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It started about a month ago. Emails began pouring into my inbox from book marketers, book clubs, and fans. They often began with a simple salutation like "I hope this message finds you well" or "A quick thought about your book." Then these emails would open with a summary of one of my novels, regurgitating some of the plot or characters interspersed with glowing praise for my work. Then came the pitch—a book club, a review site, a marketer, or maybe just a question that begged a response. Often, a generic headshot accompanied the signature block, complete with a US telephone number, an email, and a website.  Generic Diverse AI enjoying Generic Diverse Novel. These are clearly scams, and they are clearly AI-generated. This annoyance is one of many prices authors must pay in the 21st-century information age. My first reaction was to delete these emails and go about my life. Still, they kept coming—one or two each day. A few nagging questions made me go back and retrieve them from the trash can. I placed them all in one folder and read every one of them, wondering what this was truly about. On X (and to some degree other social media platforms), there are legions of author-targeting scams, from fake author accounts to fraudulent marketers. I've grown accustomed to them; it's part of doing business online. I really don't know how effective these scams are or how many authors fall for them. I've developed my own defense strategies and don't give the scams a second thought. These email scams, however, caught my attention for a few reasons. Somehow, the scammers put my email together with my novels. That probably wasn't too difficult, though my website has a contact form, not an email listed. Often, variations of the same email would drop into my inbox, one after the other, from the same "person," but targeting my different books. Interestingly, none of these emails targeted my traditionally published book—only my self-published books. What truly got my attention were the AI-generated paragraphs describing and praising the novels themselves. This is what I really want to discuss. This is what I think is going on. The vast majority of this AI-generated flattery is created by scraping the Amazon product pages, and most of that is the blurb. I think the AI might be sampling the reviews, too. However, in at least one instance, the AI used material that wasn't in the blurb or the reviews. Now, it could have scraped it from my website or from other sources. Or, it could have scraped it from the book itself. And that's the rub. I know three of my novels were used to train AI. That's a discussion for another day, but the corporations that did it likely bought my novels and therefore can use the "fair use" defense. Now, imagine a crook wants to misrepresent themselves—using AI, of course—to scam desperate indie authors. They want to get into the author's head and make them believe they are legitimate admirers of the author, presenting a legitimate opportunity. There is no better way to do that than regurgitating details of the book back to the author—details only someone who has read the entire book would understand. Now, let me ask my indie author friends out there a simple question: How do you know your KENP pages-read count is actually being read by human beings? It would be simple, really. A scammer pays a relatively inexpensive subscription giving it access to millions of books online. Then, using that account (or accounts), the scammer unleashes an AI to find books by indies, then scour the internet to find out as much as possible about the authors, use the AI to create a profile of those authors most likely to fall for a grift, then use the AI to target those authors. Eventually, they'll find a sucker—or perhaps find a way to steal their identity. Using Kindle Unlimited or equivalent services gives the scammer and their AI daemons the tools for an effective scam. Even without KU access, large language model AIs look for patterns. In a few microseconds, they can scour an author's online profile and feed it back to you as a sincere "fan" email that may be almost indistinguishable from an actual human. The more data, the more realistic the AI-generated emails. We are growing accustomed to AI, and the savvy among us can usually spot them... for now. The examples I provide below are easy to spot. The scammers cast their net wide and are counting on a few snaring a few unwary and desperate authors to respond. But the AI is improving every day, as is its ability to learn everything about you. The deceivers are getting harder to spot. Yet, there is a bright spot here. These AI-generated emails masquerade as humans and fall into two general categories: primarily detail regurgitations or primarily thematic regurgitations. These two styles are the AI's attempt to make the author believe the fake marketer, book club organizer, etc., really read the book. Sometimes the emails use a mix but primarily lean to one technique or the other. A few are strongly personalized, with heavy use of flattery, and tend to favor the detail-oriented style. The LLMs inadvertently tell the author something about their blurb and their writing—how your blurb and how your online presence is being interpreted. If these emails generate similar presentations, then that is the