Who contacted you?
Check whether the person is really who they say they are.
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Publishing scams: spot the warning signs before you pay, sign or hand over your rights.
Fake agents, publishers and rights buyers are getting harder to recognise. Learn what to look for, check an approach you've received and download the guide to keep for reference.
Publishing offer risk checker
What looks unusual about the approach?
Tick every statement that applies. The checker looks for recognised warning signs. It cannot prove that an approach is genuine or fraudulent, but it can tell you what deserves further investigation.
Money and fees
Look closely at who is paying whom, and why.
Rights and contracts
Check what you're giving away and what you're being promised.
Pressure and promises
Be cautious when the emotional pressure is doing the selling.
What the result means
The checker identifies warning signs. It doesn't diagnose fraud.
A low result does not prove that an approach is genuine. Sophisticated scams can contain very few obvious warning signs.
Equally, a higher result does not automatically mean that a company is fraudulent. The point is to identify features that deserve verification before you pay, sign or provide sensitive information.
One serious warning can matter more than several minor ones. A supposed literary agent demanding payment before representation deserves immediate checking even if everything else looks professional.
Professional-looking doesn't mean genuine. Names, biographies, logos, websites and even personalised comments about your book can be copied or generated.
Verify outside the conversation. Don't use the email address, telephone number or link supplied in the suspicious approach as the means of proving that the approach is genuine.
Common scam patterns
Three situations that deserve particular care.
Agent impersonation
A scammer may use the name of a genuine literary agent or agency. Check the agency's real website yourself, confirm that the person works there and compare the sender's email address with the agency's official domain.
Publisher impersonation
Fraudsters may claim to work for a recognisable publishing house or say that a major publisher is interested in your work. Verify the person independently, particularly if money is then requested.
Rights scams
Be cautious when an unexpected film, television, translation or audiobook offer is followed by a demand for certificates, registration fees, licences, assessments or other supposed prerequisites.
An important distinction
Self-publishing isn't vanity publishing.
In self-publishing, you are the publisher. You control the project and choose which services to buy.
You might independently employ an editor, cover designer, formatter, illustrator or printer, but those people are suppliers to your publishing project.
Vanity or paid-for publishing is different. A separate company offers to publish the book in return for payment, a compulsory purchase or another financial contribution.
Some businesses use terms such as 'hybrid', 'partnership', 'contributory' or 'assisted publishing'. The label matters less than the actual contract and business model.
✓
Check the total cost
Include later extras, compulsory purchases and upsells.
Include later extras, compulsory purchases and upsells.
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Check the rights
Find out what you're granting, for how long and how rights return to you.
Find out what you're granting, for how long and how rights return to you.
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Check what 'distribution' means
Being technically orderable is not the same as being actively stocked or sold.
Being technically orderable is not the same as being actively stocked or sold.
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Check how the company makes its money
Is the business primarily selling books to readers or services to authors?
Is the business primarily selling books to readers or services to authors?
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Check the claims independently
Testimonials, awards, sales figures and industry contacts should be verifiable.
Testimonials, awards, sales figures and industry contacts should be verifiable.
Verify an approach
Check it without relying on the person who contacted you.
- Stop using the links and contact details in the message while you investigate.
- Find the organisation's genuine website independently.
- Check whether the person actually works there.
- Compare the sender's email domain carefully with the genuine organisation's domain.
- Check whether the organisation normally approaches writers in the way being claimed.
- If necessary, contact the genuine organisation separately through details on its official website.
- Don't send money, bank details, identification documents or rights documents until you've completed those checks.
Already paid?
Act quickly and preserve the evidence.
Contact your bank or card provider as soon as possible and explain that you believe you may have been the victim of fraud.
Keep everything Preserve emails, contracts, payment records, messages, telephone numbers, screenshots and website addresses.
Report the fraud In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, fraud and cybercrime can be reported through Report Fraud. In Scotland, contact Police Scotland on 101.
Tell the real organisation If somebody is impersonating a genuine literary agent, publisher or other organisation, alert the genuine organisation too.
Keep a copy
Download the publishing scams guide.
Save the guide so you have the main warning signs and verification steps available when an unexpected approach lands in your inbox.
Authoritative guidance
Useful places to check.
- Society of Authors
- Writers' Guild of Great Britain
- Writer Beware
- Association of Authors' Agents
- Report Fraud
Last reviewed: September 2026. This page provides general information rather than legal advice. Publishing practices and scam techniques change, so verify any specific approach independently.