Writers With Wrinkles

You’re Not a Real Author Until You Get Scam Emails

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 27:11

Send us Fan Mail

Is your inbox is bursting with slop from bots and scammers? In this "Ask Beth & Lisa" episode, we tackle the explosion of predatory emails—from fake "Silent Book Clubs" to fraudulent Amazon publishing offers—aimed at unsuspecting writers. We discuss why these emails are a weird sign of visibility, how we use the "48-hour rule" to vet opportunities, and why staying connected to the writing community is your best defense. We also go behind the scenes of our high-octane Threads Kidlit Chat and share a sneak peek into why secondary characters often steal the spotlight from your protagonist.

  • [00:09:12] Welcome to Season 5: We introduce today's "Ask Beth & Lisa" session and dive straight into why we’re currently losing our faith in humanity.
  • [00:10:45] The Threads "Stock Exchange": We recap the chaotic, high-energy success of our first monthly Threads Kidlit Chat and why it felt like being on a trading floor.
  • [00:14:48] Secondary Character Magic: We preview our next big craft topic—developing secondary characters that have their own "secret goals" and distinct voices.
  • [00:19:20] Spotting the Scams: We break down the specific red flags of current publishing scams and why we view getting these emails as a "badge of honor."
  • [00:26:30] The 48-Hour Rule: Our practical advice for authors on how to pause, research, and avoid the high-pressure sales tactics of predatory services.
  • [00:30:05] The Writers with Wrinkles Awards: We announce our upcoming year-end awards and how you can get involved.
  • [00:33:38] Reflecting on Advice: We look back at our interview with agent Alia Hanna Habib and the importance of a professional author-agent partnership.

Beth McMullen and Lisa Schmid are authors and co-hosts of the Writers with Wrinkles podcast. With years of experience in the kidlit world and the broader publishing industry, they created this show to pull back the curtain on the writing life—wrinkles and all. When they aren't recording, you can find them hosting live community chats on Threads or mentoring writers in their private Facebook group.

Resources Mentioned in this Episode




Support the show

 Visit the Website

Writers with Wrinkles Link Tree for socials and more!


Ask B&L S5 E3 Transcript

115

00:09:12.710 --> 00:09:14.589

Beth McMullen: Hi friends, I'm Beth McMullen.

 

116

00:09:14.780 --> 00:09:16.069

Lisa Schmid: And I'm Lisa Schmidt!

 

117

00:09:16.300 --> 00:09:37.310

Beth McMullen: And we're the co-hosts of Writers with Wrinkles. This is Season 5, Episode 3, and this is an Ask Beth and Lisa episode, and today we're talking about scams. So many scams targeting writers and authors. It's actually… oh my gosh, we'll get into this in a second, but it's making me lose my faith in humanity.

 

118

00:09:38.290 --> 00:09:39.079

Lisa Schmid: Just that?

 

119

00:09:41.380 --> 00:09:41.910

Lisa Schmid: You're born!

 

120

00:09:41.910 --> 00:09:42.340

Beth McMullen: That's fair.

 

121

00:09:42.340 --> 00:09:43.090

Lisa Schmid: low.

 

122

00:09:43.090 --> 00:09:50.179

Beth McMullen: I know, well, yeah, I actually have sort of lost my faith in humanity already, but this is kind of the final nail in the coffin.

 

123

00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:51.210

Lisa Schmid: Yeah.

 

124

00:09:51.210 --> 00:09:54.699

Beth McMullen: It's bad out there, friends. Protect yourselves.

 

125

00:09:55.180 --> 00:10:07.860

Lisa Schmid: Well, you see, it's all, you know, people are talking about it on social media, and it's almost like a rite of passage at this point. Like, if you don't get a scam email, it's like, what's wrong with me? Like, why am I not getting one?

 

126

00:10:07.860 --> 00:10:18.190

Beth McMullen: That is totally true. It's like a, it's like a badge of honor. Are you a real writer if somebody hasn't tried to scam you? I don't know. I don't know, you might be.

 

127

00:10:18.190 --> 00:10:23.090

Lisa Schmid: You even exist if you have not received a scam email.

 

128

00:10:24.040 --> 00:10:32.290

Beth McMullen: Okay, we're gonna get into this in a second, but we wanted to talk for a quick minute about

 

129

00:10:32.470 --> 00:10:42.250

Beth McMullen: the threads chats that we've been hosting. We did one so far. It was actually super fun, even though I felt like my head was gonna explode.

 

130

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:51.190

Lisa Schmid: behind the scenes of what was going on at Writers with Wrinkles, Kidlit Chat number one, so…

 

131

00:10:51.410 --> 00:10:53.900

Lisa Schmid: We've never known this before!

