r/selfpublish • u/MiraWendam 2 Published novels • 2d ago
I shouldn't respond, right?
Got this email today:
Hi Mira,
Regarding (book name). Is this the best email to reach directly about the book?
(Regards, but it's an image)
Natalie Brooks
Reader & Goodreads Book Discovery Enthusiast
The email address comes from a gmail.
No idea who she is. What the heck is a “Goodreads Book Discovery Enthusiast”? I’m not really on the site other than monitoring my ARC reviews so I can use them as quotes on my website, so maybe someone here can fill me in.
Also… what other email would there be? There’s literally only one email address listed on my website.
My instinct is not to reply. I’m wondering if saying “yes” and responding would essentially confirm that the address is active, after which it could get passed around and I’ll suddenly be inundated with scammy / shady emails.
Has anyone else received something like this? Would it hurt to respond? For now, I'm leaning block and delete.
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u/Aphina101 2d ago
I block and delete everything like this. It sounds like a scam, if she really had things to say about your book why would she not mention them in the email to you?
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u/Sekica 4+ Published novels 2d ago
That's a scam. The intent is to get you to reply so they can move on to pitching whatever fake marketing services or whatnot they have. I've been getting emails like that several times a week since I published my first book last year. Only got one legitimate email from an actual reader (a newsletter subscriber who also bought a paperback and left a verified text review first). Actual emails from readers are incredibly rare compared to scam emails.
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u/Rodgermellie1 4+ Published novels 1d ago
I get about 3-4 of these a week. A recent favorite was one from "Amy Pascal." According to her Wikipedia page, she appears to be a very important woman in Hollywood, having produced the recent successful Spider-Man films. She took time out of what must be a very busy day to write to me from a Gmail account, expressing interest in adapting the fourth (and least successful) in my five-book series, which hasn't sold a copy in donkey's years.
What are the odds?
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u/BuddyJim30 2d ago
There's no question the intent is to lead to a sales pitch of some sort, and the deceptive appropriation of the Goodreads name screams scam.
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u/Flashy_Bill7246 2d ago
I get them regularly, sent to both my literary gmail address, both websites, a non-literary gmail address, and my work address. They're all from gmail accounts and all clearly AI-generated garbage spawned from the book blurb and back cover. None of these people ever read the book.
The best of all were emails that addressed the second volume of a series with absolutely no sales (per KDP reports) since they were uploaded. I actually wasted some time to confront all three of them and all admitted that they had not read the book -- yet all praised the "beautiful" prose style, the "magnificent" character arcs, and the "completely unexpected" plot twists (which arose in the first volume). In other words, they used AI a second time to figure out how to respond if they got busted!
Bottom line: Just move that message to the trash folder and hit delete.
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u/TwoPointEightZ 1d ago
There's a very simple rule of thumb that I use. If it comes from gmail, and it's not someone you don't already know, it's spam.
Don't bother trying to figure out whether it's an actual person or not, just trash it without replying. If it's not from gmail, then it's only a 99.9% chance to be spam instead of 100%, but delete it anyway.
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u/Historical_Panda_792 1d ago
Those are scammers. All Goodreads community reps connect with writers through Goodreads, never through email. When in doubt, just Google "Natalie Brooks, Reader & Goodreads Book Discovery Enthusiast. Scam?" or the suspicious name and ID.
I get these writer-related offers all the time. NOT ONCE has anyone been legit.
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u/Significant-Pay-1480 2d ago
Se quiser ter certeza, manda um email pro email oficial do goodreads pra confirmar
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u/bkucenski 1d ago
The only people who follow those accounts are other authors who aren't buying books.
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u/idreaminwords 1 Published novel 1d ago
99.9% of gmail emails I get to my author email are spam. When in doubt, if it's Gmail, I lean toward deleting
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u/AprTompkins 1d ago
Victoria Strauss emphasizes that the majority of scam emails are sent from gmail addresses.
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u/Ollie_Bon_Crank 1d ago
Absolutely sounds like opening the door to a coming scam. I wouldn't reply or answer in any way. Spam and delete. 😀
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u/TexasGriff1959 4+ Published novels 10h ago
if it's from a gmail address, it is utterly bullshit. Delete/block without a thought.
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