There are a TON of untrustworthy people in the world. In every business, in every industry, there are always people who are out to take advantage of someone. The Publishing and Marketing industries are no different. Sometimes, it’s difficult to separate the reliable people, from the scammers. Fortunately, we live in a world supported by technology. By using a search engine, such as Google, you can easily do a little research and begin to weed through some of the good guys and the bad guys.

I was recently contacted by a representative from Match Literary (also known as Matchstick Literary). As soon as I read the email, I knew something was wrong. I have posted some of the email text below, so you can judge for yourself:

Hi Nicole Woolaston,

Good day!

I hope this email finds you well.

Thank you for responding my email. I am referring to your book title “Fortune’s Wing: Flies Again” which published CreateSpace last September 2017. I wanted to verify that this is your book because our book scouts came across to your book and do a research. Your book was being forwarded to me because your book has potential however your book barely getting any activities most especially in terms of book sales and promotions. I check the book online and the book price at $5.99 for the paperback format. The book has great potential that’s why I reached out to you, I wanted to know how was your book doing so far if do you still promoting and marketing your book aside marketing it in amazon.

The book has great content also that lots of people would love to read most especially to those book readers that types your book genre. I able to check your book thru Amazon and Barned and Noble and check the reviews on how it doing so far however I am just seeing less though I believe the book is great. I would like to know also on what type of marketing strategy you had done to your book because as I mentioned the book is great its just that the sales have a slow movement. I this case, I would love to help you to get your book known to a wider audience and see how beautiful the book is.

 

Did you notice the typos? The improper use of grammar? This person hasn’t read my book, but they’ve reached the conclusion it’s “great”. The rest of the email mentions the fact researchers went online to research my book. I was asked if I have a website. So, they did research, but didn’t come across WoolastonEntertainment.com? You can find me simply by entering my name in Google.

Here’s another thing: take a look at the picture I posted above. Notice the name of the company. Now look at the website’s address. They don’t match, do they? When you visit their site (and I’m not encouraging this, I’m just providing information that I found) there are pictures of book covers on their homepage. These are books they supposedly marketed and/or published. Many of these books were published by (wait for it) Xlibris, Author House, and iUniverse (which are all the same company). When I checked their sales stats on Amazon, I only found ONE title with any sales.

I’m sharing this, because as writers and authors, we have to be smart, otherwise, we will be grossly taken advantage of. There are no prices listed on Matchstick Literary’s site, for any of their services. That’s a serious red flag. Ask questions. Do some research. Check for reviews and complaints. And if something doesn’t feel right, don’t go through with it.

Woolaston Entertainment