Possible scam? Might be targeting novelists

sarahmassey998 2020-07-29 00:24:38 UTC #1

Got a private message today from a person claiming to be part of a publishing company saying they wanted to publish my book. Sounded great but it felt scammy after a second reading. First they didn't leave the name of thier publishing company and second left a super generic gmail to reply to.
(That and they said they were a fan of my excellent work, oh I'm onto you now!)
Has anyone else recieved these messages? Is this a larger problem or is this a publishing company that will publish anything so long as you pay them? Thoughts?

NUG-Boster 2020-07-29 00:26:14 UTC #2

@ratique do you know any thing about this?

NUG-Boster 2020-07-29 00:34:09 UTC #3

@sarahmassey998 if you change the subject to questions or tech support you might get some more answers
sorry im not much help hun

Aims 2020-07-29 00:38:02 UTC #4

I'm pretty sure i read a tread a few months ago about someone here who got a similar massage, and it turned out to be some shady company trying to get the rights for their story or whatever.
So yeah maybe report the massage if you can, it's most likely a scam.

DiegoPalacios 2020-07-29 00:40:17 UTC #5

Sounds like a scam. The description is way too generic and vague.

Real publishing companies always share their name and no serious publishing company will go and"publish anything as long as you pay them".

sarahmassey998 2020-07-29 00:45:11 UTC #6

should I report to team tapas or tech support? Sorry first time I've been scammed on this sight.

Aims 2020-07-29 00:46:21 UTC #7

I think tech support is more for bugs and bots, try team tapas instead.

sarahmassey998 2020-07-29 00:49:02 UTC #8

Will do, thank you so much!

ratique 2020-07-29 01:53:26 UTC #9

Hola,

I've heard of this every once in a while so it doesn't seem like a wide ranging issue like a our lovely spam comment ladies from a few weeks ago. I'm guessing someone from that site targets novelists by hand.

Please feel free to screenshot the message and send it to our email so our team can review the account.

feedback@tapas.io

Overall, I personally don't recommend working with unknown publishers before doing plenty of research about them. I can't know if this is a scam or not, so make sure you carefully review whoever makes you an offer.

Jen-Jen 2020-07-29 02:05:32 UTC #10

I haven't received that particular email, but, if I had to guess, the scam goes like this:
You email them back, saying you want them to publish your work. They send it to one of their editors, because this was really an invitation, not a genuine evaluation. They charge you a viewing fee. The editors says it's great, but wants to make a few changes. They bill you for their time. The make more changes and bill you for more time. Eventually, they tell you it's not a great fit, but recommend another publishing company that REALLY wants you to sign on with them. You agree. The new publishing company has never heard of you, but would love to send you work to one of their editors...

How do I know this? Terrible Writing Advice made a video about it on YT!

solochely 2020-07-29 15:56:16 UTC #11

same here x__x

it already felt odd at the first reading, and suspicious after the second...

hope they ban that account soon before someone falls for their scam