Julie Broad ("Julie the Book Broad"), founder of Book Launchers, warns authors about common book-marketing scams and how to avoid wasting money on false promises. She calls out cold, unsolicited outreach on platforms like X (Twitter) and LinkedIn, low-entry-price offers that upsell, fabricated social-media engagement (bots, fake comments), and vague promises of press or media placements. She advises authors to vet providers by checking past clients, testimonials, audience fit, and social engagement authenticity, and points viewers to resources (Ally Watchdog, Writer Beware) and her paid Author Business Accelerator community.
Questions this video answers
December 13, 2024.
"Maybe $50, $70, sometimes it's $100."
X (aka Twitter) and LinkedIn.
Ally Watchdog and Writer Beware.
authorbusinessaccelerator.com.
Chapters
I'm on a bit of a kick right now, helping authors avoid getting ripped off, so why stop now? Let's talk about book marketing scams. All those companies that are preying on your hopes and dreams as an author and selling you magic solutions but delivering nothing but a loaded credit card. Book marketing is hard and every author dreams of getting their book into the hands of a lot of readers. But there isn't a magic button. So if you want to make sure you're not about to drop money on something that is not going to help you on your book marketing, well, this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the Book Broad, founder of Book Launchers, and yes, we offer book marketing services, but we actually don't take on very many authors who have books that are already on the market. That is because there are a lot of layers to book marketing and many books just haven't put the layers in. And many authors won't go back after the fact, the fact being the launch and make the book what it needs to be in order to sell. And I tell you, there's a lot of people who try to hand me money and say, just, just sell it like it is. I don't want to make changes and I could take their money, but I know it's not going to solve the problem the book is having. So we don't. But many companies are not like book launchers and they will happily grab the money and give you something that sounds great but doesn't get you any results at all. So first, what to watch out for? So the first thing to watch out for is cold outreach. They reach out to you through email or a direct message on your social media. I get these on X, aka Twitter and LinkedIn all the time and I actually kind of laugh. I'm like, did you not look at my profile? I literally do this for others. But cool, go ahead and try and sell me your service. Here's what these offers always look like so you can be on the lookout. First, they are always complimentary about your book or the opportunity for your book to be so much more successful. Heads up. They didn't look at my profile to see that I run a company called Book Launchers, so. So rest assured, they never looked at your book. Second, there is a cost, and that's fine if the service was genuine, but sometimes they lead you in making it seem like you're going to get something and not telling you there's a cost. And sometimes they're just offering you things that sound too good to be true because they are. And I actually talked about that in the media scam video that I did and I'll link to that at the end. But spoiler alert, I uncovered the scam by paying for one and it's hilarious, but not hilarious if you get scammed by them. In the beginning though, many of these services lead with a cost that's not very expensive just to hook you in, but then they upsell you a bunch of other things. And three, the offer is always unsolicited. You didn't click on an ad and reach out to them. They're reaching out to you now. What are they offering? This varies widely. It might be some of that unpaid media or that paid media. I should say that that video will talk about. It could be to promote your book on social media, get you more followers, post it on their website for more exposure or. Or post it with a press release that reaches all these outlets. So what do you do? Well, I know it can be tempting and I mean like I said, it's maybe $50, $70, sometimes it's $100. So it might feel like roll the dice and see. But look at their past clients. Are they successful books? What are the book covers look like? Do they have testimonials? Does it actually look like they legitimately worked with that person? And then go to the website of the company and their social media content. Check it all out. And the biggest thing is if they are offering to post and promote you on their website and their social media, even if they have a strong following, is their audience your audience? Social media scams are especially popular right now, but check their posts. Maybe they have 100,000 followers. But are they bots? Are they even human beings? If they have that many followers, then there must be comments and activity if they're real. And they must be genuine comments. So. And actually, speaking of comments, have you subscribed to the channel and said hello in the comments? Did you know that when you comment the day a video is released, you get entered to win some of our special swag? Or one of my two books. And commenting the day videos are released gets you one step closer to being one of my beloved YouTube besties like Alan west, which by the way, they hang me in Tokyo. That's his book. Way to go, Alan. Darla Mondragon, Steven Searle, Bruce Stiles, M.D. jones, 7 and of course, Kevin Hall. Thank you for your likes, shares and comments. Life at Book Launchers TV would not be the same without you, but it's easier than you think. To buy followers, likes and comments, so it's more important than ever to do your research. Does the engagement on their posts seem authentic, or does it seem like a bot has just spewed a whole bunch of AI comments all over their posts? If you are in the process of writing a book, I highly recommend you run any service provider through the Ally Watchdog list and check out the Writer Beware blog. Those are two of the best resources dedicated to exposing scams in this space and I'll put the links to them below. And if you do have a book that is nonfiction and you want to find a community group, support, training and resources, consider joining our Author Business Accelerator Group. There is a monthly fee to join, but you get access to the Book Launchers Team, my team who are working with our full service clients every day, and a small group of authors who are marketing their book and building a business around it. Just visit authorbusinessaccelerator.com to sign up and check it out. Here, right here is the video on the media scam I mentioned. You definitely want to see that if you haven't watched it. And this is the latest and greatest from the channel and I think both are probably going to be pretty darn awesome and for you to watch. So click on over. I'm waiting for you there.