 

132

00:10:54.130 --> 00:11:03.100

Lisa Schmid: And so I was the one posting the questions, and Beth and I were on the phone at the same time. We were, you know, talking while this was going on, and

 

133

00:11:03.100 --> 00:11:19.879

Lisa Schmid: Beth was answering, coming in and answering the questions, kind of, as quickly as possible, and engaging with people that were participating, because I couldn't. I was just, like, watching the timer, like, every 6 minutes, I was posting a question, and as it would get closer, all of a sudden, I'd be like.

 

134

00:11:19.950 --> 00:11:21.410

Lisa Schmid: Damn, it's out!

 

135

00:11:21.560 --> 00:11:39.100

Lisa Schmid: So she was like, poor Beth, would have to, like, scramble and try to answer questions, and was like, you know what it reminds me of? The stock exchange. You know when everyone's on the floor, like, screaming and yelling? That was us, except for it was just the two of us, and I'm sure it wasn't as chaotic.

 

136

00:11:39.100 --> 00:11:41.769

Beth McMullen: Well, I felt like I couldn't…

 

137

00:11:41.770 --> 00:12:06.650

Beth McMullen: It was really a sort of glaring illustration of my inability to multitask at the moment, because I had you on the phone, and you'd be talking, and I couldn't talk to you and keep up with the chats and the posts at the same time. So I kept starting sentences, and I'd stop, and then I'd be, like, madly typing and trying to connect with everybody, because there were all these fun new people that I didn't know, and I wanted to, like.

 

138

00:12:06.650 --> 00:12:08.429

Beth McMullen: what everyone was up to, and…

 

139

00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:13.180

Beth McMullen: It was so funny. At the end of it, I felt like I'd been run over by a bus.

 

140

00:12:14.020 --> 00:12:33.280

Lisa Schmid: It was… it's… it was really fun, and we're going to be doing this every month. We're doing it the first Wednesday of every month. So last month it was on a Tuesday, but we found out after the fact that there is a kid-lit chat that goes on over at Blue Sky, I think every Tuesday at 6 o'clock. So if you want Kidlit chats, go to that one, too.

 

141

00:12:33.350 --> 00:12:38.920

Lisa Schmid: But I, I felt so bad, I was just like, oh my god, I'm, like, moving in on your car.

 

142

00:12:38.920 --> 00:12:46.139

Beth McMullen: on, and I don't remember who it was, who told me they were doing both at the same time. Christine. Was it Christine? Okay, and I was…

 

143

00:12:46.170 --> 00:12:57.269

Beth McMullen: I was super impressed, because there is no way I could have ever done that. I could barely do the one. Doing both at once. She did say that she, too, felt like her head was gonna explode, so…

 

144

00:12:57.270 --> 00:13:06.319

Beth McMullen: I get that, but we're… we moved it to Wednesday, so we don't overlap. We want to have, you know, we want to have more rather than less of all this.

 

145

00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:25.709

Lisa Schmid: Well, you feel… it's like you're a little neurotic, because you're just… everything's moving at such a fast pace, and I didn't want to… like, I would try to go in and answer them as riders with wrinkles, but then I was, like, trying to keep my eye on the timer, and then I was going… I was using my phone to do it, and then I was just… anyway, it's a lot.

 

146

00:13:25.710 --> 00:13:37.089

Lisa Schmid: And I just was… I can't imagine, like, how somebody does it on their own. Like, somebody, like, just one person, because we needed both of us. Maybe it's because we're old, and we're like…

 

147

00:13:37.090 --> 00:13:38.890

Beth McMullen: Oh, definitely. Of course, it's the wrinkle.

 

148

00:13:39.310 --> 00:13:41.490

Beth McMullen: That's what the problem is.

 

149

00:13:41.490 --> 00:13:49.439

Lisa Schmid: One person had to post, and the other had to answer. But it was fun. I was so surprised, like, how many people came out.

 

150

00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:50.100

Beth McMullen: Great!

 

151

00:13:50.560 --> 00:14:00.659

Lisa Schmid: And the thing is, so just make a little note of this, that even if you miss that actual 6 to 7 o'clock time, and we do it Pacific Standard Time,

 

152

00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:25.749

Lisa Schmid: even if you miss that, like, I had gone on and posted, hey, the chat doesn't have to stop here, just keep talking and having… continue the conversation. People did, like, for days, would chime in and say, hey, I'm so-and-so, and other people were chiming in. So, if you don't fret, if you miss that… that hour, go back, because people are still talking, and when you respond to somebody, they're gonna see it, even if it's 3 days later.

 

153

00:14:25.750 --> 00:14:30.240

Lisa Schmid: And respond back to you. So use that opportunity. It was so much fun.

