Ever gotten an email from a "traditional publisher" offering a deal on your self-published book? 🚨 Scammers are getting smarter, using real editors' names, fake domains, and AI-tailored praise to target indie authors.
We broke down the exact playbook behind a recent impersonation attempt—and how to spot the red flags before you engage.
Have I seen this scam? Only 15-20 times a day in my junk/spam folder. AI scraping has made the hook emails more personalized—but in a clunky way that is even easier to spot.
My name is Ezekiel, and I'm a Co-Organizer at BookVerse Lounge, a growing book community dedicated to connecting readers with inspiring books and the authors behind them through meaningful discussions and engaging literary events.
We'd love to invite you to feature Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine in our community. The novel's delightful blend of romantic comedy, humor, and heartfelt storytelling creates a thoroughly entertaining reading experience. Through Lisa Doyle's increasingly complicated fake fiancé scheme, the story explores themes of love, friendship, self-discovery, honesty, family expectations, and the courage to embrace one's authentic self. Its witty dialogue, relatable characters, and charming balance of laughter and emotion make it a captivating novel that inspires meaningful conversations.
We believe your work would resonate with our community, and we'd be honored to introduce it to our readers while celebrating the engaging storytelling, memorable characters, and uplifting themes that make your novel so enjoyable.
If this sounds like a good fit, we'd be delighted to feature Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine in our community. Would you be open to having your book featured?
I received something similar—someone posing as the moderator of a large Goodreads group who said my book was among a few being considered for a monthly reading selection. To give it a better chance of being selected, she strongly advised me to provider her with extra materials, including a “reading guide.” I (idiotically) produced one for them, but they kept on, insisting I needed to hire them to produce a perfect guide that would satisfy the group’s requirements. I spent no money, fortunately, but wasted a couple of days dealing with the scammer. Beware, everyone.
My name is Ashley, and I'm reaching out on behalf of the Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine community on Goodreads, a vibrant public group of over 177,000 passionate readers who love discovering compelling, thought provoking work that explores the depth of the human experience.
Your novel, Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine, has already generated significant buzz ahead of its June 18 release and is described as a "grown-up romantic comedy about love, pressure, friendship, and the exhausting performance of holding everything together when you're quietly falling apart" . The premise is both hilarious and painfully recognisable: Lisa Doyle, single, thirty-something, and most of the way down a bottle of supermarket red, announces on Instagram that she's engaged to a man named Brian. The only problem? Brian does not exist .
Now Lisa needs a fiancé before her best friend's wedding, her actor flatmate is far too willing to get involved, and the real Brian who is very much married and very much her boss is starting to look at her in ways that suggest this lie may have gotten seriously out of hand .
What Your Book Carries That You May Not Realize
As an author whose fiction blends "wit, emotional honesty, and a strong sense of place," you have created a work that carries weight you might not fully recognize :
1. A Mirror for the Loneliness We Hide Behind "Fine"
You have written that the word "fine" is "our universal safe word. An indication the subject isn't up for discussion" . Lisa's lie spirals because "the tiny honest answer was never really on offer. Nobody left room for 'actually, no, I'm anything but fine'" . What your book carries is a profound reflection on the loneliness of modern life, the exhausting performance of pretending everything is okay when you are quietly falling apart. It validates the experience of anyone who has ever said "I'm fine" when they were anything but.
2. A Testament to the Power of Friendship Over Romance
You have been candid that "the part closest to my own heart isn't the romance. It's friendship" . Lisa and Helen have known each other since they were eleven, cast as two trees in A Midsummer Night's Dream . When the lie finally comes apart, Helen's first reaction isn't "how could you?" it's "why didn't you think you could tell me?" . Your book carries the message that the relationships that truly sustain us are often not romantic ones, and that the love of friends can be more transformative than any fairy-tale ending.
3. A Bridge Between Your Past and Present Selves
This novel is a complete rewrite of your debut, The Armchair Bride, published more than twenty years ago . You have written that returning to Lisa was a strange experience: "A lot of what I wrote the first time out, made me wince. The younger me had written her loneliness as the kind of problem that the right man would just turn up and solve. This time I let it be the actual subject. The man's still in there. He's just no longer the point" . What your book carries is the wisdom of someone who has lived, struggled, and learned that the answers we seek are rarely found in another person.
