Before diving into the fascinating world of publishing, let’s take a moment to reflect: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! A recent inquiry asked about Carlson Publications, which made a pretty enticing offer on publishing six books for just $1,200. While that price tag might catch any aspiring author’s attention, especially if they’re juggling tight budgets, a closer inspection reveals numerous red flags that scream, “proceed with caution!” In this article, we dissect the warning signs surrounding Carlson Publications, scrutinizing everything from sketchy telemarketing tactics to suspicious online reviews. Buckle up as we navigate the murky waters of publishing offers that may lead you down a slippery slope—because your literary dreams deserve a solid path to success, not a dead end. Want to dig deeper into the truth about Carlson Publications? LEARN MORE.
Q –
I spoke with several people at Carlson Publications and they made me an offer for publishing several of my books. Six books for $1200. I am being asked to pay $200 up front and one after another after that.
Other than their web site, https://carlsonpublications.com, I can’t seem to find information on them and my family is skeptical because they were pushing so hard.
Have you any information on Carlson? Seems like it might be too good of an offer!
Thank you very much.
A –
The “people” you are talking to at Carlson Publications / carlsonpublications.com are very likely telemarketers located overseas. Many of the things I found below I’ve also found when investigating other overseas companies as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if the telemarketers are all working for the same company, under a variety of different company names.
1. Let’s start with the fact that their website states, “Join our community of 1,000,000+ authors.” HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Do authors really fall for that stuff??? Amazon.com has ZERO books published by the name Carlson Publications on their website!
2. They aren’t on bbb.org at all. That’s a huge red flag.
3. There are four 5-star reviews about them on trustpilot…all dated 9/12/24. That is another red flag. There’s no way those reviews are real.
Two of them call the company by the wrong name (Carlson Publication – missing the “s” at the end). That’s another sign those are fake positive reviews, and likely posted by people who aren’t native English speakers.
4. The biggest red flag. Their domain registrar has this address:
Mailing Address: Kalkofnsvegur 2, Reykjavik, Capital Region, 101, IS
That’s Iceland.
Interestingly enough, that’s the exact same address we recently featured for a company under a different name. I suspect Carlson Publications may be the same company, and that they are operating under a variety of names. See:
COMPLAINTS about Iconic Book Publishers PLUS How Foreign “Publishers” Are Extorting Money from U.S. Authors!
5. According to ScamAdvisor.com:
Negative highlights
- The website’s owner is hiding his identity on WHOIS using a paid service
- This website does not have many visitors
We found many low rated websites on the same server - Several spammers and scammers use the same registrar
- We determined this very young site has a very high number of reviews
- This website has only been registered recently.
- This website appears to be using a hosting provider with a dubious reputation.
6. According to ScamMinder.com, their trust score is only 11 out of 100.
7. Their website wasn’t created until 7/30/24. Never, EVER trust a so-called publisher that hasn’t been in business for many years. (BookLocker.com has been in business for more than 25 years, is located in the U.S., and, according to bbb.org, has an EXCELLENT reputation.)
8. Here are other red flags from their website, which are common mistakes made by scammers:
A. There are several covers on their homepage that are missing the names of the authors.
B. One cover has no author name or title at all:
C. This book has no author, one title, but two covers:
D. Some covers on their website are for actual books on the market…but the real covers are completely different. Publishing Mojo was recently caught stealing covers from actual books, and pretending they created them by posting those covers on their website.
9. The map on their homepage shows they are using a virtual office space – Premier Workspaces. That’s another tactic used by scammers to make it appear they are located in the U.S.
10. The testimonials on their site have very generic author names but no book titles. FAKE!!!
I seriously doubt this company is located in the U.S. They are NOT going to publish your books for $200 each. They’re going to take your money, and then upsell, upsell, upsell. You may never get your book and they may just string you along for months, asking for more and more money.
I would definitely avoid this company at all costs.
RELATED
- How to Tell if That So-Called “Publisher” is REALLY Located in the U.S.! By James M. Walsh, Esq.
- Publishing Mojo Is Furious That I Exposed Their Scam! – by James M. Walsh, Esq.
- COMPLAINTS about Publishing Mojo / PublishingMojo.com – by James M. Walsh, Esq.
- COMPLAINTS about Covenant Books AND Christian Faith Publishing
- MORE SCATHING COMPLAINTS about Author Solutions, the owner of AuthorHouse, Xlibris, iUniverse, Trafford, Westbow Press, Archway Publishing, Balboa Press, Abbott Press, and others!
- COMPLAINTS about ProfessionalsGhostwriting.com
- COMPLAINTS about PageTurner Press and Media / pageturner.us
HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING A BOOK?
Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com,
a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.
Read More “Ask The Expert” Articles
