money. Your instincts to suspect a scam look correct. Take it as a compliment t that y you were targeted. Unless their is some huge and unlikely misunderstanding due to a translation error, you may be best off ignoring them

...or you could go the other way and scambait them. If you have the time and inclination, you could these guys (or guy) and purposefully eat up their time.

[sidra0813]

Thanks a lot! I am already talking with one of the staff members of Webnovel and they are going to look into it. If this is really a scam then it’s better that Webnovel and Ficreader know that their names are being thrown around!

[sevenplusnico]

Hi! Did you ever find out if this company is legit? They reached out to me as well and I don't know if I should work with them or not. I'm and author from Wattpad and I came across this forum while trying to find information on this company. Please send me a message on Instagram (@miagolding_) or send me an email (goldingmia21@gmail.com) if you have any info!!

[thedude3445]

Their website's about page is a one sentence, grammatically incorrect string of SEO words: http://www.huayang-culture.com/col.jsp?id=108

Do not go with these people; even if they aren't a scam, they certainly aren't professional enough to be worth it for you. And I'm going to say high chance that they are not trustworthy.

[tmark00999]

Hi! Did you ever find out if it is real or scam? I got the same email, however my book is on Inkitt. I really want to know if it is a scam or not. Please tell me your experience. My email is tmark0099@gmail.com

[Inspector_Spinda]

Yeah if you’re not based in china I suspect it’s a scam. A Chinese company with a name that’s Chinese and not English won’t be reaching out to random people outside the country.

[sidra0813]

They are legit. I can say that for sure and my experience with them have been pretty nice. They have been really patient with me, answering all my questions and since I have signed a non-exclusive contract I am still able to do everything that I want with my story and sign contracts with different companies, however I strongly advice you and anyone else who were approached by them to carefully read the contents of the contract. Under the regulations of the contract I am not able to share the contents with you, but I can say that if you want to become a fulltime writer then this is not for you. Of course it depends on the popularity of your story, but I gain way more profit somewhere else, like webnovel, novelcat and goodnovel than with them and that says something. And also compared to those websites they are just a starter company, so yes they do use you to gain more profits which why again I tell you if you expect to be able to live from their pay then this is not it for you.

But I think it would be a good experience nevertheless. If you have any questions I will be happy to answer them for you.

[thedude3445]

I'm sorry, but the extremely vague info here has made me extremely suspicious. The website is absolute garbage design and has terrible English all over it, and nothing at all says that they are legit. Is there any information you can give to prove that this site is anything other than a single person working at home trying to get authors to sign shady contracts? Any specific stories they are working with? Any employees we could contact?

[sidra0813]

No, I have none of those information that you’re asking for and that’s exactly why I advise you to move with caution and to read the contents of the contract carefully. Preferable with someone who works in the law fields. I can give you the contact information of the person who supervise me if you would like that.

But with all honesty if your guts tells you not to do to it then don’t. This company is not worth the hassle of stripping yourself of your sleep. There are many companies who are far better and excels in every field and who at least has a legit looking site. I only signed the contract because I wouldn’t lose anything from it, but I would also not necessarily gain anything from it either.

[ppapwriteme]

The thing that causes me disquiet about this company is not the theft of intellectual rights. Firstly, the use of flattery in describing my "wonderful" book. Secondly: The use of poor English. Not good in a publishing company. thirdly unsophisticated website. Fourth and most importantly, they require full bank details upfront including PayPal account. I offered to supply these only when they had something to pay not it. They declined.
There are many writers who are desperate to be published. I'm not accusing them of anything but, as a writer of crime novels, my head works on "What if's?" Wouldn't it be a great sting to string along a load of writers until you had a net full then, in one fell swoop clear out their bank accounts and quietly disappear?
Just sayin'