How to protect against scammers – a new guide for authors

An alarming increase in fraudulent activity targeting authors has led WGGB and the Society of Authors (SoA) to join together to issue urgent new guidance outlining measures writers can take to protect themselves.

How to protect against scammers: a guide for authors – which is published today – follows reports of a large uptick in members contacting WGGB and the SoA for advice on scams. Much of this activity is being driven by the rise of AI, which means that scams are taking more sophisticated and convincing forms, including impersonation of agents and publishers. The scammers aim to manipulate writers to part with money or sign away their rights in return for the promise of representation, publication, promotion or important connections.

The guide includes a checklist for authors to help them assess whether offers they receive are genuine or fraudulent. Advice includes being wary of convincing-seeming email addresses which scammers use to impersonate publishers, agents, big-name authors, publicists, marketing providers and others to ‘cold-email’ authors and make unsolicited offers, including attempts to try to acquire rights in books that have not been submitted to them (a practice legitimate agents or publishers would not engage with).

To read the full article on writersguild.org.uk, click here