A flood of emails informing me how to sell my book, but these seem likely written by or with the help of AI

There’s been quite the hub-bub about AI as the author, but this post is about AI being used to scam authors. Since publishing Over Brooklyn Hills in June, I’ve been the recipient of many book marketing offers and the best I can figure, these emails are AI-generated.

Of course, these seem rather scamish, and what makes me think the emails are generated by AI are all the similarities among the nearly dozen emails from different people. I’ve spoken with other authors of recently published books and have learned that some authors receive several of these sorts of scam emails a day.

So much for my feeling special.

It is also clear that none of the email correspondents have read my book and that the sense of the book is drawn from reviews that I’ve gained and which are available online. It may be that many of these individuals use an AI marketing platform designed for purpose or, at the minimum, the same specific AI platform to generate the pitch email, considering the shared the language of the pitches. It may even be that some or all such emails come human-free, at least for the pitch generation. I assume that any cash sent in response to the pitches will eventually be deposited by humans.

 

Goodreads and Bookclubs

There’s a particular predominance of these emails tied to Goodreads, and these are the most likely to have real people behind them. The offered service, which is to put the book before qualified readers (definition unclear) on Goodreads, comes at a variety of rates, so if you want to spend less on being scammed, shop around.

By the way, Goodreads is not a book marketing platform, although having your book listed is important, according to the plethora of online ebook experts who have at least a six-month internship at a literary agency in their pocket. Unfortunately, the likely relevant Goodreads groups for my book, a literary climate fiction series, are few and several seem largely inactive, but that’s another story. Oh, and self-promotion is frowned upon for authors participating in Goodreads groups.

Since starting this post there’s been another dozen or more similar emails and there are many online stories about the sorts of emails I’ve been receiving being scams. Looking online at the senders, I was hard-pressed to find real people behind the names used in these emails, although some percentage has discoverable people and some seem more legitimate. One variety of these scams claims that my book is just right for their bookclub and offers the opportunity to participate in a club meeting discussing one’s book, and what author doesn’t want to do that? All one needs to do is send in $75, $150, or more, to help defray the costs of running the book club. There’s few signs of such book clubs online, but, hey, maybe they need the money to hire an SEO expert, right?

AI Scrapes Reviews in the Nicest Ways

The overall impression from the book promotion solicitations is that each pitch uses much of the same language. That’s because these descriptions come from reviews and jacket copy, likely compiled by AI.

This email is one example of the Goodreads scam variant, and then there’s an example of the bookclub scam that follows:

From: [Name and email redacted]
Subject: Thoughts Over Brooklyn Hills
Message Body: I hope you’re doing well. I recently came across *Over Brooklyn Hills*, and I was impressed by its compelling vision of a near-future world shaped by climate change, social upheaval, and the resilience of ordinary people. Through its richly developed characters and thought-provoking exploration of environmental, political, and personal challenges, the novel offers readers an engaging story that feels both timely and remarkably plausible.

I help organize a private Goodreads reading community where readers actively discover and discuss meaningful books across a wide range of genres. We’re currently preparing our next Goodreads Reading Challenge, and I believe *Over Brooklyn Hills* would be an excellent addition.

Our members enjoy literary fiction and speculative novels that spark meaningful conversations about society, the environment, and the human experience. I believe your book would resonate with readers who appreciate character-driven storytelling alongside thoughtful explorations of climate change, community, and the choices that shape our future. Many of our members also leave thoughtful reviews on Goodreads and Amazon after completing books they genuinely enjoy.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, I’d be happy to share the available promotional options and discuss what might work best for your goals and budget.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Warm regards,

[Name redacted]

 

From: [Name and email redacted]
Subject: Over Brooklyn Hills, Book Three of The Steep Climes Quartet David Guenette
Message Body: Dear David Guenette

One of the most compelling aspects of Over Brooklyn Hills is its exploration of how individuals and communities respond to profound change while striving to preserve their humanity, purpose, and connection to one another. Through its richly imagined near-future world, the novel invites readers to reflect on resilience, leadership, adaptation, and the choices people make when confronted with uncertainty. These themes deeply resonated with our readers.

At [name of book club redacted], we intentionally curate books that inspire thoughtful reflection, meaningful dialogue, and a deeper understanding of the forces shaping both individuals and society. Your work stood out during our selection process because it skillfully blends compelling storytelling with timely questions about community, responsibility, innovation, and the human capacity to navigate challenging realities.

Our community of engaged readers and lifelong learners often gravitates toward books that examine the intersection of personal experience and broader societal transformation. Over Brooklyn Hills naturally creates space for conversations around resilience, journalism, governance, human connection, and the role individuals play in shaping a hopeful future amid complex circumstances.

We would be honored to spotlight your work within our reader community through an author conversation, reader Q&A, or virtual discussion centered on the ideas and inspirations behind the novel

If this opportunity resonates with you, I would love to explore next steps and discuss a format that best fits your schedule.