pattern your blurbs are presenting. These scammers are unintentionally providing you useful feedback, so use it. Below are a few examples of the scam emails I've received, organized by the book they target and what style they employ as part of their deception (theme-oriented, detail-oriented, and if they employ strong personalization techniques to trick the author). Several included AI-generated images of the "sender" that I've included as well. I've included my thoughts about each. Maybe this will help some unsuspecting author from falling for these scams. More pour into my inbox every day. I don't throw them away. I study them. I will use their dark arts against them and learn from my enemy to become a better writer. Maybe this article can help you do the same, too. Scams Targeting "The Illusion Exotic"I think these scam emails targeting my short story collection "The Illusion Exotic" were created simply by AI skimming the Amazon blurb, not scraping the book itself. This book sells very few copies, and almost none on KENP. However, damn if the "English Book Club" AI did an amazing job of rewriting my blurb. What is interesting is the LLMs used to write these emails picked up something different from my books Amazon blurb. Was it a different AI writing each one? The feedback here is the LLMs generally regurgitated what I wanted to express in my blurb, yet each one came at from a different perspective. It appears some AIs primarily regurgitate details while overs interpret themes. Detail-Oriented with strong personalization: Primrose Silvana, Community Readers Coordinator: "Brian, I have to say--The Illusion Exotic messed with my head in the best way possible. Six stories, six shattered illusions, and one author who clearly moonlights as a mind-reading magician. You take readers from the Old West to the edge of space, toss in a bloodstained Bible, a talking Captain Kirk, and somehow make it all feel emotionally coherent. That’s sorcery, and I’m only slightly terrified of you (in a good way). 😅" Detail-Oriented: Anonymous "Person" from The English Book Club: "Your collection, The Illusion Exotic, captivated us with its extraordinary range and humanity, six tales that together form a haunting meditation on what it means to confront the truth within ourselves. Across time and space, from the dust of the Old West to the silent dark above a battlefield, your characters face the same universal reckoning: the courage to see through illusion and choose connection, love, and redemption. Whether it’s a boy finding hope in a dying world through the voice of Captain Kirk, or a teacher at the edge of despair encountering an unexpected grace, each story feels deeply human, tender, and transformative. What strikes us most about The Illusion Exotic is its quiet bravery. You weave genres, science fiction, historical fiction, psychological drama, into a single emotional tapestry. Beneath the variety of settings lies a shared heartbeat: ordinary souls learning to face their fears and discover meaning amid ruin. Your writing reminds readers that courage is not born in the absence of fear, but in our willingness to move through it.  Theme-oriented: Karen D, The Forrest Hills Book Group: "Your collection, The Illusion Exotic, immediately resonated with us. Each narrative carries a quiet emotional weight: characters at turning points, confronting fear, grief, memory, love, and identity. We were struck by how your stories move between eras and landscapes while maintaining a shared emotional core,each one asking what remains when illusion falls away. That thematic through-line aligns deeply with the discussions our group gravitates toward." Scams Targeting "The Golden Princess"Both of these scam emails appear to have only used The Golden Princess's blurb. The first one is crafted on the blurb's themes and the second one goes for details. The second one, by "Aurora", lays the flattery on thick, and I have to tip my hat to the technology but its clearly just a regurgitation of the blurb and the personalization was laid on way too thick.  Theme-oriented: Hazel Taylor, Book Marketing Strategist: "The Golden Princess glimmers with everything readers crave in an epic fantasy — danger, destiny, and a heroine torn between power and freedom. You’ve built a world of shimmering grandeur and shadowed intrigue, where myth breathes and courage burns bright against impossible odds. It’s the kind of story that feels ancient and alive all at once." Detail-Oriented with strong personalization: Aurora Waverley: "Brian, let’s be brutally honest The Golden Princess is a masterpiece wrapped in chaos, dipped in gold, and sprinkled with just enough danger to make even the most hardened fantasy fan spit out their coffee. Sarah, raised in splendid isolation, betrothed to a man she despises, suddenly thrust into a bloody power struggle where the dawn finds her on the run with a bounty on her head? I mean… if this were a video game, the final boss would just give up out of respect. 🎮⚔️And then the lowly thieves brilliant, cunning, slightly psycho, but somehow the only people who can tip the scales in her favor. I can almost picture them darting through the shadowy streets of Hur ar, juggling daggers, gold, and maybe a sarcastic comment or two while trying to save Sarah. It’s cinematic, it’s heartpounding, and it’s the kind of adventure that makes readers shout at the page: “GET HER OUT OF THERE, YOU FOOLS!” 