On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway opens with an urgent warning from Writer Beware's Victoria Strauss about two new AI-generated scams targeting authors — one involving fake radio show invitations, one involving fraudulent book fair representation — and explains the telltale signs that give them away. He then reports on Audible's StoryHouse, a pop-up audiobook store in New York's Bowery modeled on a vinyl record shop, and closes with an update on the Anthropic settlement fairness hearing, including concerns about the $3,000 per-title payout and the US copyright registration requirement that overseas authors say is unfair to them.
Listen to the Podcast: AI-Powered Scams Target Writers
Show Notes
Book Festival Scams, Interview Fakes: Two New AI-Driven Impersonation Scams to Avoid
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About the Host
Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet, and spoken word artist. He is the MC of the performance arts show The New Libertines, He competed at the National Poetry Slam final at the Royal Albert Hall. His latest collection, The Transparency of Sutures, is available on Kindle.
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Read the Transcript
Dan Holloway: Hello and welcome to another Self-Publishing News podcast. For an audio format, it seems appropriate to start with a fantastic warning from Victoria Strauss about one of the latest scams targeting writers — and this one to watch out for if you're tempted by the limelight in particular. It is a scam that invites writers to take part in radio shows. I'll send Howard the link to the piece — it's one of two scams Victoria Strauss is examining, and both are AI-generated.
This is something we are getting very used to: people using AI to generate scams that feel more real than the kind we're accustomed to, where poor grammar and misspellings are the obvious giveaway. These new AI-generated scams are different, and the piece goes into some interesting detail. The prose is much more fluent and the writing sounds credible. But there are some interesting and familiar tells. One is what the piece calls the strange salutation. Instead of ‘Dear Dan' or ‘Dear Mr. Holloway' — or, as my more flattering would-be scammers might put it, ‘Dear Lord Holloway of Oxford' — the email would say ‘Dear Dan Holloway,' which is simply not how people greet each other. So that's one warning sign to look out for.
Another tell you'll be familiar with: the email may appear to come from a legitimate company, but the sending address will be a generic account — Gmail, Yahoo, or, heaven help everyone, Hotmail — rather than an actual company domain. And of course, what it ultimately comes down to is this: the scam will initiate an intelligent-sounding, flattering, plausible conversation with you, but eventually, in order to get onto the radio, money will flow in the wrong direction. Instead of offering you the chance to earn from doing this, it will ask you for money to secure your spot.
The second scam going around invites writers to participate in book fairs. Again, these will appear to be legitimate events, but the person writing to you is not legitimate. And the book fair in question will probably be a very long way away — you can't get there in person, but fear not, they have a solution: pay them enough money and they'll send a trusted representative on your behalf for a very small fee. That is, of course, where things unravel.
One thing I hadn't known before reading the piece: when it comes to payment details, the two banks most favored by scammers are Wells Fargo and one spelled L-E-A-D — I'm not sure of the pronunciation, not being based in America. If either of those is listed as the recipient bank, that is apparently another tell. I'm not suggesting that everyone with accounts at those banks is a scammer — far from it. But it's worth knowing.
Audible StoryHouse: A Pop-Up Audiobook Store in New York
From scams we move on to a slightly more fun form of audio — this one brought to us by Audible. It is still May, and if you are based in New York you can pop along to the Audible StoryHouse, which is in the Bowery — the heart of what I always think of as New York's cutting-edge, avant-garde art scene. Audible has a pop-up store called StoryHouse there for the whole of May, open Wednesday to Sunday, 11 AM to 7 PM, with workshops, sessions where you get to meet narrators and audiobook creators, crafting events, and all sorts of fun things going on.
But it is also a shop. According to their blog post on the subject, it is the world's first bookless bookstore — though it isn't really bookless, because the books you buy from it are audiobooks. The way it works is very much like an old-fashioned record store. You browse through what they're calling story tiles — glass tiles with covers and little teasers on them that get you excited about what might be inside. You take a story tile to a booth, just as you would take a vinyl record into a listening booth, and get to hear a sample from the audiobook. If you like it, you buy it. It's not a bookless bookstore so much as a store that sells digital books using a very tried-and-tested format, one that actually feels rather retro. But for all that, if I were in New York I would definitely be going along. They also have what they call story tenders — modeled on bartenders — who will give you personalized audiobook recommendations. Audiobooks, Audible, moving back into the 20th century, and with it moving into a more interesting and exciting live space. That, for me, is much to be welcomed.
Anthropic Settlement: The Fairness Hearing
And I'll leave you with some Anthropic news. In the ongoing Anthropic settlement legal proceedings, this past week we've had the so-called fairness hearing — the stage at which the court works out whether the proposed settlement is fair to all parties, and people have a chance to object. It seems that very few people did. As of the time of recording, we don't yet have a ruling, but everyone is expecting it to go through without difficulty.
It is worth noting some of the objections that were raised. One pointed out that $3,000 is a very small percentage of the maximum that could be awarded per title for copyright infringement — which is $150,000. You'll remember that in the early days of the case people were arguing for $150,000 per title, but that was ruled out because it would have bankrupted Anthropic and made any payment impossible. Three thousand was the agreed settlement figure. Nonetheless, some objectors are pointing this out and suggesting it might be a reason for some rights holders to pursue more money through other means.
The other objection, which is of real importance for indie authors and particularly overseas authors, concerns the requirement for copyright to be registered with the US Copyright Office as a condition for participation in the class. The objectors are pointing out that this is not actually required under US copyright law, and that it is seemingly unfair on authors outside the United States. This is something I've been asked about a lot, and it has caused a great deal of concern in the indie and overseas author communities. It has now been formally raised in the case. It's unlikely anything will come of it at this stage, but it will be very interesting to see if there are further comments, or how it plays out in future cases.
I will of course report anything that follows from that as and when it happens. In the meantime, I look forward very much to speaking to you at the same time next week. Have a good weekend. Thank you.
