I receive a flattering email. The sender is very impressed with my work. She runs an elite reading group, would like to include one of my books. I, of course, respond that she is welcome to do so. At the second or third round of the exchange she mentions a small financial contribution by the featured author to help cover the costs of the project. One such proposal could be genuine, a worthwhile project for creating online conversations about interesting books. I think this is the third I have received in the past year. Considered as a scam, it makes sense only if targeting multiple authors, since it does not seem likely to get much money from any single author. Targeting multiple authors requires multiple versions of the emails, since they contain moderately detailed references to the author's work, hardly likely to be worth the cost of hiring someone to compose them. What made me suspicious the first time was the flattery. I am a big fish in several small ponds but the message did...
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