Authors For Breakfast

Swarmed by leeches

With the release of my first novel, The Art of Getting Lost and Found, one thing I wondered about was how to get it noticed. Given that thousands of novels are published each year, and being with a smaller press, I worried mine might get lost in the pile, never to be found. So, you can imagine how happy I was when the first email from a bookclub arrived, saying they wanted to read my novel!

Of course, I wrote back right away, explaining where to access the bookclub questions I’ve created and that I’d be happy to join them via Zoom if they were interested. The reply back, however, quickly alerted me that it was a scam. All I had to do was pay them a “small support fee” to get it started. . . A quick Google search revealed that, yes, the Shepherd’s Bush Book Club was indeed a scam.

Then came the glowing emails about my novel that not only listed plot points, but awards I’d won. Thrilled!!!!! Next paragraph read how they wanted to do a feature interview with me! All it would cost me was $200. . .

Even before my novel hit the shelves in March, publicists began flocking like ravens to a roadkill, each telling me how my book wasn’t showing up where it should on GoodReads or Amazon and how, if I hired them, they could make that happen.

The barrage of emails have become so bad that now, when the legitimate ones from bookclubs and people wanting interviews come in, I almost miss them. Last week, I nearly deleted an email from a bookclub in Ontario, but decided to Google search them and ended up having a lovely evening answering questions and talking about the characters in the novel.

I can’t help but wonder, do these predators not realize how little the average author makes from publishing a novel? Or are they misguided from the Hollywood version of authors who write a book within weeks, get a six figure advance and have their novel on the shelf a few months later? Someone needs to clearly explain to them that it doesn’t work that way in the real world.

I realize publicists perform legitimate work and if I was a self-published author, I might consider hiring one, but seriously? I just wish they’d stop hounding my inbox like I’m the special of the week.