The Saddletramp Universe

When I first published Justice Rides in 2022, I had no idea that I would instantly become a target for a global cabal of individuals passing themselves off as "marketers."

Now, four years later, I have published 11 books on Amazon, 19 free e-books I use for reader magnets, and have contributed to quite a few anthologies. I have also learned that about 99.999999999% of the unsolicited pitches I receive in my email and social media DMs are quite likely scams.

And I've seen them all -- many times over. I've heard from "best-selling authors" (who aren't), some of whom have been dead for decades, "editors" for publishing houses (who aren't), people claiming to be with big media (who aren't), so-called "organizers" of "book clubs" who will feature me (for a price), and on and on it goes.

I've been at this long enough to recognize what I now call the "Marketer's Dance." You know, the innocuous email that starts, "Hi. Are you the author?" Duh. Or, a seemingly innocent request to drop a comment on my work. Or, someone says they "came across" my book (without naming the book) and loved it so much they want me to give them money.

A response typically starts a meaningless two-hour discussion that finally winds into the crux of the conversation: money for "services."

The few times I fell for this early on, either the "services" were never done, they were half-assed, forcing me to finish it myself, or the "marketer" did something I did not want done.

On any given day, I typically get between 10 and 50 unsolicited pitches for some kind of "service," be it "beta-reading," a website (I already have one), beta-reading, or they want to splash my book all over social media without any knowledge of the book, hoping that someone will click on the link.

I no longer respond to these emails or DMs. In fact, I typically don't even read the emails anymore, since I already know what they're going to say. So I mark the email as spam, block the address, and delete it.

I have educated myself on the pitfalls and scams online marketers use to take money from hard-working indie authors. I strongly suggest indie authors spend time on WriterBeware (https://writerbeware.blog/) and learn how to recognize these scams.

I also write about these scams on my Substack newsletter (https://saddletramp1956.substack.com/s/book-marketing-scams), so you can learn from what I have encountered.

(Don't even THINK about asking to beta read this.)