By a strange coincidence, the ‘Long Read’ by investigative journalist Snigdha Poonam in today’s Guardian is on the very subject that I planned to blog about today: the alarming increase in author scams. I am very glad that this topic is being highlighted in the mainstream press.

Ever since my Nocturne book came out earlier this year, I have received countless scam emails offering to represent me as a literary agent, to work as my publicity manager, to put me in touch with book clubs across the US, to arrange interviews, get me on the radio, generate an audiobook, get me invited to international book festivals, and so on.

Most such emails begin with extravagant praise of my book. I quickly learned to recognise the AI writing style. Whoever churns out these messages seems to think that eight paragraphs of gushing will be more convincing than one. But even a proud author might grow suspicious on reading that their thoughts on the history of the nocturne had changed someone’s life for the better and transformed their reading experience.

Once or twice I’ve responded with ‘tell me more’. Then I quickly found myself being asked for money. Sometimes the request is structured into ‘tiers’, to make it look professional. You get a certain amount of help for a certain amount, more help for a higher amount, and so on. I cease responding at that point, annoyed with myself for getting involved at all. Mostly it stops there, though sometimes people follow up once, twice, three times, asking if you’ve thought about their proposal yet.

I believe the explosion in these scams is linked to the rise of generative AI, which makes it so easy to craft relevant-sounding letters. I often receive a scam mail or two every day. Just today I was told that the brilliant qualities of my book had led to my being ‘personally selected’ to be featured in an online session with thousands of passionate supporters of the creative arts who would engage with my work long-term. Delete!

I have learned to become cynical, to the extent that once or twice I’ve almost deleted a genuine invitation from a book festival or radio programme. How crazy is that?

Why should poor old authors – who, as the Long Read points out, are not generally awash with money – be targeted in this way?  I guess the reality is that many authors, especially in ‘niche subjects’, long for wider recognition. They might be willing to pay for this to happen more quickly. Lots of authors paying small amounts of money still adds up to a lot of money for scammers. How depressing!