 

154

00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:37.279

Lisa Schmid: And, yeah, we're… we're gonna do it, and Beth's hair will get slowly grayer. It's hard to get grayer.

 

155

00:14:37.280 --> 00:14:44.419

Beth McMullen: I mean, you know, my hair's pretty gray right now, but there's always room for… there's always room for a few more grays on the top of my head.

 

156

00:14:44.620 --> 00:14:46.050

Lisa Schmid: And I've made… So, the next…

 

157

00:14:46.520 --> 00:14:47.830

Beth McMullen: The next topic?

 

158

00:14:48.640 --> 00:14:58.120

Lisa Schmid: Well, before you say that, I've made the determination that we cannot have, like, a glass of wine or any alcohol in our hand, because it'll dull our reactions.

 

159

00:14:58.580 --> 00:15:02.720

Beth McMullen: Yeah, and actually, I can't afford to have my reactions dulled anymore.

 

160

00:15:04.500 --> 00:15:05.530

Lisa Schmid: Too bad!

 

161

00:15:05.540 --> 00:15:19.330

Beth McMullen: What I need is an espresso right before the thing. That's what I'm gonna do from now on. I'm gonna have a little shot of espresso, and then I will be hyperactive, because I'm very sensitive to caffeine. It'll keep me awake for days. But in that case, I think it will be worth it.

 

162

00:15:19.550 --> 00:15:32.089

Lisa Schmid: Your posts were very… your responses were very positive, and so here on Writers with Wrinkles, we have one of our guests we always refer to as Positive Penny. That's Jennifer March Soloway, because she is, like, the most positive person on the planet.

 

163

00:15:32.090 --> 00:15:32.900

Beth McMullen: Coming back!

 

164

00:15:33.130 --> 00:15:43.160

Lisa Schmid: And she's coming back. But we… we always refer to her as Positive Penny, and I'm like, I think that… that Jennifer has been dethroned by all your positive output.

 

165

00:15:43.160 --> 00:15:57.900

Beth McMullen: I love her. I love people who just, like, radiate good vibes. It's the best thing. I was trying to live up to her, kind of, you know, her high bar, so… Yeah. Anyway, so our next topic, just to kind of put this in your head, is…

 

166

00:15:58.090 --> 00:16:05.280

Beth McMullen: Your supporting cast, your secondary characters, either the ones you love as a reader, or the ones you're wrestling with as a writer.

 

167

00:16:05.690 --> 00:16:19.059

Beth McMullen: 10-question deep dive into those very special secondary characters. And I'm excited to ask the question, because this has happened to me, has your secondary character ever just taken over your novel and become the.

 

168

00:16:19.060 --> 00:16:19.700

Lisa Schmid: Lee!

 

169

00:16:19.700 --> 00:16:26.580

Beth McMullen: has become the most important character, and then you're thinking, huh, something went sideways in this book. Oh well.

 

170

00:16:26.900 --> 00:16:39.620

Lisa Schmid: It's interesting that you say that, because, okay, for… I'm gonna give two examples of this. So, in one of your books, Secret of the Storm, Joe is my favorite sidekick of all time. I love him, but I was reading…

 

171

00:16:39.620 --> 00:16:40.649

Beth McMullen: Best, I love it.

 

172

00:16:40.650 --> 00:16:41.670

Lisa Schmid: He's the best.

 

173

00:16:41.830 --> 00:16:47.550

Lisa Schmid: And I was texting you the whole time reading it, going, I am Team Joe, I love Joe so much, and I kind of.

 

174

00:16:48.020 --> 00:16:54.380

Lisa Schmid: I can't… I liked your first character, your, you know, the main character, but it was Joe who stole the show.

 

175

00:16:54.380 --> 00:17:14.650

Lisa Schmid: And when I… when people… whenever people, like, message me or talk to me about Ollie Oxley and the Ghost, Teddy stole the show. People had always been, you know, be like, oh, I wish you had told it from Teddy's, point of view, because he's so funny, and it's like, you know, Ollie was, like, this angry main character, where Teddy was, like, the fun guy that was, like.

 

176

00:17:14.650 --> 00:17:16.270

Lisa Schmid: Everybody's favorite.

 

177

00:17:16.270 --> 00:17:35.769

Beth McMullen: But I think it's easier, though. I think it's easier to be a secondary character, because you don't have the heavy lifting of the main character, so you kind of get away with being the fun one, or the quirky one, or the… you're a little bit less multidimensional than the main character by design.

 

178

00:17:35.770 --> 00:17:41.560

Beth McMullen: And so you can kind of lean into those things, as opposed to realizing that you have to be…

 

179

00:17:41.560 --> 00:17:44.730

Beth McMullen: A little bit more well-rounded to carry the whole…

 

180

00:17:44.870 --> 00:17:56.660

Beth McMullen: book. So, I mean, they do start… their starting line is a little bit ahead of the main character, so, you know, I love them, but I feel like they get a little bit of advantage.

