Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion
Possible Spam/Fraud
I've received a ton of these, too, including a couple that looked an awful lot like this one. I've even received a couple from my website "Contact" tab.I've had a Goodreads author account for years, but only recently started being a little more active on it...and that's when the emails like this one began.
Can't receive gift copies? Riiiight. I'm not on here often? Riiiiight. Those two lines are exactly what I received from another person with a completely different email.
I believe you're correct--all they want is your email. Good advice to steer clear and ignore them.
- Chuck
They pop on my mail quite a lot too. I ignore and block them but in a weird way, they keep sending me mails like this. They want the book to distribute illegally I assume? It's so annoying.
I received the same e-mail from "Anna" two days ago. I did respond, but told "her" that my book was available on Amazon. I not sure, is there is any way to block these people?
Leann wrote: "Oh gee she just sent me another one in the same blog post. Anna. If we can block her somehow let me know. I’d be very grateful."Go to her profile and at the bottom there his a Block option.
This pops up
This will prevent Anna from sending you messages or viewing your profile. Anna will not know you have blocked him/her—your profile will appear as if it was private. Also, messages on discussion boards from Anna will be hidden (though there will be a link to view it if you want to). Are you sure?
Sadly, I've had the same type of thing happen. Different names, different emails sometimes, but the same spiel. Sadly, one or two of my books have landed on an illegal site, so it can happen. I forced one to take it down, but it looks like at least one of my books is up on another. It's frustrating, because I never sent anything to those addresses.
MK wrote: "I received this today via a message from someone not on my friends list and their account is private.
Totally unsolicited.
Sure I want reviews for my first book. But I am not going to send a co..."
I've gotten that one before when I first joined. Luckily, someone was kind enough to point out to me that it was a problem before I sent them the book. Said she'd been having problems with them for a while, too.
Totally unsolicited.
Sure I want reviews for my first book. But I am not going to send a co..."
I've gotten that one before when I first joined. Luckily, someone was kind enough to point out to me that it was a problem before I sent them the book. Said she'd been having problems with them for a while, too.
I'm getting these weekly from Anna or Sarah, with the exact same message.
If you block them I don't think they can access your blog anymore. However, if they just create a new profile you are back at square one again.
'Anna', 'Sarah' or 'Jenna'...although I think Jenna is gone or changed her name.
Leann wrote: "Beware of Anna - She gave one star ratings to all my books when I didn't respond. Check your ratings. I'm in the process of reporting her to Goodreads."Did you block her?
She didnt hit my books. Maybe because I blocked her earlier this morning.
Yikes. I had the same email from a Sheila, and I did send my stuff. Do they just want your email or your book?
Most likely your book to try and post it elsewhere. Can someone list the sites they have found pirated copies on?
I second the above comment. I haven't found it anywhere strange yet, but I'm not the most tech-savvy person, so a list to check would be super.
Got one from Anna too. I just ignored it but it would be good if they could be blocked BEFORE we have to deal with them. Surely Goodreads has a way to prevent this.
Thank you MK !!! I did exactly what you said and it worked. Wonderful information for future e-mails and how to block them! Thanks again!
I've had a load of these in recent weeks - really since I began posting answers etc. on Goodreads more often. I think they're just a fact of live - there will always be people who try to take advantage of new authors. I think it's highly likely that they will pirate your book. So don't be fooled, people, it's probably a scam and we should delete the e-mails. It is annoying, though. Not only that, but Amazon will remove paid-for reviews, so it isn't even worth going for this type of thing even if genuine.
FYI the same people also reviewed an author's books and future books with a rating of 1 no comment. So if you just ignore the messages they get even with you.Two so far Anna and Evelyn Wright I have blocked
It looks like I got one too. Evelyn said to you:
Hi,
I want to review your book in exchange of a review copy. You can email me a copy at [email protected]. Please note that I am unable to download gift copies so kindly don’t email me those. Also, I don’t check messages here often so, if you have any questions please email me directly. I am also a beta reader. Thanks
Nicole wrote: "It looks like I got one too. Evelyn said to you:
Hi,
I want to review your book in exchange of a review copy. You can email me a copy at [email protected]. Please note that I am unable to do..."
Who was the sender?
