RHYS BOWEN: Dear Reds and Readers, I'm happy to report that after years of hard work and struggle, I have finally made it to the top. I am officially a writer of stature! An A lister!
How do I know this? Because FAKE RHYS BOWEN has been contacting other writers, just like fake James Patterson and Fake Julia Quinn. I only learned this because fake Rhys Bowen happened to contact my friend Lee Goldberg. Of course he contacted me with great glee. He posted on Facebook saying "You've never said that you'd love to share about your creative journey, what inspires the worlds and characters you create and how you keep your storytelling fresh and engaging when working with complex or layered material."
He added, but you did once throw yourself down a flight of stairs and get medi-vacced out of a hotel just to avoid talking with me! (that was when I fell and broke my pelvis!)
No, in real life we talk about the latest place he's found to eat on Oahu. I don't think real writers talk much about our creative journeys to each other. I know we Reds don't. We talk of more mundane matters like sick dogs, children and occasionally publishing gripes.
If you're a fellow writer you have probably been contacted by fake famous person. I'm not sure what they hope to get out of it. Would someone be expected to pay five hundred dollars to talk to fake Rhys Bowen?
I get daily scammers offering to bring my book to book clubs, get more visibility on Amazon etc. Occasionally I reply, as when they offered to take the German version of a Molly book to a book club in Manhattan. Mostly I ignore. Sometimes I write back to the book clubs and say that I'd love to meet with them and my usual fee is $2000. I don't hear back.
Lee, with more time than me, does engage in a most amusing way. He wrote back to fake Tana French, if I remember correctly, saying he was amazed she still wanted to talk to him after what happened. He was still in prison but the rape charge had been dropped. To a fake famous guy he replied, "You have a nerve to contact me after what you did to my wife."
The stupid thing is that these scammers don't seem to realize that we writers know each other! But I wonder how many self published authors do take the bait?
So dear Reds and Reddies, have you been getting these annoying scams? Do you just ignore and delete or try to respond?
The audacity of people never ceases to amaze me [of course, no one wants to pretend to be me, so this is the first time I've ever heard of this brazen thing] . . . it's easy for me to say "ignore it" [especially when it isn't happening to me] and I realize that's a difficult thing to do when someone is running around pretending to be you, but I do think that is what I would do if I were in that situation . . . .
ReplyDeleteI haven't by contacted fake you or other fake famous people, but certainly by scammers claiming to have read one of my books and gushing about it with all kinds of details then offering to boost my sales. Just a minute ago I threw one of those in the trash.
ReplyDeleteGood for Lee for having fun with them the scammers. And speaking of Lee, congratulations to Hank for her Mary Higgins Clark Award nomination and to Lee for his Sue Grafton Award nom!
So happy that you've finally made it Rhys! I was thinking this am as I hit delete what an amazing splash my series would have made if all those fake helpers were real! Delete delete delete, and then back to work...
ReplyDeleteI really think that we’ve lived through the best of the internet and it is all sliding downhill. Not being able to trust any info you see unless you know the person sending/posting it? Fake people, extremely biased if not completely fabricated news, AI-generated art, deep fake videos? Ugh.
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear writers, for continuing to write stories that I know a real person poured thought, love and research into so I can escape!
Rhys, you are a writer of stature and you are definitely on my A List!
ReplyDeleteLee Goldberg is a hoot! I have never met him in person but one of my good friends from high school is his neighbor.
During the pandemic, I began to read the rom com/mystery/action series that he wrote with Janet Evanovich and I became a fan. His stories are cinematic, imaginative and irresistible.
My pal Linda saw that I was a fan of his on Facebook. She double checked to be sure that the Judy Singer commenting on his posts was me. Then she told him that one of her friends follows him on Facebook and asked if he would autograph a book for me. She was coming east for our h.s. reunion and she'd bring the book. He signed two books and Linda schlepped them to the reunion.
I love reading his responses to the fake authors but can't help wondering if it just eggs them on.
Endlessly entertaining, great characters and excellent mysteries. If you haven't read any of his books, you should.
This is so helpful Judy - I like Evanovich's work but haven't heard of Lee Goldberg (although there is a Lee Goldberg meterologist on ABC). I'm checking his work out today!!
DeleteLee Goldberg writes in a lot of different genres. Also screen plays too. Excellent author!
DeleteThe two Lees are in touch with each other. There is also a Lee Matthew Goldberg who is a mystery writer.
