Is This A Scam?

Scams are everywhere. The number of calls I get from spam on my cell phone is ridiculous. Emails from scammers are endless.

Unfortunately, the writing community is not immune. I’m active on Twitter and other social media platforms. There are so many fake author accounts where they follow you, you follow them, and you immediately get a DM from them which eventually leads to a push for services they want to sell to you. It’s so bad that I no longer follow writer accounts or those of other creative people because I just don’t feel like any of them are real.

And so … I got this email a few days ago:

Dear Mark Paxson,

I hope you’re doing well.

My name is XXXXX, and I am a Host and Producer at XXXX, the XXXXX pioneer public radio station. We are known for our deep roots in the community and our commitment to thoughtful, sound-rich storytelling.

We are currently curating our upcoming segments for XXXX, our “pocket-sized book tour” that highlights distinctive voices and compelling new works. Your novel, Good Grooming and a Healthy Respect for Authority, stood out to us for its sharp, subversive wit and its “National Lampoon”-esque skewering of the American coming-of-age narrative.

What particularly caught our attention was:

• The “Lost Weekend” Framework: The 1980s setting of Enon, Ohio, serving as a backdrop for a drug-and-alcohol-addled resurrection of a decade often viewed through a more sanitized lens.
• The Dynamic of Disillusionment: The relationship between Frank and Slord—one returning from college and the other a local pot dealer—and how their “caustic lampooning” lays bare the punctured dreams of youth.
• The Anti-Authoritarian Tone: Your “genuinely funny” critique of national touchstones, from the etiquette of Miss Manners to the perceived complicity of the American public-school system.
• The Darwinian Social Satire: The “Darwinian, survival-of-the-fittest” business-based concerns you explore, highlighting the hypocrisy often found in the defense of “wholesome” American values.

The proposed segment would explore:

• The inspiration behind your work and your approach to writing a “provocative comic novel” that serves as an antidote to traditional storytelling.
• A brief reading of a key passage to give our listeners a “taste” of your “fabulous natural writing ability” and the book’s sharp humor.
• How your themes of rebellion against middle-American stalwarts and the selling out of ideals resonate with the counter-cultural and historically inquisitive audience of the San Francisco Bay Area.
• The impact you hope this “subversive” tale has on readers who have felt at odds with societal expectations.

KALW is widely respected for its arts and culture programming, including our award-winning daily magazine Crosscurrents. We believe your insights would resonate strongly with our listeners, who value intellectual curiosity and authentic, unapologetic storytelling.

Our segments are engaging, conversational, and designed to bridge the gap between authors and the community. We are flexible with scheduling and would be delighted to feature you in an upcoming Tuesday broadcast at a time that suits you.

It would be a pleasure to share your voice and this “provocative” narrative with our audience.

Looking forward to the possibility of connecting.

Best regards,

I initially thought I would try to hide the identity of “who” sent this to me, but then I realized that if this is a scam, she is innocent and just as much of a victim as I am. So, I’m going to try to keep her name and the radio station’s name out of this. To protect the innocent.

Here are the problems with that opening email:

1. I didn’t write that book. It’s written by somebody else who goes by Mark S. Paxson. I feel like I heard about this book at some point within the last few years, but could not find it on my Kindle. I’m the type of person who would download the book just to see who this person with my name is (I do have a different middle initial).
2. The book is over 900 pages long and is not a “new arrival.” It was first published in 2022 and appears to have been “republished” last month. The book has a grand total of one review that I could find.
3. How could a public radio station that wants to highlight good writing, local authors, etc., have found this book and decided to feature it?
4. The signature block includes two different email addresses and a website. One email address is for the radio station, and the website is for the radio station. The other email address is the regular email address with @gmail.com added to the end. Which is also the email address from the sender who sent me the email.

So, I responded…

Not sure if this is real. Has the look of an email drafted by AI. 

But regardless, that is not my book. And it isn’t a New Arrival. It was published in 2022. 

If you’d like to discuss the books I’ve published, I’d be happy to have that conversation. 

Mark

Seriously, I think that first email was almost entirely drafted by AI. It just has that feel. I also sent her a link to a review of my most recent novella to try to get her focused on my books. Here is the response I got:

Thank you for your response and for pointing that out. I appreciate the correction, and I apologize for the mix up regarding the book and publication timeline. Thank you as well for sending the review of The Jump. I had the opportunity to read through it, and the story and themes sound very compelling, especially the psychological tension and character driven focus.

I would be very interested in discussing The Jump and your work more broadly rather than focusing on one specific title. Our New Arrivals segments often turn into conversations about an author’s writing journey, themes across their books, and the ideas behind their stories, so I think that could make for a very engaging conversation with our audience.

If you are open to it, I would be happy to schedule a time for a short recorded interview conversation for an upcoming Tuesday broadcast. We are flexible with timing and can work around your schedule.

Thank you again for your time, and I hope we can make this work.

The thing is, I don’t think the review I shared with her mentioned psychological tension or character driven focus at all. So I have no idea where she got that from. In response, I told her I would be interested. But while I was responding to her, I was also doing a little more research into the radio station and the program. When I told her I was interested, here was her response:

That’s great to hear, I’m glad you’re open to moving forward.

Before we lock in a time, I’d love to gather a few materials so I can prepare properly and make the conversation as thoughtful and engaging as possible for our listeners:

Book PDF or ARC so I can read and prepare tailored questions
Author Bio a short professional bio around 100 to 200 words for your on air introduction
Discussion Topics or Talking Points any themes or ideas you would especially like to highlight
Availability and Scheduling Details what days and times work best for you and whether you prefer live or pre recorded
Social Media Handles or Website for listener engagement and promotion
Purchase Links so we can direct listeners on where to find your book
Press Release or Media Kit if available, just for additional context

Also, just to mention briefly, there are some small logistical arrangements on our end that help us coordinate production and scheduling smoothly. We can go over that together once we align on the details so everything feels comfortable and clear on both sides.

For now, let’s keep things here and continue working through the details step by step until we settle on a time that works well.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

I have to admit here that I gave her the requested information, but very shortly after realized this was probably a scam.

The show she was referencing — New Arrivals — didn’t have a new episode in the last five months. All of the episodes I listened to from the radio station’s archives were just two minutes of an author reading from a recently published work. There was no interview. No discussion of their writing journey. Just an excerpt read by the author.

I sent a message to the CEO of the radio station and asked if he could confirm this was real. He never replied.

On Wednesday, I sent her an email letting her know I had changed my mind and would not be proceeding. She asked me why so that she could improve her outreach to authors in the future. I replied with:

There are scams everywhere and there are endless scams directed at writers and other creative types. I don’t think you’re a legitimate offer. Multiple reasons for that.

Please do not continue to email me.

Did she honor my request? Of course not. Within a very short period of time, I got the following:

Thank you for your honesty, and I completely respect your request not to continue emailing.

If you’re willing, I would really appreciate understanding a bit more about what made this feel illegitimate to you. Your feedback would help me improve how I reach out to authors in the future.

I have not replied. If I did, I would say something like “I believe you’re a scam, why would I help you?”

What bothers me is that the person claims to be a reporter for a public radio station producing a show that features local writers and she doesn’t seem to do any research or due diligence. For instance, at no time did she ask me if I was local to the region her radio station and her program represents. And when I pointed out I wasn’t the author of the book she initially referenced, she was more than willing to shift gears and feature me, without any hesitation, without any inquiry about me and my qualifications. It was just too easy.

So … what do you think?