I’ve been telling social media I was writing and publishing a Middle Grade Urban fantasy for some time. I thought it would be done in March for Middle Grade month. However, that was when I thought I was working with a real, legitimate, editing service. I don’t know what route you’re planning to take with your masterpiece, your baby, your novel–but if you’re considering buying a package with an alleged “professional publishing house” then there’s a few things you should be careful to avoid. I narrowly avoided publishing my book with a fake publishing house that claimed to be Amazon self-publishing services. It’s my desire to warn and help other writers so they aren’t taken in by similar deceptions, and waste their precious time and effort moving forward with people whose only interest is to take your money and abuse your trust.

Accepting the responsibility of self-publishing:

I’d heard a lot about self-publishing, both good and bad. 

• The Cons, the primary one was not having a company to back and cover the cost of many expenses related to your book. No one is taking your money, in fact they’re offering to represent you and fund your book. Also, you have the benefit of a team of professionals assisting you throughout the entire profits. In self-publishing, EVERYTHING is done by you unless you’re willing to shuffle out funds for an editor, a proofreader, a copy edit etc. And even if you can shuffle out funds, the responsibility of finding a legitimate editor, proofreader, artist etc. is entirely on you. You’re doing research and choosing services mostly on your own. Reviews and resources on all these companies are out there, but it’s your job when you decide you’ve done your due diligence and affirmed that the services are legit. You have to handle the books publishing process every–step–of the way. And take it from someone who’s undergoing that process now, it’s a lot to take ownership for. 

• The Pros–you have 100% control over your work. If  a publishing house says no on a technicality, or doesn’t like something in your book you don’t have to listen or change your work. I’ve heard some authors have been backed into a corner by their superiors in the publishing industry or asked to include more objectionable content in their books. They generally have had to submit because they work under the umbrella of that company, and they don’t always have 100% control. What they write has to be deemed market worthy and many times that can be a good thing, but it can also mean they want your book to fit a current trend or conformity. I’m a non-conformists to the core–I don’t think any female authors over the course of history became notable and remembered because they did what everyone else did. Jane Austen, Mary Shelly, Louisa May Alcott, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Dickinson–all non-conformists and some not appreciated in the literary world till after their deaths. An author receives more royalties self-publishing and has total control over the entire process of their work, nothing goes past them or over them and they can publish as many books as often as they want.

So long and short:

• Pro: You have total control and absolute responsibility/authority/ownership over everything regarding your book.

• Con: You have total control and absolute responsibility/authority/ownership over everything regarding your book.

There’s a good and a bad light to it, but main point–it’s a lot of work. However, if I minded that I wouldn’t be writing novels while working full time so I accepted I could handle the pressure and the work load. 

Finding a reliable self publishing company….I didn’t:
A huge workload and responsibility I can handle; I hadn’t anticipated a fake company that wasted months of my time allegedly “editing” my book. I was searching the internet for self-publishing services. Ingram spark was a big one, but it was said their distribution and printing wasn’t as good as Amazon KDP which was extremely popular. So I searched Amazon publishing services. Amazon Profs came up and I searched through what they had to offer. I arranged a call with an agent who sent me information and emails concerning their different packages. The first alleged agent I spoke to was a woman named Hazel, then I was transferred over to John, Dave, all of these agents had something in common which I should have immediately seen as a red flag:

• Every agent talked fast and wanted me to sign and purchase things as soon as possible. 

• They always wanted to me to communicate ASAP and purchase packages without taking time because they had “deals” or “coupons” which conveniently ended before the end of the month or sometimes even week. 

• They stressed I didn’t need to hire any other editors because their “professional team” would handle it all. 

• When I wanted to talk they weren’t free, but if I inquired about cost or buying something they rang me up immediately with assertive inquiries like: “Can you talk now?” “Can you call me as soon as you’re able?” or “Are you able to talk now?” and this would be after I informed them I work full time and have only two 10 minute breaks and a 30 in my day.

