I have been hearing of these types of scams from other writers for a while now, but this morning, I have been targeted for the first time myself. I am glad that I have been warned and that the email address used to target me is one that I hardly ever use (an immediate red flag), and if I do, it is for the Karavan Press Literary Festival only (easy to find online).

This email arrived in my inbox:

Hi Karina,

Invisible Others brings together loss, intimacy, grief, guilt, and the complicated ways people can leave lasting marks on one another. Set against contemporary Paris, the story follows a South African writer seeking anonymity after a devastating loss, only to encounter a Polish academic carrying his own grief. Their chance meeting creates a space where two wounded people begin confronting emotions and experiences they may have hoped to leave behind.

My name is Martins, and I’m one of the moderators of the Chapter Map Readers Community. I’m reaching out because Invisible Others is being considered for one of our upcoming reading cycles.

What stood out to us is the way the novel explores not only what happens to its characters, but what remains with them afterward. The silence between people, the difficulty of communicating what we feel, the consequences of intimate relationships, and the different ways people process grief give readers plenty to question and interpret.

Each reading cycle, our selection committee chooses only five books, giving each selected title focused attention from our community.

If selected, you would join us for a Live Author Spotlight Session via Zoom, where you can introduce Invisible Others, talk about the characters, the emotional and cultural worlds behind the story, and what inspired you to explore loss, intimacy, and human connection in this way.

After the Spotlight, the book moves into our four-week reading discussion, where readers can explore the relationships more deeply, exchange their interpretations, discuss the characters’ choices, and reflect on the different ways the novel approaches grief, guilt, intimacy, and communication.

The goal is to create genuine reader engagement around the book, giving readers the opportunity to discover it, discuss it, recommend it, and keep the conversation going beyond the Spotlight.

Would you be open to exploring this with us? If so, I can send you the details of how the reading cycle works.

All the best,
Martins
Moderator
Chapter Map Readers Community

I typed “Chapter Map Readers Community” into Google and saw immediately that this “community” has no online presence whatsoever. When I asked, “Is Chapter Map Readers Community a scam?”, Google warned: “part of a widespread book club scam targeting independent and self-published authors … While it positions itself as an innocent, enthusiastic literary group, it operates as a predatory marketing scheme designed to extract money from authors.”

How it works: You receive an unsolicited, AI-generated email praising your book. They claim to operate a large “community” of readers eager to engage with your book. Once you reply, they offer to feature it in their discussion circles, social media spotlights, newsletters, etc. Soon after, they will request an upfront fee to continue …

I am my Invisible Others are very happy to remain invisible and out of this kind of “spotlight”. For free.