 

181

00:17:57.100 --> 00:18:13.099

Lisa Schmid: You know what there should be? I think there should be… maybe we can re… we can create this award. An award for, best secondary character of all time. Or, like, just every year, like, who's the best secondary character? And we can start an award for it.

 

182

00:18:13.100 --> 00:18:16.550

Beth McMullen: Get some nominations. We can totally do that. You know what? We can do anything we want.

 

183

00:18:16.550 --> 00:18:32.409

Lisa Schmid: fun! Oh my god, you're right! Let's do that! Okay, so this is… we always go off on these tangents where we think of something, but I kind of am digging that, and I gotta think of what we can, you know, what the prize can be, other than congratulations.

 

184

00:18:32.410 --> 00:18:43.139

Beth McMullen: We could have the Writers with Wrinkles Awards at the end of the year and pick out a couple of different things, right? We could do the secondary character, we could do Best Novel, we could do whatever we want. It could be fun.

 

185

00:18:43.140 --> 00:18:53.369

Lisa Schmid: You know what we could do? We could have, like, a little thing, little categories, and then we'll name them, and then we can do, like, little speed interviews, or, like, little speed things with them.

 

186

00:18:53.370 --> 00:19:01.179

Beth McMullen: Oh, right, like, yeah, like the, you know, the couple of questions that are… that everybody gets the same questions.

 

187

00:19:01.630 --> 00:19:02.230

Lisa Schmid: Fight?

 

188

00:19:02.310 --> 00:19:09.440

Beth McMullen: Alright, make a note, because, you know, there's a really good chance that we forget everything that we just talked about by the end of the episode.

 

189

00:19:09.550 --> 00:19:10.420

Lisa Schmid: I know.

 

190

00:19:11.410 --> 00:19:15.250

Beth McMullen: Well, we'll have the transcript, so we already have notes.

 

191

00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:16.160

Beth McMullen: Look at my.

 

192

00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:17.769

Lisa Schmid: I'm already digging that, though.

 

193

00:19:17.770 --> 00:19:20.499

Beth McMullen: Okay, let's talk about…

 

194

00:19:20.910 --> 00:19:27.750

Beth McMullen: scams. The reason this came up, can I tell everybody the reason this came up, is that I got this…

 

195

00:19:27.910 --> 00:19:32.440

Beth McMullen: email from a silent book club…

 

196

00:19:32.700 --> 00:19:37.880

Beth McMullen: Saying, you know, blowing all sorts of smoke up my ass about,

 

197

00:19:38.310 --> 00:19:53.869

Beth McMullen: Secret of the Storm, actually, the one with Joe, and how it's the perfect book for their silent book club, and it hits all these emotional notes. Now, first of all, struck me as a little odd, right? Because it's clearly written by AI, and it…

 

198

00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:56.050

Beth McMullen: Was talking about a kid's book.

 

199

00:19:56.180 --> 00:20:01.579

Beth McMullen: for an adult book club, which… I know that lots of adults read middle grade and YA, but…

 

200

00:20:02.070 --> 00:20:06.730

Beth McMullen: this is a strange choice. So right off the bat, I'm like, huh, I wonder what this is all about. So…

 

201

00:20:07.530 --> 00:20:13.369

Beth McMullen: It goes on to talk about how they feature the book, and it gets a lot of promo, and…

 

202

00:20:13.610 --> 00:20:23.120

Beth McMullen: You know, you can participate at whatever level you want, like, send a note, or come, you know, via Zoom or whatever, the day of, blah blah blah.

 

203

00:20:23.690 --> 00:20:25.220

Beth McMullen: So, I don't…

 

204

00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:44.780

Beth McMullen: I… I didn't… I can't remember what I sent back, because I was kind of curious, because what I did was I looked up the name of the organizer, and it was the name of a very well-known woman who does a silent book club in Rhode Island, and has been featured in, you know, newspapers and whatever.

 

205

00:20:45.140 --> 00:20:54.760

Beth McMullen: And it was her name, but it wasn't Rhode Island, it was Seattle. So it means, you know, they're trying to get you to look over these little inconsistencies.

 

206

00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:58.030

Beth McMullen: So, I wrote back, and I said.

 

207

00:20:58.310 --> 00:21:03.329

Beth McMullen: This is very interesting, are you aware that this is a kid's book?

 

208

00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:06.689

Beth McMullen: I just kind of wanted to see what would happen.

 

209

00:21:06.980 --> 00:21:16.870

Beth McMullen: So then they… she's… whoever it is, you know, the bot writes back and says, well, yes, we know it's a kid's book, we're still… we think it's amazing.

