Authors, is that email from a book festival or radio show legit? Here's an analysis from @victoriastrauss.com writerbeware.blog/2026/05/08/b... #writingcommunity #writinglife #authorlife

I had an email earlier this week purporting to be from Margaret Atwood wanting to discuss my "unique contribution to literature"

Scammers use A.I. now to poke at writers' every hope and fear. Keep hope alive, but don't let them scam you. Follow #WriterBeware, learn about scams, and stay skeptical.

About time, indeed. FB is advertising heaven for publishing scammers

This editor impersonation scam is extremely widespread at the moment writerbeware.blog/2026/03/27/w...

New #WriterBeware blog post: two new entries in the unending cavalcade of AI-driven scams from Nigeria writerbeware.blog/2026/05/08/b...

My blog post on the PageTurner/Innocentrix scam, updated with details of Michael Sordilla's guilty plea. The plea includes a list of victims (names redacted) and the amounts they're owed. Many are owed more than $100,000; three are owed more than $1 million writerbeware.blog/2025/01/03/k...

Big news if you follow publishing scams: Michael Cris Traya Sordilla, CEO of PageTurner/Innocentrix--one of the biggest ever Philippine scam operations that was busted by the FBI last year--pleads guilty; ordered to pay over $48 million in restitution for victims www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr...

The latest report from PEN America on book bans shows “a surge in the banning of nonfiction titles” www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

(The must-follow @victoriastrauss.com already covered this scam using well-known editors spontaneously reaching out and promising easy industry inroads, though Beth Meacham isn't on the list of names in this blog. But the text of the email I got is otherwise the same.)

🚨 URGENT: We are running out of time. There is an illegal plan moving forward right now to completely gut the US Forest Service. Don't scroll past this—it takes exactly 30 seconds to send a letter to your representatives. Click here and do it now: actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...

A new lawsuit against Meta based on its use of pirated works for AI training www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

This is kinda bad, right? www.transparencycoalition.ai/news/new-res...

Publishers learned a lot from discovery in author AI lawsuits and the first opinion from California Judge Vince Chhabria. Now they have filed the first publisher-brought copyright infringement suit against Meta and Mark Zuckerberg personally, in SDNY. lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2026/05/publ...

LOL…even dead authors aren’t safe from AI marketing slop

Pretty accurate--but it's missing a square for third-party financial manager with Nigerian name electricliterature.com/author-ai-sc...

In case anyone has been trying to reach me via Writer Beware's Facebook page, or is wondering why there's no activity there...I've been blocked for "going against Community Standards". No explanation as to what the offending content was or how long the block will last. Sigh.

The @authorsguild.org offers a suite of model contract clauses related to AI (recently updated with a clause addressing the possibility of publishers uploading manuscripts to AI without permission) authorsguild.org/advocacy/art...

Scam alert!

Anthropic copyright settlement update: Authors are reporting receiving notices like the one below, with a new claims deadline. This is presumably an effort to find rightsholders who have NOT filed a claim yet; if you've already filed a claim, you don't need to file a new one.

hell yeah

Must Read Magazines announced on April 22 they are switching to new printer for Analog, Asimov's, and F&SF. This follows "declining print quality and unacceptable delays" with their previous printer. www.patreon.com/posts/156517...

Just checked and the final Anthropic status update is in place with # of claims received. 440,490 claims received means roughly something like $2678 per work ($1339 when split between publisher and author).

Standout today over Rt. 91 in Western Mass @visibilitybrigade.bsky.social

Re-upping this blog post published several years ago, not just because it's one of the weirder and darker literary scam schemes I've covered, but because it now has a completely unsurprising coda (grifters gonna grift) writerbeware.blog/2021/09/03/v...

The Famous Author scam strikes again

It sucks that if a fellow author reaches out to you, you have to suspect it’s an AI impersonation scam. But that’s where we are these days. Another reason to hate AI ( and scammers)

It would have been nice to mention Writer Beware, since I was the first to report on this lawsuit (back in February) and in much greater detail writerbeware.blog/2026/02/20/a... authorsguild.org/news/topps-l...

