Exposed: The Bizarre and Hilarious Scam Pitches WritersWeekly Can’t Believe Landed in Their Inbox
You ever get those emails that make you chuckle — not because they’re clever, but because they’re just so blatantly clueless? After more than 25 years in this writing biz, I’ve seen my fair share of scams, but every now and then, someone still tries to pull a fast one like they think I just sprouted yesterday. Case in point: a pitch about “book-to-movie” services, where the writer promises to teach authors how to blitz their novels onto the Hollywood silver screen — for a fee, of course. Spoiler alert: studios don’t hire screenwriters who pay to get in, and authors shouldn’t, either. This little episode had me reminiscing about other wild pitches and outright cons that crossed my path, including a particularly ridiculous offer to buy an article on “how to get published” from an outfit already known for shady dealings. Makes you wonder — how dense do some of these scammers take us for? Well, buckle up. Here’s a peek behind the curtain on why you ought to hang up on these book-to-movie snake-oil salesmen and how to keep your author dreams from getting scammed out of you.
This isn’t really a Q&A format but I think you’ll forgive me for that this week.
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