 

210

00:21:17.120 --> 00:21:24.390

Beth McMullen: And all it would take is $70 for you to pay for, you know, drinks and snacks and stuff.

 

211

00:21:24.920 --> 00:21:32.210

Beth McMullen: And I said, of course, I never pay for any of this sort of stuff. I never pay for promotion unless I'm doing actual direct advertising.

 

212

00:21:33.290 --> 00:21:40.309

Beth McMullen: But then, because I was like, alright, now I said to them, not doing this, what are they going to do next? And they just kept…

 

213

00:21:40.630 --> 00:21:44.770

Beth McMullen: coming. Now, it didn't get more aggressive, it just was sort of, like…

 

214

00:21:44.890 --> 00:21:53.520

Beth McMullen: trying to chip away and convince you that this was actually a great opportunity. And then I started getting

 

215

00:21:53.520 --> 00:22:05.579

Beth McMullen: the same email from probably 2 or 3 different silent book clubs from all over the place. The same exact text, the same book, but, like.

 

216

00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:10.589

Beth McMullen: Pittsburgh, and Chicago, and… So, I mean, it's…

 

217

00:22:10.900 --> 00:22:24.410

Beth McMullen: It's fascinating, right? It is fascinating, because it… it… all of these scams just play on the desperation, that dream factor that authors have. Like, somebody chose me.

 

218

00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:32.030

Lisa Schmid: Yeah, right! They, they too, they rely on, your desperation, and your…

 

219

00:22:32.090 --> 00:22:56.479

Lisa Schmid: you do, we crave that, oh my god, somebody chose me to do this, out of all the books in the world. And I had got… I had received one of those emails, and I… I, you know, I'd heard enough about it so that I think I had emailed them back, because I kind of did the same thing. I said, I'm very interested, you know, I'd love to do that, sure, just, you know, I'd be… oh, this is what I said, I'd be happy to zoom in and answer questions if you want.

 

220

00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:58.839

Lisa Schmid: If you want, I'd be happy to do that.

 

221

00:22:58.840 --> 00:23:05.799

Lisa Schmid: And then they came back with the money grab, and then I emailed them back, and I said, no, thank you. And then within minutes.

 

222

00:23:05.800 --> 00:23:20.519

Lisa Schmid: the same email came out, but with different, like, a different author, to me, and like, to… like, but with a different author's name, and… but they sent it to me, and so I just replied back, LOL.

 

223

00:23:20.520 --> 00:23:35.000

Beth McMullen: You have to get better at your scamming. You guys are really, like, you're not doing a good job with the scamming. I also think that, you know, some of these,

 

224

00:23:35.710 --> 00:23:42.329

Beth McMullen: some of these scams, and I actually did a little search, because I was really curious about what…

 

225

00:23:42.600 --> 00:23:48.730

Beth McMullen: The big ones are, right now in 2026, and…

 

226

00:23:49.050 --> 00:24:05.309

Beth McMullen: and I've seen most of these at this point myself. The Amazon, impersonators, where it's, like, the Amazon Publishing Pro, or Prime Publisher Incorporated, or Amazon Book Publishing Professionals.

 

227

00:24:05.310 --> 00:24:14.540

Beth McMullen: And they offer you all sorts of services that, of course, don't exist, they're just taking your money. They're all the fake law firms where

 

228

00:24:14.540 --> 00:24:29.950

Beth McMullen: They're saying that… and I think with this Anthropic case, it sort of ballooned about law firms saying, hey, we'll help you win money for these AI claims, but they're just phishing, right?

 

229

00:24:30.010 --> 00:24:34.170

Beth McMullen: Oh, this is my other favorite one, the Hollywood stuff.

 

230

00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:35.320

Beth McMullen: People…

 

231

00:24:35.930 --> 00:24:51.240

Beth McMullen: the scouts or the producers who say, oh, I just need a little bit of money to get you, you know, seen by the right people. And if anyone's asking you for money, it is a scam.

 

232

00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:52.620

Lisa Schmid: Yeah.

 

233

00:24:52.620 --> 00:25:00.989

Beth McMullen: It is a scam, unless you've entered into, some sort of, like, advertising agreement with a PR person.

 

234

00:25:00.990 --> 00:25:19.040

Beth McMullen: or you're paying your attorney, or say that you're working with a self-publishing company, like, those things are legit. It's just the… this other stuff, where they're asking you for money to do these sorts of exposure things. It's almost always 100%.

 

235

00:25:19.460 --> 00:25:20.480

Beth McMullen: BS!

 

00:25:24.190 --> 00:25:45.029

Lisa Schmid: So, it's… it's one of those things, like, if you… if somebody asks you as an author.