I received some of these early on in my author questions, they would send me 10 identical ones too. I ignored them and I haven’t had any more for a while. More worrying to me is that I have had unsolicited emails to my actual email address that are of the same sort. Love to review your book, guarantee Amazon reviews etc. No website, not signed off by them and seems to be an email sent to a list. I don’t respond to those either. No idea where they got my email from.
Good to know. I've suddenly been receiving a bunch of these (e-mail, Goodreads, through my website), from several names. I've never replied.
MK wrote: "Nicole wrote: "It looks like I got one too. Evelyn said to you:
Hi,
I want to review your book in exchange of a review copy. You can email me a copy at [email protected]. Please note that I ..."
Evelyn Wright. Her account is set to private and she has written no reviews.
I have been getting these too along with emails saying they are a literature student and they want to review my book.I don’t respond.
People can read and review whatever they want.
They aren’t getting a free book when I have no idea if they are legit or not.
It could be a book copying scam in order to re-sell on Amazon.
I had that happen to physical books I gave away on a Facebook event.
I won’t do those anymore either.
Wanda wrote: "I have been getting these too along with emails saying they are a literature student and they want to review my book.I don’t respond.
People can read and review whatever they want.
They aren’t get..."
I've just received one of those literature student emails too. The funny thing is, my latest book is for free, so I don't need to send them a copy. They can get it for free, lol.
They end up wanting you to pay for the reviews, that's why they keep on sending the emails. It doesn't matter if they get a copy or not, they are after the money.
Oh, that makes sense, Victoria. Thank you for sharing. It’s always about the money, isn’t it?I had someone reach out to me on Goodreads asking to rev my book and then paying them to promote my book. I told them that sounded a lot like paying for a review.
They thought they were being clever, I think.
MK wrote: "Most likely your book to try and post it elsewhere. Can someone list the sites they have found pirated copies on?"
It looks like all my books is currently pirated on https://archive.bookfrom.net. I have tried before to get my books removed from here, but they have not done so. Apparently, users download the material onto the site.
I know getting your book pirated sucks and it definitely isn't fair, but it's also not going to cost you many sales in the end. I mean, how many of those people who download a pirate copy would have ever actually bought it? Very few. They don't want to pay, and they'll always find a way around it or get a book that they can get for free. I can't remember who said it, but I think there's something to the idea that obscurity is a far greater threat to writers than piracy.Not saying one shouldn't avoid it if one can (and definitely don't send your stuff to these people), but also don't worry too much if it should happen to you as everyone makes mistakes starting out and most of your audience is still probably going to be paying customers who want to support you. Otherwise, the industry would have died out years ago.
And, yeah I agree with Victoria, the ones here are probably trying to get a few easy bucks off us.
Some may not like this piece of advice, but if you don't want to see your book(s) pirated by spammers masquerading as willing reviewers, then DON'T ACCEPT OR REPLY TO THESE OFFERS FOR REVIEWS. There are too many authors who keep complaining about a lack of reviews for their books and who keep asking for willing reviewers. First, reviews don't translate into sales. Sales will instead create the reviews. Second, let time and word of mouth do its work and be patient. By clamoring for reviews, you both attract fraudsters and also possibly repel away possible readers who are put off by your insistence for reviews. Very few readers tend to write reviews or even put ratings on the books they read. Please accept that fact and be patient.
Hi, I know that I've already posted here about my receiving these messages too.I wanted to give a additional warning that I began receiving messages from people claiming to be members of media. Now these are tempting for me to reply to, however, they give no information about themselves nor their news outlet. All messages come from gmail accounts, with no other contact information given.
Research and be vigilant.
Ann wrote: "Hi, I know that I've already posted here about my receiving these messages too.I wanted to give a additional warning that I began receiving messages from people claiming to be members of media. N..."
Thanks for the heads up! The spammers are quite aggressive on here!
C.E. wrote: "Thanks for the heads up! The spammers are quite aggressive on here! "I was glad to see others posting about this, it worried me at first.