DeleteIgnore and delete. I have been contacted by fake versions of people I'm following on social media, which is one of the reasons I set my social status to Private.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry this happened to you. Rhys, at first when you mentioned "A list", I remember I was there at the beginning ? of your career as an author. I discovered your Evan Evans mysteries when I attended a panel of mystery authors, including you and Penny Warner, at a local bookstore two blocks from my house in 1997 ? You have always been on my A list of authors, meaning you are one of my auto-buy authors.
Was that in Albany?
DeleteRhys, yes, the bookstore was in Berkeley near Chez Panisse.
DeleteRhys, congratulations! A-list, indeed! :-) I, a self-pubbed author, have received scam emails offering to help promote my work. I have to say, the scammers are getting a bit more sophisticated in their approach. The last one I received was actually well-written, not over-the-top gushing. I wouldn't be surprised if newbie authors fell for it. The question I ask myself is: how on earth would they ever have come across my work? There are zillions of self-pubbed books on Amazon. I interact with readers on a localized level, don't pay to get Amazon to promote my books, etc.
ReplyDeleteYes, they go for the self-pubbed, knowing they want all the help they can get.
DeleteI am not a writer of stature or A-lister (smiley face emoji) but recently I've been contacted by a couple of different women purporting to be book group organizers offering to promote my book in their "nation-wide" programs. One was purportedly from Books in Translation. (My book was published in English; when I pointed this out, she said they were expanding). They all request just a small fee ($100-$500) to cover their marketing. No idea how they found me; my book was published under a pen name in 2022.
ReplyDeleteScammers get blocked and deleted and when the option is available added to “this is a scam” list. But I’m not a famous author. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteRhys can you explain this (I am not a writer). Are these people who post on Facebook, Instagram, etc and wreak havoc so to speak?
ReplyDeleteThey email us. I get several fake book clubs and publicists a day offereing to make my books more visible. All from Nigeria, I fear. It's so annoying as I can then overlook the real bookclubs who would like to connect with me. And now the fake famous authors... so annoying.
DeleteDarn these fakes!
DeleteMany times and still ongoing. I don't reply but once I forwarded it to the real head of marketing at a major publisher with my own note saying the tell was that it was an offer from one publisher to handle the marketing for another publisher's author! Got a short friendly LOL back. What amazes me is that AI scans enough of whichever book of mine they've chosen so that the fake praise of the book sounds so real.
ReplyDeleteDarned AI!
DeleteDuring these dark and threatening times, I consider them a source of humor. There isn't much we can laugh about!
ReplyDeleteAmen. But it hurts to know that some writers ,desperate to get better known, will fall for these things.
DeleteI love this, Rhys. You and Lee thwarting a con! *Jenn cackles*
ReplyDeleteI'd like to do more thwarting but it all takes time!!
DeleteI don't get publishing cons sent to my email. But man do I get pretty much everything else.
ReplyDeletePenis Pills
Nigerian Warlord Money Scams
Mail Order Brides
GLP-1 weight loss BS
Notices of Cloud Account being closed (I don't have one)
You get the idea. Thankfully most go to the spam folder and I only see them when I go to empty it.
So, are you telling me, real Rhys, that the $500 I sent you won't be for a private tea and tour of San Francisco? Lee is like my husband who often likes to pick up scam calls and play with them. I just ignore them. And, you didn't need a fake Rhys for us all to know you're an A-lister.
ReplyDeleteThis nis something that doesn't assail me, not being a writer of any note. However, apparently there are 37 F******* men here in little Chatsworth who are dying to meet me. Only hope their wheelchairs are in tiptop order. Now this is real, about Lee Goldberg. I hadn't read his books until I read a review of "Calico." Being interested in that old ghost town, I bought a read it. Non-stop reading on this one, and then I started recommending it highly, and bought copies for those who might not take my recommendation seriously. Seriously! Yes, it's cinematic, and I'd like to see it filmed--in my lifetime. I just read "Hidden Hills," and now I'm on a roll. Rhys, this morning I finished reading "From Cradle to Grave," (wonderful book!), and I thank you for the cool epilogue, building intrigue for the next book. So happy Darcy is safe--so far. Lenita
ReplyDeleteA P. S. to the above: F******* is a nationality, not something else that might be thought. Lenita
DeleteRhys, I bow before your great stature! I get book club and podcast scams every day, but have yet to reach FAKE DEBORAH CROMBIE heights. I love Lee Goldberg, so funny, so talented, and so charming. He definitely deserves a fake Lee!
ReplyDelete