 

238

00:25:45.030 --> 00:25:46.340

Lisa Schmid: to pay money.

 

239

00:25:46.480 --> 00:26:05.829

Lisa Schmid: That is your red flag. You don't need any more red flags, whether it's, you know, apply to, you know, pay to be at this book festival, or pay to be here. If you… if it's pay to play, you… you are not playing. Like, just walk away as much as you want to believe it's something good that's going to help benefit your book. It is not.

 

240

00:26:05.850 --> 00:26:08.100

Lisa Schmid: And so, just walk away.

 

241

00:26:08.470 --> 00:26:14.390

Beth McMullen: I think, too, publishing is so complex as an industry, and opaque.

 

242

00:26:14.700 --> 00:26:18.820

Beth McMullen: It's complicated, and you don't really know what's going on.

 

243

00:26:19.020 --> 00:26:30.200

Beth McMullen: if you're new to it, or you've, you know, not had, like, a lot of different experiences within the industry. So, you might not understand that

 

244

00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:40.350

Beth McMullen: this is garbage. You might think, oh, this is just how it's done. Like, these people are very convincingly telling me that I need to give them $70 for whatever.

 

245

00:26:40.520 --> 00:26:41.560

Beth McMullen: Great.

 

246

00:26:41.690 --> 00:26:44.759

Beth McMullen: And I think some of that comes from…

 

247

00:26:45.010 --> 00:26:55.389

Beth McMullen: You know, most people don't know how a film option works for a book, and they don't know that, you know, there's no required fees if somebody

 

248

00:26:55.390 --> 00:27:05.119

Beth McMullen: is an agent trying to, you know… an agent will never ask you for money. If they ask you for money, it's a scam. But you don't know that. You have no idea.

 

249

00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:10.079

Beth McMullen: about that, like, an agent will take your money later, after you sell your book. That's the way it works. But…

 

250

00:27:10.430 --> 00:27:20.030

Beth McMullen: I think you just don't know it, because publishing is such a mysterious universe to most people, and it just makes them ripe to be taken advantage of.

 

251

00:27:20.950 --> 00:27:37.009

Lisa Schmid: Well, anytime that you're entering into some new industry, whatever it is, there's always, you know, you're learning as you go along, and you will make those mistakes, because we all do. We make those mistakes as we go along, and then we're like, I think I just learned something, you know, new about this fun industry.

 

252

00:27:37.010 --> 00:27:37.830

Beth McMullen: Yeah.

 

253

00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:45.340

Beth McMullen: I think you should… if you get… if you have a moment where you find yourself kind of getting drawn into this stuff.

 

254

00:27:45.710 --> 00:27:54.440

Beth McMullen: For sure, ask some of your writer friends. Don't do anything for, like, 48 hours, just take a big pause.

 

255

00:27:54.900 --> 00:27:59.929

Beth McMullen: You know, I think we have a Facebook private group…

 

256

00:28:00.300 --> 00:28:02.800

Beth McMullen: called The Waiting Place that has.

 

257

00:28:02.800 --> 00:28:03.390

Lisa Schmid: meeting room.

 

258

00:28:03.390 --> 00:28:10.760

Beth McMullen: waiting room. Jeez, I always get that wrong. What is wrong with me? Good lord. Anyway, that, that, that Facebook group that we have?

 

259

00:28:11.370 --> 00:28:14.039

Lisa Schmid: Maybe because it's, the good place, it's that.

 

260

00:28:14.040 --> 00:28:14.609

Beth McMullen: I know.

 

261

00:28:14.610 --> 00:28:20.140

Lisa Schmid: That you always think about, and didn't that turn out to… I don't want to give away spoilers, but didn't that turn out to be hell?

 

262

00:28:20.730 --> 00:28:22.619

Beth McMullen: No, it wasn't.

 

263

00:28:22.620 --> 00:28:26.039

Lisa Schmid: It wasn't? Okay, so anyway, so maybe you're just, like, we're all in hell right now.

 

264

00:28:26.040 --> 00:28:37.639

Beth McMullen: No, I know. I just… I love that show so much. I think it just occupies part of my brain permanently. But, like, come into the group! Join the group, put it out there, you're gonna have…

 

265

00:28:37.750 --> 00:28:56.089

Beth McMullen: you know, 150 plus writers say to you, no, this is garbage. You know, so it's just good to check yourself. Writing is very isolating, we do much of it alone, but that is not something that you should feel like you have to decide on your own to, you know, pay some…

 

266

00:28:56.120 --> 00:29:05.310

Beth McMullen: crazy company 10 grand to make you a quote-unquote cinematic trailer for your book. It's garbage. They're just… they are stealing your money, so…

 

267

00:29:05.900 --> 00:29:14.629

Beth McMullen: Anyway, I just… the more that I looked at everything that's happening, and how you're preying on…

 

268

00:29:14.910 --> 00:29:22.700

Beth McMullen: These writers who maybe have been working on these stories for years, and they're emotionally invested, and it's…

 

269

00:29:23.500 --> 00:29:31.949

Beth McMullen: it… there… you're feeling, at some points, a little desperate for that big break, right? That thing that's gonna launch you out of, you know, out of…

 

270

00:29:32.170 --> 00:29:37.330

Beth McMullen: invisibility, and… It's just… it's just so…

 

271

00:29:37.430 --> 00:29:40.610

Beth McMullen: infuriating, I think. Makes me mad.