New on the Anthropic settlement from the @authorsguild.org : over 91% (!!) of eligible books were claimed as of the claims deadline (I would not have predicted such a high number!) Looks like the payout will be close to the $3000 originally estimated authorsguild.org/news/anthrop...

I published this article about the longstanding payment problems at Cricket Media in 2022. Reupping, since I'm STILL hearing from Cricket authors and illustrators who haven't been paid... hey @scbwi.bsky.social any response? writerbeware.blog/2022/11/18/l...

A new model contract clause from the @authorsguild.org addresses the use of generative AI in publishing workflows (such as uploading mss into AI systems to generate summaries, marketing copy, etc.) authorsguild.org/news/use-of-...

Lots of AI/writing posts going around. Let this one be the one you read today. (and follow & hire @juliescheina.com for your editorial needs!)

Conspiracy theorists all over the US are celebrating.

AI slop is making life worse for everyone: Draft2Digital will be instituting fees in an effort to stem the onslaught of "low-quality accounts": a $20 activation fee for new accounts, & a $12 annual maintenance fee for accounts earning less than $100 over 12 months draft2digital.com/blog/underst...

The Anthropic book theft settlement is essentially done, but many more battles remain. I also agree with Catherynne M. Valente's recent essay calling the settlement "blood money." 1/ www.patreon.com/posts/155693...

Impersonation scam alert.

A spanking for the Mikkelsen twins and their horrible faux educational operation Publishing. com. The grift is so egregious that even Trump's FTC declined to overlook it www.ftc.gov/news-events/...

Grift alert!

This is a good, close look at the details of several very prevalent AI-driven writing scams (including contacts on Facebook, which is a major offender) and ways to unmask them feliciasalber.substack.com/p/scam-attac...

My blog post about this very widespread scam, which arrives out of the blue in the form of a highly flattering (AI-generated) email writerbeware.blog/2026/03/27/w...

Book Broker: an interview with literary agent Jane Dystel "Our agency receives hundreds of query letters a year. I ask to read about 50% of them" darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/b... #amquerying #mswl

New #WriterBeware blog post: An update on the Anthropic copyright settlement, now that the deadline for filing claims has passed, including how many claims there've been and an objection to the settlement that could change everything if approved writerbeware.blog/2026/04/10/a...

This is one of the best sites for keeping up with AI lawsuits, including this tracker map of cases in the USA and abroad chatgptiseatingtheworld.com/aicopyrightc...

Scam alert: if you get the invite below to the Bournemouth Writing Festival, it's a scam (confirmed for me by the festival director). See the highlighed phrase. I've gotten similar reports of fake invites to the Edinburgh Book Festival, and I'm sure there are others.

Anthropic settlement news: law professor's objection to motion for final approval asks court to consider 2 critical copyright issues: whether publishers are entitled to payouts, & whether books not copyright-registered were unlawfully excluded. Read here: writerbeware.blog/wp-content/u...

This is a widespread scam impersonating multiple editors. The emails all contain similar language. The goal: referrals for paid scam services. My blog post goes into detail: writerbeware.blog/2026/03/27/w...

Hey, authors, if you're wondering where that AI marketing scammer who just solicited you got your contact information, it could be because your books are in the ALLi bookstore. Just saw documentation suggesting that AI agents are trawling through the store database.

A pirate tale. indianexpress.com/article/citi...

There is an entire article on his endless websites by @victoriastrauss.com, and the list of his websites is only getting longer. He made another one recently. He also made one copying *my exact same name* and followed all my friends, which drives me bonkers. :/ writerbeware.blog/2025/02/21/w...

For anyone interested in what's happening in US states re: generative AI, this very informative AI legislation tracker map covers the growing number of AI-related bills (both good & bad, incl some crazy ones that died in committee) www.transparencycoalition.ai/news/ai-legi...