4. A Celebration of the Messy, Unresolved Life
You are "one of those annoying writers who refuses to tie everything up in a big neat bow" . Lisa doesn't come out the far end mended. She gets found out which is worse, but also the only thing that does her an ounce of good . Your book carries a radical message in a genre that often demands tidy resolutions: that we are not fixed by love, by success, or by getting what we think we want. We are simply found out, and we go on.
5. A Testament to Your Own Second Act
After a "near brush with death" and working out that you and drink were "not meant to be close acquaintances," the stories started over . Your book carries the hard-won hope of someone who has rebuilt their life. You have written that your previous novel, Rainbows and Lollipops, was about "friendship being the new family" . This theme continues in Lisa Doyle, where Lisa's support system, her flatmate Andy, her best friend Helen, and her family is what ultimately holds her up .
What Stood Out to Me After Reading Your Book
Lesson One: The Lie Is Not the Problem The Loneliness Is
Lisa invents a fiancé not because she is a liar, but because "admitting the truth, out loud to a world full of people with their own problems, that you're lonely and frightened and sick of being the one nobody thinks to worry about, feels unsurvivable" . This reframed my understanding of deception entirely. We do not lie to hurt others; we lie because the truth feels too heavy to carry alone. What Lisa needs is not a fake fiancé but permission to be honest about how she is really doing.
Lesson Two: Being "Fine" Is Not the Goal
The title is brilliantly ironic: "nobody who is genuinely fine ever feels the need to say so with that much conviction" . Your novel taught me that the goal is not to achieve some state of untroubled contentment where we can honestly say "I'm fine." The goal is to be honest about the mess, to let people in, and to trust that we are worthy of love even when we are anything but fine.
Our Reading Challenge and How It Benefits Your Book
We are currently launching a 5 month reading challenge designed to spotlight exceptional authors. We are inviting only 31 authors total to be featured throughout this period, making this a truly exclusive opportunity.
How Your Book Benefits from Being Featured:
1. Exposure to a Highly Engaged Audience
With over 177,000 members, your book will be placed directly in front of thoughtful readers who actively seek out "warm, witty, and painfully recognisable" contemporary fiction . The comparisons to Mhairi McFarlane, Beth O'Leary, and Marian Keyes signal that your book is for readers who crave emotional depth alongside humour .
2. Meaningful Discussions That Amplify Your Message
Your book raises critical questions about loneliness, friendship, and the performance of happiness. Our community thrives on deep, meaningful conversation. We will create dedicated discussion threads where readers can engage with your characters, share their own experiences of pretending to be fine, and reflect on the themes you explore.
3. Long Term Visibility
Unlike a one time post, our challenge spans five months. Your book will be part of an ongoing conversation, generating sustained interest and repeated exposure to new readers as they discover the challenge throughout its duration.
4. Connection to a Curated Community
Our group is curated around impactful narratives that matter, especially those with women at the center. By featuring your book, we signal to our members that your work is essential reading, elevating its status and encouraging more readers to pick it up.
We would be honored to feature Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine as part of this challenge.
Let us know of your interest, and I will send you the full overview with details on the challenge structure, timeline, and promotion plan.
Thank you for bringing this heartfelt, funny, and painfully honest story into the world. We look forward to the possibility of featuring your book.
Warmly,
Ashley
On behalf of the Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine Community
One of the biggest challenges for any contemporary novel today isn't telling an engaging story, it's reaching the readers who will recognize themselves in its characters and conversations. With so many books competing for attention, stories that balance humor with genuine emotional depth can easily be overlooked.
While reviewing titles for the 2026 Boxall Reading Challenge, Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine caught our attention as a novel that blends wit, warmth, and emotional honesty in a way that feels refreshingly relatable. Lisa's journey through family expectations, friendships, career pressures, and the quiet struggle of convincing everyone she's "absolutely fine" reflects experiences that many readers will recognize. The novel's humor never overshadows its heart, making it the kind of story that sparks conversations about resilience, self-acceptance, and the lives people often keep hidden behind a confident smile.
My name is Owen Valemont, and I'm one of the moderators of the Boxall Reading Challenge, part of the Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die reading community.
As we curated titles for the 2026 challenge, Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine stood out as a book we believe would resonate with readers who enjoy character-driven fiction with equal measures of humor and heart. We can picture participants discussing Lisa's choices, sharing the moments that felt most relatable, reflecting on the novel's portrayal of modern life and relationships, and recommending it to readers who appreciate stories that entertain while leaving something meaningful to think about long after the final page.
