Writers: Please Be Aware of Scammers Pretending to Be Literary Agents, Editors, and Publishers

[With all credit and thanks to Canongate]

AI has suddenly made it much easier to carry out elaborate scams targeting writers, with approaches that are convincingly tailored to them and their work. As a result, we are seeing a deluge of these scams, with editors, agents (including those at the Brattle Agency), and other publishing industry professionals being impersonated at an industrial scale.

Typically, these approaches begin with emails expressing enthusiasm for the writer’s work (including specific details). If the writer responds, the correspondence continues and can even grow to involve other seemingly legitimate “people.”

Ultimately, after leading the writer on, the goal is to extract money from them, perhaps by requiring payment for an editorial service as a condition of publication or representation.

THE BRATTLE AGENCY NEVER REQUESTS MONEY FOR AGENT OR EDITORIAL SERVICES IN ADVANCE OR OUTSIDE OF CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENTS. IF SOMEONE DOES SO UNDER THE NAME OF THE BRATTLE AGENCY, YOU’LL KNOW IT IS FRAUDULENT.

There is no shame at all in being targeted by these kinds of scams or in wanting to believe them. They are sophisticated and cruel. The only shame belongs to the scammers. Truly, how do they sleep at night?

Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself.

Look at the email address

This is the best way to detect fraud.

The Brattle Agency agents use [at} thebrattleagency [dot] com email addresses and will not contact you from other accounts or have you email them at another account. The same is true of other publishers and organizations.

Before replying, check that the domain of the email address that you are contacting is legitimate.

If you are still not sure, reach out to us!

If the account you are emailing does not belong to a legitimate domain ([at} thebrattleagency [dot] com for our agents) then unfortunately you have been approached by a scammer. You should report the attempt as phishing/spam in your email client and not engage with them.

If you are still not 100% sure, you can find a public contact email for the publisher or agent the email claims to be from and confirm it with them.

For example, the Brattle Agency has an email address for general inquiries at general [dot] info [at] thebrattleagency [dot] com. If you need to, you can reach out to us there.

Submission guidelines

It can also be worth checking the agency’s submission guidelines.

Look out for yourself and others!

It’s disconcerting that agents, publishers, and editors are being impersonated, and heartbreaking to think of all the hopeful authors who are being preyed upon.

If you are a writer, please look out for yourself and your community. Let others know that this is happening and how to look out for scams. Share this post if it is helpful.