To start they were downright pushy, but I was told what they were asking for a premium package –999$, was nothing compared to what it cost for high end editors and publishers to put forth a book. They claimed they would print and ship at no cost to me, that they had a team to redesign my website and promote the book as well as assist in ensuring it was found on amazon amongst a sea of other books. It’s silly to waste time kicking myself and saying, “I should have known,” but I didn’t assume the worst at the time, and I, like many–was a first time publisher knowing I had limited options. 

Should have listened to the warning signs:

This alleged team of professionals wouldn’t start work on my novel until I paid the first installment. No doubt this was a scheme to gain my trust, but they insisted only paying the first half so I could “see how their team works and ensure I was satisfied before paying all of it.” This made me think they were legitimate because they said they had 100% refund policy, and that I’d only be paying half the 999$ to start.

• They set me up on a website called Project camp (apparently not used by any real Amazon affiliated services) and said to send them my book.

• I began sending them material for revisions and we were exchanging chapters back and forth, but I saw too many issues with the book. I’m not an editor, but there were so many issues even I was noticing them and I kept having to tell the “Amazon team” to get their act together. I was communicating with a woman named Veronica Fallon and an editor, Trent Evans, at the time ( I don’t even know if these are their real names but if you see them BEWARE) and they both assured the editing process would pick up and get better.

• To redesign my website with my sister they said I had to pay for hosting since I had already bought the domain with Squarespace. It was another 300$ for hosting the next 3 years–I thought that was abnormally expensive and talked with this so called website designer on the phone but he assured me it was normal. I argued with the website designer over this, since 300$ was no small amount to be added to the 1000$ I’d already spent. And when I spent the 1000$ they assured me it was the final cost.

  Eventually, I decided if I wanted the website and the book out professionally, I was going to have to pay them. With my limited time working 38-40 hours a week, I had no time to worry about editing the book or designing the website and adding pages to market my content etc. I didn’t want my writing career to fall apart because I was busy working so I was trusting them to take care of it if I paid the sufficient amount. Since Squarespace was roughly a 100$ yearly for renewal I guessed it was me being cheap and maybe it was normal. I bought the hosting. They began sending me photos of the updated redesigned website and it looked legitimate. 

When the dam broke:

I had decided that 1000$ wasn’t a lot of money for all the work and printing they claimed they’d do for the book. So I accepted it wasn’t the best editing services but I could do most of that myself. This alleged Amazon team was 23 chapters into a 34 chapter book and I was determined to stick it out till my book was released. It costs a fortune to print and ship books and I decided if I went elsewhere I’d be starting from square one in a world I wasn’t familiar with and my book might flop or I’d go broke trying to ship it myself. A friend of the family stepped in to assist me as the editing process neared completion. My friend Karen worked in marketing, and had published a book in the past. She has lots of knowledge on the subject and wanted to get on call with me and these agents to be on the same page. Prior to me telling Veronica I wanted to get on call with a family friend, she was pushing me to check out their “printing packages” and “marketing coupons.” I told her I wasn’t interested in buying anything else till I got on call with my friend and her to clear things up. Veronica scheduled a call with me and Karen at 12:00 but never called. 

The next few days I emailed, reached out, texted, left voice mails–no response. 

A day later I get an email from Veronica saying there are more edited chapters and that she can set me up with a marketing specialist for more packages. I leave another message telling her I don’t want to buy anything till we get things sorted. Veronica drops off the planet and stops communicating. 

Finding out and retaliating:

Prior to this ghosting from Veronica, I’d reached out to an agent with Amazon Publishing Agency.com (thinking they were possibly under the same umbrella as Amazon Profs) and inquired about the cost of recording an audio book, this agent got back to me wanting to talk about prices. I told her I wasn’t interested in any more packages till the agents I had communicated with me and did their job. She began to ask me who I worked with and expressed shock that my “Amazon team” was being so unprofessional. I told her the names of the agents, mainly Veronica Fallon. The Amazon publishing agency representative, Abigail Noel, searched through Amazon employees in the publishing industry telling me there was no such person. Abigail spoke with her manager and then gave me both of their emails telling me they often handled situations where new writers went to companies posing as Amazon and were conned into purchasing packages. Abigail asked me to show her some of what had transpired so I did. I screenshotted my emails with Veronica and the packages Amazon Profs had sent me and Abigail confirmed that it was a blacklisted company. The packages I was sent were rough copy and pastings of Amazon Publishing agencies actual deals. Abigail then proceeded to help me undertake the right steps to getting my funds back. She said this had happened a lot and that the bank should be able to get my money back if I filed a claim for fraudulent charges. 