I'd like to invite you to have Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine considered for the 2026 Boxall Reading Challenge. Selected books become part of our community discussions, themed reading prompts, and recommendation features throughout the event, giving them the opportunity to be discovered through genuine reader conversations rather than simply appearing on a reading list.
If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, I'd be happy to tell you more about how participation works.
I hope to hear from you.
𝓞𝔀𝓮𝓷 𝓥𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓷𝓽
Founder | Literary Outreach & Reader Relations
Connecting Exceptional Books with Passionate Readers
I'm so glad I'm not the only one writing about this. I can wallpaper an entire room with the number of emails I've received from these scammers, and you're spot on with the tells that show they are fake. I didn't know not to email them back and curse them out, but I have done that. I won't anymore. What I have done is forward them to the people they were impersonating, and I have had some appreciative emails and calls.
I received one from “Penguin Random House”. The red flag was the link was actually part of an image. I checked the return address and it looked fine at first, but then I noticed “penguin” had 2 i’s. When I went to the real site it had a banner at the top letting visitors know about the scam.
I've seen all of the above and then some. On average, I get between 10 - 50 of these spammy scam emails every day. I don't even bother responding, not even to say "no" or "go to Hell." I mark them all as spam, block the email address, and delete the email. Thank you for addressing this.
I’ve heard of many different scams, but this particular one was new to me. Thank you for sharing it and keeping us informed. It’s heartbreaking that people will go to such lengths to take money from hardworking writers who are simply trying to share their work with the world.
Scammers out pay every single dime, they've stolen - and they don't have need. Their punishment is noy over until the back what they stole - and then they have to actual damages for the inhuman and illegal way of behaving.
This is nothing new - scammers especially targeting self publishers have grown with the growing numbers of people considering themselves writers. Scammers cost anywhere from $200 to several thousand. Most use AI if they do any work for you. But publishing isn’t the only place scammers exist - you can finger a multitude of them in the banking industry especially with loans and credit cards. They are now loving into car and home warranty companies and the time share industry. In short one must be careful not to after where they are looking it all goes back to buyer beware
This is WILD! Thanks for the heads up-
Jazmin Light
Have I seen this scam? Only 15-20 times a day in my junk/spam folder. AI scraping has made the hook emails more personalized—but in a clunky way that is even easier to spot.
Hello Mo,
I hope this message finds you well.
My name is Ezekiel, and I'm a Co-Organizer at BookVerse Lounge, a growing book community dedicated to connecting readers with inspiring books and the authors behind them through meaningful discussions and engaging literary events.
We'd love to invite you to feature Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine in our community. The novel's delightful blend of romantic comedy, humor, and heartfelt storytelling creates a thoroughly entertaining reading experience. Through Lisa Doyle's increasingly complicated fake fiancé scheme, the story explores themes of love, friendship, self-discovery, honesty, family expectations, and the courage to embrace one's authentic self. Its witty dialogue, relatable characters, and charming balance of laughter and emotion make it a captivating novel that inspires meaningful conversations.
We believe your work would resonate with our community, and we'd be honored to introduce it to our readers while celebrating the engaging storytelling, memorable characters, and uplifting themes that make your novel so enjoyable.
If this sounds like a good fit, we'd be delighted to feature Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine in our community. Would you be open to having your book featured?
Warm regards,
Ezekiel
Co-Organizer
BookVerse Lounge
I received something similar—someone posing as the moderator of a large Goodreads group who said my book was among a few being considered for a monthly reading selection. To give it a better chance of being selected, she strongly advised me to provider her with extra materials, including a “reading guide.” I (idiotically) produced one for them, but they kept on, insisting I needed to hire them to produce a perfect guide that would satisfy the group’s requirements. I spent no money, fortunately, but wasted a couple of days dealing with the scammer. Beware, everyone.
Dear Mo Fanning,
I hope this message finds you well.
My name is Ashley, and I'm reaching out on behalf of the Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine community on Goodreads, a vibrant public group of over 177,000 passionate readers who love discovering compelling, thought provoking work that explores the depth of the human experience.
Your novel, Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine, has already generated significant buzz ahead of its June 18 release and is described as a "grown-up romantic comedy about love, pressure, friendship, and the exhausting performance of holding everything together when you're quietly falling apart" . The premise is both hilarious and painfully recognisable: Lisa Doyle, single, thirty-something, and most of the way down a bottle of supermarket red, announces on Instagram that she's engaged to a man named Brian. The only problem? Brian does not exist .