Warm regards

[Name redacted]

Well, of course Over Brooklyn Hills deserves the readership suggested in the pitch email below, as any proud author will think. I’ll admit to liking how AI reassembling of book information and review copy can make for snappy language, and don’t be surprised to see that I’ve cribbed lines for marketing copy. By the way, these emails came through my website contact form and the contact form has a word limit, so you’ll see at the close of this example [the rest of the email cut by the limit of the contact plug-in on my website]:

From: [Name and title redacted]
Subject: David, “Over Brooklyn Hills” Deserves a Readership Equal to Its Climate Prognostication, Slice of Life Scene Craft, and Process Oriented Thriller Heart
Message Body: Hi David, Let me start with this: Over Brooklyn Hills is exactly the kind of singular, clear eyed near future novel the climate fiction world needs right now.

In an era where readers are hungry for stories that show not disaster as spectacle but disaster as routine, where in 2035, addressing climate change remains a one step forward one step backward jig, with battles over climate policy and new legislation continuing alongside the march upward of average global temperatures, and in the courts finally some very real legal threats to the fossil fuel industry fighting for its future against the advancement of clean tech, is exactly the kind of prognostication meets process oriented thriller, governance and activism and technological shifts all in play premise that hooks readers who love deeply grounded climate fiction, where Davin Caine is at last on Medicare and getting a modest Social Security check each month but still works with Berkshire Interactive, busier in his studio with sculptures in galleries in the Berkshires and the Hudson Valley, his solar batteries and VPP membership keeping electricity bills down, his three house sharers helping with expenses as housing remains scarce, with Marsha queen of the big vegetable garden after nearly a decade with Housatonic House on the Hill, Charlie the nigh on perfect house sharer often away on business or holed up in his third floor bedroom working, and Be the newest house sharer, a ceramic artist who helps with the first floor Airbnb apartment and who has just claimed a corner of the studio and could easily claim his heart if he is not careful, is exactly the kind of rich characterization, slice of life scene craft, people trying to keep a home in a changing world tension that keeps readers turning pages, and where as summer approaches a stunning heatwave settles over New York City, west to Lake Erie, and south into parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, driving people to escape into the relatively cool hills of the Be

[the rest of the email cut by the limit of the contact plug-in on my website]

Here are some excerpts from other pitches. I like the first one, in that it acknowledges the Kirkus review. The second excerpt is a comforting reminder that readers are, indeed, waiting for my book. The third excerpt, like the previous one, use some identical language, i.e., I came across the description for Over Brooklyn Hills and something stopped me. The last excerpt (oh, but I could go on) declares being impressed by the admirable novel, but the conditional tense: for what appears to be a remarkably thoughtful and immersive contribution to climate fiction, kind of gives the game away.

From: [name and email redacted]
Subject: Building Momentum for the Steep Climes Quartet
Message Body: Hi David, What caught me about Over Brooklyn Hills is how ordinary the future feels. Kirkus specifically praised your attention to how climate change plays out at the local level, and details like offshore sea walls, micro-payment news outlets, and drone deliveries on the Appalachian Trail sound like a world reached through daily life rather than spectacle. Literary Titan put it well, saying it reads less like being shown a future and more like being asked to notice one already forming…

From: [Name and email redacted]
Subject: Your book Over Brooklyn Hills and the readers waiting for it
Message Body: David, I came across the description for Over Brooklyn Hills and something stopped me…

From: [Name and email redacted]
Subject: A climate fiction novel like Over Brooklyn Hills deserves a much larger stage in the literary fiction community
Message Body: Hello David, I came across Over Brooklyn Hills and something stopped me…

From: [Name and email redacted]
Subject: Impressed by the Scope and Relevance of Over Brooklyn Hills
Message Body: Dear David Guenette, I recently had the opportunity to read about Over Brooklyn Hills, and I wanted to express my admiration for what appears to be a remarkably thoughtful and immersive contribution to climate fiction…

Is This Post a Scam?

This post raises the question of how well AI can be applied to the task of flattering authors into forking over money.

What’s too bad is that any sincere appeal from a human to help promote or market a book—a valid service—gets lost among the storm of scams. I’d gotten obsessed with how such scams would play out, so I had some correspondence with some of the emailers, and uncovered a couple of people who actually addressed the specific challenges for Over Brooklyn Hills, and those challenges basically come down to choosing the best book categories and applying the type of keywords that put the book in front of people who aren’t expecting climate fiction to be a story of apocalypse, but rather want well-drawn characters and real world depiction far more than fast plotlines and action.

I’ve seen a bump in sales over the last couple of weeks after I improved the metadata about the book on my own, but sales remain modest. One reason for the modest sales is that Amazon’s KDP publishing platform, while offering good royalty rates (especially on the ebook side), is actually designed to take your royalty money and more back, because if you want searchers to actually find your book, you best use Amazon Ads and Amazon Ads can run up billing. The level of book description (categories and keywords) within KDP is weak, unfortunately for authors of any book short of hyper-genre novels, but wouldn’t you know, you can radically expand keywords—both of the regular sort and the very helpful “negative keywords” sort—through Amazon Ads, which is an ad bidding program. Talk about scams.

But if you’ve read this far into the post, at least I got to show you some very nice things said about Over Brooklyn Hills.

My god, did I just scam you?