Writers Beware!

I became involved in a scam in which I thought I was being asked by Simon & Schuster to republish several books that I had previously published. I should have seen the writing on the wall, but my ego didn't allow me. The person from Simon & Schuster was real, but someone was prentending to be her. She said such nice things about our writing that I couldn't resist. This is what she wrote:

"I recently had the opportunity to spend time with The Spacious Heart: Room for Spiritual Awakening, and I wanted to personally reach out after experiencing the thoughtful and deeply reflective work you have created. I was particularly impressed by the way you address the sense of emptiness, estrangement, and spiritual uncertainty that can arise when traditional answers no longer feel sufficient, offering readers an invitation to explore a more intimate and authentic connection with God.

What stood out most was the way you weave theological reflection together with personal story and lived experience. Rather than presenting spirituality through simplistic answers, you give readers permission to ask difficult questions and remain open to uncertainty, growth, and transformation. Your emphasis on developing greater intimacy with God, oneself, and others gives the book an accessible and compassionate quality that can resonate with readers searching for a deeper expression of faith."

These are precisely the themes that my sister Sharon and I had worked with in our writing of the book. She (If the person was a she) had done her research to set up the elaborate scheme. She then referred me to a "professional editor" who was to go through our document as she wrote: "Given the nature of these projects, the objective is to present each manuscript professionally while preserving your voice, theological perspective, personal storytelling, and the distinctive structure of each project.

I can specifically help strengthen the submission structure, positioning, clarity, flow, consistency, readability, and overall presentation, while making sure the distinctive value of each manuscript is communicated clearly to agents and publishing professionals."

Sounds rather well thought out, doesn't it?

They had included an additional book of mine in order to charge more for the "professional editing." I tried to send a wire for the money through Park View Federal Credit Union in Harrisonburg, VA, where I live. They immediately sensed fraud and refused to send my payment. Thank God for that! 

This made me suspicious, so I DuckDuckGo-ed (I don't google) fraud schemes related to Simon & Schuster, and indeed found that there had been other examples of fraud using their brand as a way to entice writers.

There were several red flags that should have made me suspicious, but my ego turned a blind eye to them. 

1. When I looked her name up on Simon & Schuster’s website, she was an acquisition manager for children’s books, not adult ones
2. Simon & Schuster had no book category on either religion or spirituality
3. She never wrote to my sister Sharon who was a co-author
4. The emails between her and her supposedly expert editor came fast and furious with details that would have taken weeks to investigate. The responses must have all been canned 
5. If I had checked her email address and seen it was a gmail account and not from Simon & Schuster, it would have alerted me. But again, I was too blind to see.

I confess that my ego caused me to nearly fall into this trap, and thankfully the bank alerted me into doing further investigation. I contacted Simon & Schuster about this fraud, and they gave me instructions on how to report these fraudsters. 

As I said: "Writers beware!"