 

272

00:29:41.200 --> 00:30:02.339

Lisa Schmid: I think also that, you know, on social media, it's… everyone's very… you know, I'm constantly, like, just right before I jumped on, somebody was talking about, you know, she's in the query trenches, and she's at the end of her rope, and she's like, I'm done, I think I'm just gonna do this or that, and I… and she just, like, I think I just might just post my book out there, or whatever, and I'm like, no, no, no, no.

 

273

00:30:02.490 --> 00:30:03.260

Beth McMullen: Deep breaths.

 

274

00:30:03.260 --> 00:30:26.219

Lisa Schmid: I'm like, you know, the query trenches, every single writer got beat up in the query trenches. It's a, you know, it's a really difficult place to be, but take a deep breath, and, you know, don't, don't do anything, you know, just, you got this, hang in there. But the thing is, it's like, everyone's talking about how difficult it is, or how difficult publishing is, or how difficult it is to get your books seen.

 

275

00:30:26.220 --> 00:30:32.210

Lisa Schmid: So, we are very, as a community, we are very transparent about How tough it is.

 

276

00:30:32.210 --> 00:30:47.349

Lisa Schmid: for our books, that we're not moving the needle. So people see that as a money grab opportunity, and that's what we all need to be looking out for each other, because it does happen. And if it is happening, you know, say something so that other people are aware of it.

 

277

00:30:47.350 --> 00:30:54.230

Lisa Schmid: Because it is… they… people will always take advantage of people, and that's… That's so wrong, Beth.

 

278

00:30:54.230 --> 00:30:57.119

Beth McMullen: It is so wrong. There is a.

 

279

00:30:57.120 --> 00:30:57.850

Lisa Schmid: God.

 

280

00:30:57.850 --> 00:31:04.279

Beth McMullen: There is a site called… hold on, I took a note about it. I think it's called Writer's Beware.

 

281

00:31:04.730 --> 00:31:05.330

Beth McMullen: And it…

 

282

00:31:05.330 --> 00:31:05.840

Lisa Schmid: Whoa!

 

283

00:31:05.840 --> 00:31:08.429

Beth McMullen: It has… it kind of collects

 

284

00:31:08.610 --> 00:31:12.649

Beth McMullen: All these scams, so you can also check that.

 

285

00:31:13.100 --> 00:31:19.820

Beth McMullen: And see if whoever it is that's emailing you is, already catalogued in there.

 

286

00:31:20.060 --> 00:31:38.990

Beth McMullen: And again, if whoever it is says they're working for, I don't know, Paramount Pictures, and they have a Gmail.com address, that's a lie! I mean, all of these things that… I think if you just educate yourself, you're not… you're not gonna get caught up in it, but you also, you know, you have to recognize that…

 

287

00:31:39.570 --> 00:31:42.239

Beth McMullen: Like you just said, we're so ripe for this.

 

288

00:31:42.830 --> 00:32:05.619

Lisa Schmid: Yeah, and I think the best place to ask those kind of questions isn't necessarily on social media. I think it's better to pose those questions in small Facebook groups with people that you know are other writers, because on social media, anybody can jump in, a bot, whatever, and give you misinformation that will, you know, send you off on a wrong path.

 

289

00:32:05.630 --> 00:32:12.560

Lisa Schmid: So, make sure that you're, whether it's Slack or Discord, where all the hipster young people hang out, meaning…

 

290

00:32:13.140 --> 00:32:14.830

Lisa Schmid: Under 50.

 

291

00:32:14.830 --> 00:32:15.629

Beth McMullen: I don't know.

 

292

00:32:15.630 --> 00:32:27.709

Lisa Schmid: I tried to figure out Slack the other day, and I'm like… So, just find a group someplace where you know you can trust the people in there, and that the answers you're gonna get are real.

 

293

00:32:28.630 --> 00:32:41.889

Beth McMullen: Yeah, that is very good advice, because otherwise you're just, you know, operating in a vacuum, and that's not good. It makes you ripe for… for being taken advantage of, and we don't want that to happen to you!