Now Lisa needs a fiancé before her best friend's wedding, her actor flatmate is far too willing to get involved, and the real Brian who is very much married and very much her boss is starting to look at her in ways that suggest this lie may have gotten seriously out of hand .
What Your Book Carries That You May Not Realize
As an author whose fiction blends "wit, emotional honesty, and a strong sense of place," you have created a work that carries weight you might not fully recognize :
1. A Mirror for the Loneliness We Hide Behind "Fine"
You have written that the word "fine" is "our universal safe word. An indication the subject isn't up for discussion" . Lisa's lie spirals because "the tiny honest answer was never really on offer. Nobody left room for 'actually, no, I'm anything but fine'" . What your book carries is a profound reflection on the loneliness of modern life, the exhausting performance of pretending everything is okay when you are quietly falling apart. It validates the experience of anyone who has ever said "I'm fine" when they were anything but.
2. A Testament to the Power of Friendship Over Romance
You have been candid that "the part closest to my own heart isn't the romance. It's friendship" . Lisa and Helen have known each other since they were eleven, cast as two trees in A Midsummer Night's Dream . When the lie finally comes apart, Helen's first reaction isn't "how could you?" it's "why didn't you think you could tell me?" . Your book carries the message that the relationships that truly sustain us are often not romantic ones, and that the love of friends can be more transformative than any fairy-tale ending.
3. A Bridge Between Your Past and Present Selves
This novel is a complete rewrite of your debut, The Armchair Bride, published more than twenty years ago . You have written that returning to Lisa was a strange experience: "A lot of what I wrote the first time out, made me wince. The younger me had written her loneliness as the kind of problem that the right man would just turn up and solve. This time I let it be the actual subject. The man's still in there. He's just no longer the point" . What your book carries is the wisdom of someone who has lived, struggled, and learned that the answers we seek are rarely found in another person.
4. A Celebration of the Messy, Unresolved Life
You are "one of those annoying writers who refuses to tie everything up in a big neat bow" . Lisa doesn't come out the far end mended. She gets found out which is worse, but also the only thing that does her an ounce of good . Your book carries a radical message in a genre that often demands tidy resolutions: that we are not fixed by love, by success, or by getting what we think we want. We are simply found out, and we go on.
5. A Testament to Your Own Second Act
After a "near brush with death" and working out that you and drink were "not meant to be close acquaintances," the stories started over . Your book carries the hard-won hope of someone who has rebuilt their life. You have written that your previous novel, Rainbows and Lollipops, was about "friendship being the new family" . This theme continues in Lisa Doyle, where Lisa's support system, her flatmate Andy, her best friend Helen, and her family is what ultimately holds her up .
What Stood Out to Me After Reading Your Book
Lesson One: The Lie Is Not the Problem The Loneliness Is
Lisa invents a fiancé not because she is a liar, but because "admitting the truth, out loud to a world full of people with their own problems, that you're lonely and frightened and sick of being the one nobody thinks to worry about, feels unsurvivable" . This reframed my understanding of deception entirely. We do not lie to hurt others; we lie because the truth feels too heavy to carry alone. What Lisa needs is not a fake fiancé but permission to be honest about how she is really doing.
Lesson Two: Being "Fine" Is Not the Goal
The title is brilliantly ironic: "nobody who is genuinely fine ever feels the need to say so with that much conviction" . Your novel taught me that the goal is not to achieve some state of untroubled contentment where we can honestly say "I'm fine." The goal is to be honest about the mess, to let people in, and to trust that we are worthy of love even when we are anything but fine.
Our Reading Challenge and How It Benefits Your Book
We are currently launching a 5 month reading challenge designed to spotlight exceptional authors. We are inviting only 31 authors total to be featured throughout this period, making this a truly exclusive opportunity.
How Your Book Benefits from Being Featured:
1. Exposure to a Highly Engaged Audience
With over 177,000 members, your book will be placed directly in front of thoughtful readers who actively seek out "warm, witty, and painfully recognisable" contemporary fiction . The comparisons to Mhairi McFarlane, Beth O'Leary, and Marian Keyes signal that your book is for readers who crave emotional depth alongside humour .