Just received an e-mail from a "Sylvia" stating that she noticed that my book POEMS FROM THE HEART had a lot of negative reviews lately and for $200 she would help me get rid of them. I can't believe how someone could lie like that and use something that we all take great pride in. I didn't fall for it. Thanks for sharing your experiences. It helps to know the latest scam! Thanks, Marc
I got the same message from Sylvia. I reported it to Goodreads support
Same here... but she (if she is indeed a woman) calls herself “Candy”.I found this thread via Google by searching the email address, so there must be “a lot of people” using it ;)
Don’t reply to the scammer. As mentioned, they’re phishing for desperate people.
And don’t feel so hungry for reviews. Many people read books without feeling the need to review, anyway, and still buy more.
Everyone look at all of our posts regarding phony reviews on the "Bulletin Board" and phony interviews on the "Misc. Board". Goodreads is fraught with scams and they are extremely slow in responding. I have had over 45, 1-star reviews, all on the same days, within minutes of each other, all from private accounts. Then, they offer to "fix" those reviews for a fee. Many, many authors are suffering through these scams and GR seems not to care. I am taking legal action, even though GR and their parent company, Amazon, are shielded from third-party posts. This is our intellectual property they are compromising and doing very little to protect. Please post anything you find.
I have had the same thing happen - all of my books given multiple 1 star reviews on 10 January, which Goodreads took down. They were re-posted on 11 January and are still there. It not only affects me but also Goodreads' credibility.
UPDATE I received a vulgar and threatening email today that came from GoodReads via a message someone sent to me.Once I logged in the message was gone.
The language and threats were ridiculous.
I sent it to Goodreads for a Senior Management response.
MK
Modified for clean contentMK,
Joseph Salgado has sent you a message on Goodreads!
Joseph Salgado said,
TIME TO MAKE YOU STOP BEING A FREELOADER AND START BEING A PAYING CUSTOMER. open your wallet and surrender to my offers azzhole, else i will humiliate you real bad in public. okay? This is just a small sample. let us see how many accounts you can report f---er. i will be after your azz like a nightmare. the next time offers flood your inbox, just PAY UP. Else... bye. Don't bother tracking me coz I will be deleting this account shortly. Haha
Reply to this message
Enjoy!
Good. It only shows how weak and desperate they are. Poor babies can't extort money from people anymore because they are being reported lol
I had no idea this type of thing was so prevalent, so thanks to all for giving an account of their experience. I had reached out to two other authors regarding this issue and received similar advice. One kindly lead me to these posts. However, I had received these solicitations on my website (not on Goodreads). So, since I have not published as yet, nor posted my website anywhere, I was puzzled.In the beginning, I responded by asking these individuals where they had heard about my book and never received an answer, so I figured something was fishy. I am warier now and have taken up the ‘ignore’ strategy.
MK, I received the exact same e-mail you did from "Joseph". Unfortunately I believe that same individual than went onto the Goodreads thread I started on 1/12/21 and entered about 6 comments from separate individuals bashing me as an author and my book. Beyond frustrating!
Mark .and comes and report it. They have been good at removing the spam. See if they can remove the comments
I might have some good news. I asked Goodreads support if anything was being done to prevent scammers from attacking authors like that, and today I received a response saying they were working with their 'engineering teams to investigate possible solutions to prevent this from happening in the future.' I wrote a blogpost about this update and also mentioned MK's and Mark's experiences with threats.
I received the same email from Goodreads. Hopefully they are getting smarter. I do know that pointing them made us targets and I am glad others did the same. Change won't happen if we stick out head in the sand. Great job everyone who contributed and reported them
Oh my gosh... :o Didn't know authors were experiencing such harassment on Goodreads. I'm a new member to this group.
Alma wrote: "Oh my gosh... :o Didn't know authors were experiencing such harassment on Goodreads. I'm a new member to this group."I was new last month and I somehow go it all. Well, I did create a post about it. It seems to have calmed down for now.
Remember no bullies allowed lol
I reported both the email and the comments regarding my novel. I too received a message thanking me for the information.
Totally unsolicited.
Sure I want reviews for my first book. But I am not going to send a copy because someone just asks.
The whole message seems peculiar.
“Hi, (Anna)
I want to review your book in exchange of a review copy. You can email me a copy at [email protected]. Please note that I am unable to download gift copies so kindly don’t email me those. Also, I don’t check messages here often so, if you have any questions please email me directly. I am also a beta reader. Thanks”
Be warned. Even to email them back would not be a good idea. Once they have your email that starts the Phishing process.
MK