Initially, the bank didn’t think the scam constituted fraud but legally Abigail helped provide me the information which showed it was in fact fraud. For future reference, the bank may not help you file a claim for funds if they believe you were scammed. Meaning, you consented to a service that turned out to be a con. The wording was extremely important in getting my claim filed because I had to assert that the funds were taken without my consent. I consented to give my money to Amazon for a service, and theses people were posing as Amazon and taking that money under false pretenses. Making any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement/representation in order to acquire funds constitutes and act of fraud. I’m in the process of regaining my funds now and attempting to undo any damage that fake company did. 

The most despicable part of the con:

I hold responsibility for not seeing and reacting to the many red flags which were there along this journey, however, it’s difficult to hold myself accountable for things I don’t know. And some of them were:

• How expensive should self-publishing really be?

• How much efficiency can I expect from a company charging 1000$ for a publishing package and how do I know they’re reliable? 

• Is alleged agents being pushy normal and simply a salespeople thing or does it mean they aren’t legit? 

• If they talk fast and aren’t willing for you to let any third party in on the deal to ask them questions about their “packages” or “publishing methods” than they’re probably con artists.

I attributed their pushiness to them being salesmen and their inefficacy to it being a cheap package. I know professional editors charge a great deal more than 1000$ for a manuscript of 34 chapters and over 100,000 words. But, I still should have seen the signs and acted. The part which is most despicable to me is a scam like this preys upon young new writers who desperately love their craft and want to be published. These people knew I was punching a 9-5 job in order to supply funds for my true career goal–being a novelist. They knew I wanted to be an author badly enough to put funds into a potential future so that I won’t have to punch an 8 hour clock forever. There’s nothing wrong with honest work, Biblically it’s encouraged for a man to earn his wages and enjoy the fruit of his labor, but I love to write and feel its where God has called me. The Bible encourages us to use our gifts. Even if its a second job, writing is still something I want to do and I know any writers worth their salt who love their craft would agree. They would write even if they worked a 50 hour week and no one encouraged them. This scam preys upon hard working writers who live by the cramp in their hands, the sweat of their brow, and the pain in their eyes–anyone who would do that is not inhibited by a conscience and has every reason to feel shame. 

Take away for fellow writers:

In the long run, the only one these people hurt is themselves, because scams can only go on for so long and so can deceit. I’m still standing and my book is still in the process of being edited (I was doing all the work anyway so they haven’t set me back too far). The Bible tells us in Psalm 45: 7 that God loves righteousness and hates wickedness, and Proverbs 6:16-19 tells us:

There are six things the Lord hates,

    seven that are detestable to him:

        haughty eyes,

         a lying tongue,

         hands that shed innocent blood,

        a heart that devises wicked schemes,

        feet that are quick to rush into evil,

        a false witness who pours out lies

         and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

In being deceived I’m not the one who has to fear divine retribution. People reap what they sow and eventually that time will come for those who deceive and take advantage of others. If you’ve ever experienced this kind of deception, or been conned in any way, remember it doesn’t say anything about you, except that you assumed better of people and those you were dealing with withdrew their right to be trusted. Allow yourself some grace to learn when you’re choosing to self-publish your book, because all the responsibility is on you and that’s a tremendous amount of accountability and ownership for one person. Your book may be pushed back in the due date, but if it means you had to take the time getting out of a con or getting things on track, don’t consider it a bad thing. Setbacks happen, obstacles arise, and the only thing to do is accept the old plan is out–and make a new one. Have faith in your work, don’t stop doing what you love, keep your chin tucked and know how to pick one up from the floor.

Write on.

-Jubilee