2. Meaningful Discussions That Amplify Your Message
Your book raises critical questions about loneliness, friendship, and the performance of happiness. Our community thrives on deep, meaningful conversation. We will create dedicated discussion threads where readers can engage with your characters, share their own experiences of pretending to be fine, and reflect on the themes you explore.
3. Long Term Visibility
Unlike a one time post, our challenge spans five months. Your book will be part of an ongoing conversation, generating sustained interest and repeated exposure to new readers as they discover the challenge throughout its duration.
4. Connection to a Curated Community
Our group is curated around impactful narratives that matter, especially those with women at the center. By featuring your book, we signal to our members that your work is essential reading, elevating its status and encouraging more readers to pick it up.
We would be honored to feature Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine as part of this challenge.
Let us know of your interest, and I will send you the full overview with details on the challenge structure, timeline, and promotion plan.
Thank you for bringing this heartfelt, funny, and painfully honest story into the world. We look forward to the possibility of featuring your book.
Warmly,
Ashley
On behalf of the Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine Community
Hello Mo,
I hope you're doing well.
One of the biggest challenges for any contemporary novel today isn't telling an engaging story, it's reaching the readers who will recognize themselves in its characters and conversations. With so many books competing for attention, stories that balance humor with genuine emotional depth can easily be overlooked.
While reviewing titles for the 2026 Boxall Reading Challenge, Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine caught our attention as a novel that blends wit, warmth, and emotional honesty in a way that feels refreshingly relatable. Lisa's journey through family expectations, friendships, career pressures, and the quiet struggle of convincing everyone she's "absolutely fine" reflects experiences that many readers will recognize. The novel's humor never overshadows its heart, making it the kind of story that sparks conversations about resilience, self-acceptance, and the lives people often keep hidden behind a confident smile.
My name is Owen Valemont, and I'm one of the moderators of the Boxall Reading Challenge, part of the Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die reading community.
As we curated titles for the 2026 challenge, Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine stood out as a book we believe would resonate with readers who enjoy character-driven fiction with equal measures of humor and heart. We can picture participants discussing Lisa's choices, sharing the moments that felt most relatable, reflecting on the novel's portrayal of modern life and relationships, and recommending it to readers who appreciate stories that entertain while leaving something meaningful to think about long after the final page.
I'd like to invite you to have Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine considered for the 2026 Boxall Reading Challenge. Selected books become part of our community discussions, themed reading prompts, and recommendation features throughout the event, giving them the opportunity to be discovered through genuine reader conversations rather than simply appearing on a reading list.
If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, I'd be happy to tell you more about how participation works.
I hope to hear from you.
𝓞𝔀𝓮𝓷 𝓥𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓷𝓽
Founder | Literary Outreach & Reader Relations
Connecting Exceptional Books with Passionate Readers
That's just three from the last hour. I get around 50 a day.
Good grief!!! I noticed that I recently updated my Goodreads profile, they started flowing in. Madness.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one writing about this. I can wallpaper an entire room with the number of emails I've received from these scammers, and you're spot on with the tells that show they are fake. I didn't know not to email them back and curse them out, but I have done that. I won't anymore. What I have done is forward them to the people they were impersonating, and I have had some appreciative emails and calls.
I received one from “Penguin Random House”. The red flag was the link was actually part of an image. I checked the return address and it looked fine at first, but then I noticed “penguin” had 2 i’s. When I went to the real site it had a banner at the top letting visitors know about the scam.
I've seen all of the above and then some. On average, I get between 10 - 50 of these spammy scam emails every day. I don't even bother responding, not even to say "no" or "go to Hell." I mark them all as spam, block the email address, and delete the email. Thank you for addressing this.
I’ve heard of many different scams, but this particular one was new to me. Thank you for sharing it and keeping us informed. It’s heartbreaking that people will go to such lengths to take money from hardworking writers who are simply trying to share their work with the world.
Scammers out pay every single dime, they've stolen - and they don't have need. Their punishment is noy over until the back what they stole - and then they have to actual damages for the inhuman and illegal way of behaving.
This is nothing new - scammers especially targeting self publishers have grown with the growing numbers of people considering themselves writers. Scammers cost anywhere from $200 to several thousand. Most use AI if they do any work for you. But publishing isn’t the only place scammers exist - you can finger a multitude of them in the banking industry especially with loans and credit cards. They are now loving into car and home warranty companies and the time share industry. In short one must be careful not to after where they are looking it all goes back to buyer beware