Journey Description
Two indie authors with 20+ years in the trenches sit down to name names on the schemes targeting writers today — from fake editors quietly running manuscripts through ChatGPT, to vanity presses dressed up as book deals, to "we'll make you a bestseller" pitches that never deliver.
Each episode breaks down one scam in plain language: how it hooks you, the red flags that give it away, and what to do if you've already been caught. It's the conversation about publishing scams you wish someone had had with you before you learned the hard way.
Journey Tracks
Introduction
Fahim Farook and Laurie Ashton — married, and writing fiction and non-fiction between them since the late 1980s — open the journey by explaining why they're doing this. Fahim's been calling out scammers directly on TikTok for a while now in a series he calls Scammer Diaries, needling them so other authors can see the tactics coming. This journey takes the same name but a different approach: instead of confrontations, it's a rundown of the scams every author should know to watch for, because — as they're quick to admit — even 30-year veterans aren't immune to getting taken in.
Scam Editors
Fahim and Laurie break down the DM-slide and cold-email editor scam that's flooded TikTok and writer forums, where "editors" quietly run your manuscript through AI and charge hundreds to thousands for five minutes of prompting. They walk through the tells — generic or mismatched feedback, suspiciously fast turnarounds, no willingness to do a trial edit — and the safeguards that protect you either way: vetting through writers' groups, Writer Beware, and ALLi, insisting on a milestone-based contract, and never paying the full amount upfront.
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