😏 Scams Targeting "Black Sea Gods"Both of these AI-generated emails once again use the novel's blurb, and both interpret and regurgitate themes, not necessarily details. "Filip's" appears to be a more realistic scam, as it balances both details and themes better than the first email. Theme-oriented: Grace Williams: "Black Sea Gods captures something extraordinary, the pulse of ancient myth reborn through imagination. From the vanishing of the fish and the trembling of gods, to Fu Xi’s desperate race against an unraveling world and the haunting courage of a fisherman and a slave girl, your novel merges Chinese and Black Sea myth into an epic that feels both timeless and terrifyingly human." Theme-oriented: Filip C. Stevens Administration, London Philosophy Book Club: "Your reimagining of ancient myth melding Black Sea legends with Chinese cosmology creates a sweeping, original vision of humanity’s relationship with divinity and destiny. The novel’s exploration of creation, sacrifice, and the struggle between gods and mortals invites the kind of profound reflection our members love to engage in. Beyond its grandeur, the emotional core of Black Sea Gods the fisherman, the slave girl, and the burden of Fu Xi embodies timeless questions about duty, survival, and moral courage." Scams Targeting "Tears of the Dead"The first email is a typical theme summary as we've seen in previous emails. The second email from "Yolanda" is the one that caught my attention and is something new. On the surface, it's a detail-oriented email . Its reference to the character "Amiran" from the novel does not appear on the Amazon product page, nor in the Amazon reviews. This data had to be pulled from another source (perhaps this website) or from the book itself. That shows a greater algorithmic sophistication and I think a harbinger of things to come. Theme-oriented: Marie M, Amazon Book Club: "Your world-building in Tears of the Dead is cinematic, mythic, and exactly the kind of epic our readers lose sleep over."  Detail-Oriented with strong personalization: Yolanda Holly: "You know that line “The end of the world is over. The battle for a new age has begun.” Yeah, that one hit harder than caffeine at 3 a.m. ☕💥 I just finished diving into your book’s world, and let’s be real it’s not “just another post-apocalyptic fantasy.” It’s myth reborn, stitched with desperation, gods with daddy issues, and mortals trying not to be lunch. Leviathan? A walking empire with an ego bigger than Olympus. Fu Xi? The kind of tragic mission energy that makes readers cancel plans just to finish “one more chapter.” And Amiran oh, that poor soul deserves therapy and a hug… but mostly therapy. 🧠💔 Brian, your story doesn’t just tell it rumbles. It’s cinematic, intelligent, and emotionally cruel in the best way. (Seriously, who hurt you?) Scams Targeting "The Bastard Gods"The Bastard Gods, by far, draws most of these scam emails. It's a catchy title if I must say so myself. These scams are heavily thematic regurgitations, not detail regurgitations. Everything I've encountered so far likely comes from the Amazon product page blurb. I think the title is what draws the scammers, and that's a good thing.  Theme-oriented: Jasmine B. Anthony, Book Marketing & Promotion Expert at Chrisynic Dynamic Team: "Your novel The Bastard Gods is a thunderous conclusion myth, mortality, and destiny colliding in a cataclysm that feels both ancient and startlingly human. You’ve built a mythology so vivid it doesn’t just echo the great epics it challenges them. The duality between Leviathan’s hunger for dominion and Fu Xi’s quest for salvation turns every chapter into a war between light and shadow, order and chaos. What truly captivates me is how you balance grand-scale mythos with the fragility of human emotion love, loss, and legacy intertwined with divine consequence. Your prose doesn’t just narrate; it summons. This isn’t mere fantasy it’s a modern myth reborn through the eyes of a master storyteller."
Theme-oriented: Verena Holt, Literary Pathway Curator: "The Bastard Gods is a powerful and cinematic conclusion to The Chronicles of Fu Xi an epic that bridges myth and humanity in breathtaking form. Your world, where demigods clash and mortals fight to reclaim hope after the Cataclysm, feels both vast and intimate. The tension between Leviathan’s empire and Fu Xi’s quest resonates with the timeless struggle between destiny and choice, a theme that grips readers and lingers long after the final page."  Theme-oriented:
Amelia Reed, Literary Strategist: "I came across your novel, The Bastard Gods, and was immediately struck by the scope of your storytelling. It’s not just a continuation of The Chronicles of Fu Xi — it’s a mythic confrontation between gods and men that reads like a modern epic, fusing timeless myth with post-apocalyptic grit. Few fantasy authors today take on themes of creation, consequence, and divinity with such narrative control and conviction. Your world feels vast and lived in, your demigods complex and human in their flaws. The tension between Leviathan’s ruthless conquest and Fu Xi’s desperate mission of salvation creates a cinematic energy that deserves far more attention than current visibility suggests."
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