Science-fiction author R.W.W. Greene documented at least 51 unsolicited book-marketing pitches between October 18 and November 20, 2025, with offers ranging from Pinterest and Goodreads placement to paid reviews, book trailers, Amazon optimization and social-media promotion. Most used generic Gmail accounts, claimed access to real readers or organic engagement, and supplied no verifiable portfolios or results. Greene says Gmail’s spam filter caught roughly two-thirds of the messages. Greene tested one sender, Veronica Emmanuel, after she offered a detailed promotion plan for Six Plays, a work by the Elizabethan playwright Robert Greene, who died in 1592. After being challenged, the sender said a batch-processing system had incorrectly connected Greene’s name to the public-domain title, then continued pitching marketing services without naming his actual books. Greene also identified an email sender using the name and headshot of UK author Judy Leigh to promote a purported Medium book-promotion program; Greene says Medium does not run the program described. Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has tracked a wave of similar pitches since June 2025 and says operations in Nigeria use AI to generate personalized outreach at scale. Greene estimates that a traditionally published author earning $0.25 to $0.40 per ebook would need up to 2,000 additional sales to recover a $500 marketing fee.
rwwgreene.substack.com
16 min
21h ago
Science-fiction author R.W.W. Greene documented at least 51 unsolicited book-marketing pitches between October 18 and November 20, 2025, with offers ranging from Pinterest and Goodreads placement to paid reviews, book trailers, Amazon optimization and social-media promotion. Most used generic Gmail accounts, claimed access to real readers or organic engagement, and supplied no verifiable portfolios or results. Greene says Gmail’s spam filter caught roughly two-thirds of the messages. Greene tested one sender, Veronica Emmanuel, after she offered a detailed promotion plan for Six Plays, a work by the Elizabethan playwright Robert Greene, who died in 1592. After being challenged, the sender said a batch-processing system had incorrectly connected Greene’s name to the public-domain title, then continued pitching marketing services without naming his actual books. Greene also identified an email sender using the name and headshot of UK author Judy Leigh to promote a purported Medium book-promotion program; Greene says Medium does not run the program described. Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has tracked a wave of similar pitches since June 2025 and says operations in Nigeria use AI to generate personalized outreach at scale. Greene estimates that a traditionally published author earning $0.25 to $0.40 per ebook would need up to 2,000 additional sales to recover a $500 marketing fee.
rwwgreene.substack.com
16 min
21h ago
Science-fiction author R.W.W. Greene documented at least 51 unsolicited book-marketing pitches between October 18 and November 20, 2025, with offers ranging from Pinterest and Goodreads placement to paid reviews, book trailers, Amazon optimization and social-media promotion. Most used generic Gmail accounts, claimed access to real readers or organic engagement, and supplied no verifiable portfolios or results. Greene says Gmail’s spam filter caught roughly two-thirds of the messages. Greene tested one sender, Veronica Emmanuel, after she offered a detailed promotion plan for Six Plays, a work by the Elizabethan playwright Robert Greene, who died in 1592. After being challenged, the sender said a batch-processing system had incorrectly connected Greene’s name to the public-domain title, then continued pitching marketing services without naming his actual books. Greene also identified an email sender using the name and headshot of UK author Judy Leigh to promote a purported Medium book-promotion program; Greene says Medium does not run the program described. Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has tracked a wave of similar pitches since June 2025 and says operations in Nigeria use AI to generate personalized outreach at scale. Greene estimates that a traditionally published author earning $0.25 to $0.40 per ebook would need up to 2,000 additional sales to recover a $500 marketing fee.
rwwgreene.substack.com
16 min
21h ago
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