 

294

00:32:41.890 --> 00:32:51.769

Lisa Schmid: No. Okay, before we do the sign-off and all that, can we just talk about, like, our next guest? Or, no, our last guest, because she was, just on the show.

 

295

00:32:51.770 --> 00:33:11.230

Beth McMullen: We've actually, in the background, rearranged the episodes, because Aaliyah's book was coming out on the 20th of January, and we wanted her episode to drop around that date. Originally, it was slated for today, which is February.

 

296

00:33:11.280 --> 00:33:13.909

Beth McMullen: And so we are… we are…

 

297

00:33:14.030 --> 00:33:17.440

Beth McMullen: You've already listened to her, so hopefully you loved her, because she's amazing.

 

298

00:33:17.870 --> 00:33:25.599

Lisa Schmid: Oh my god, I laughed so hard. Like, the whole… the whole thing, I had my… my mic on mute because I was laughing so much.

 

299

00:33:25.600 --> 00:33:28.109

Beth McMullen: She made me want to write nonfiction.

 

300

00:33:28.110 --> 00:33:29.300

Lisa Schmid: We know!

 

301

00:33:30.310 --> 00:33:35.169

Lisa Schmid: I'm like, I have no desire to write nonfiction, but suddenly I'm like, what can I write?

 

302

00:33:35.170 --> 00:33:37.369

Beth McMullen: I wanted to. I wanted to.

 

303

00:33:37.820 --> 00:33:57.410

Lisa Schmid: She was really… I'm gonna say she was probably one of my favorite interviews of all time. I was laughing, and there was a moment where she was talking about how you do something, like, you know, so quickly, like, take a deep breath before you shoot out an email. There was a whole conversation about that that I totally appreciated.

 

304

00:33:57.410 --> 00:34:02.930

Lisa Schmid: But she gave some really good advice. There was a couple times I was like, oh my god, that's.

 

305

00:34:02.930 --> 00:34:17.250

Beth McMullen: I think the advice translates across whatever genre, non-fiction, fiction that you're writing in. Some of it is just good, practical, behavioral stuff that you can do to help your cause.

 

306

00:34:17.469 --> 00:34:27.390

Beth McMullen: But yeah, and I… I'm, like, so excited for all the books that she was talking about to come out. I actually have a list. I added them to my list, because I was like, I gotta read these.

 

307

00:34:27.469 --> 00:34:42.730

Beth McMullen: Yeah, that was a really fun episode. So, hopefully we didn't confuse you guys too much by rearranging stuff, but we did want that episode to hit closer to her release date, so that, you know, we could help her a little bit in her, her sales and whatnot.

 

308

00:34:43.010 --> 00:34:54.879

Lisa Schmid: Well, and we went off on some wild tangents. We usually… I've never seen an interview where we have just, like, I forgot we were recording, and…

 

309

00:34:54.880 --> 00:35:07.599

Beth McMullen: I did have to… I did have to edit out the part where we were like, what question are we asking? That was me! What question did we finish with? Where are we at in this script? I'm lost.

 

310

00:35:07.810 --> 00:35:18.199

Lisa Schmid: That was me! I remember just going, oh my god, I… we're supposed to ask a question, weren't we? And so I was looking at my notes and our script, I'm like, I have no idea where we're at, people. Yeah, so we are, you know.

 

311

00:35:18.200 --> 00:35:23.790

Beth McMullen: You know, shout out to her PR person who sent her to us and got her on our radar, because she was great.

 

312

00:35:24.090 --> 00:35:24.910

Lisa Schmid: Fabulous.

 

313

00:35:25.310 --> 00:35:27.589

Beth McMullen: Okay, now can I do the ending?

 

314

00:35:27.960 --> 00:35:29.950

Lisa Schmid: Yeah, she may. Continue.

 

317

00:35:45.930 --> 00:35:58.089

Beth McMullen: That's it for today's episode. We have another episode coming in two weeks, which will probably be us again, because we've rearranged the schedule, so… but of course, we will let you know what's in the pipeline.

 

318

00:35:58.090 --> 00:36:10.620

Beth McMullen: Please remember to leave a review and sign up for our newsletter at our website, writerswithrinkles.net. We really need those reviews. Please go out and give us a review, and say something nice and kind and heartwarming.

 

319

00:36:10.700 --> 00:36:11.470

Beth McMullen: Yeah?

 

320

00:36:12.820 --> 00:36:15.380

Beth McMullen: We thank you in advance for doing that.

 

321

00:36:15.820 --> 00:36:22.339

Beth McMullen: Alright, until next time, happy reading, writing, and listening. Bye, Lisa!

 

322

00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:24.040

Lisa Schmid: Hi, Beth! Bye, guys!