Another mumble (voice)mail

Another day has come and gone in our journey of cycles around the sun that we can life. And with the passing of another day comes the receipt of another voicemail from an unsolicited contact. And much like the mystery voicemail I received early this year (check it out here), on July 24, 2024, I got another voicemail that leaves less than the other message to the imagination but still enough to leave me questioning who this person is.

In the latest "mumble message," as I've started to call them, the speaker, a woman, opens with what I think is a greeting to me followed by an introduction of herself. I can kinda make out my name but her name is completely unintelligible as is her employer's name. I have listened to this message numerous times and played it for others for their thoughts and the best guess is that her name is Mavis Johnson. As for her employer, the poor quality of the message left makes it almost incomprehensible.

A little digging into the name Mavis Johnson and the phone number left in the message (which is oddly clear as day), I think she's saying she represents Aspire Publishing Hub. After having found the name Aspire Publishing associated with a Mavis Johnson online, when I hear the message now I can almost make out the word Aspire. I'm not convinced that's what she is saying because the call quality was so poor but its the closest thing I can think of that makes sense. And when you go to the Aspire Publishing Hub website and go to agents, which the message seemed to indicate the caller was, there is a Mavis Johnson listed.

All the crumbs in this crumby message seem to suggest that Mavis Johnson from Aspire Publishing Hub, LLC called me on 7/24/2024. I can't be certain of it, which is why I haven't listed Aspire Publishing Hub, LLC on my unsolicited contacts page. However, despite not being sure if this latest message really was from Mavis Johnson at Aspire Publishing Hub, LLC, what I found when I researched the group did seem worth retelling in case anyone else gets a confirmed contact from this group.

Their website address (aspirehub.info) was first registered with DreamHost, LLC on Feb. 08, 2022. All of the registrar's data is marked private so there's no publicly available data to say who actually owns that address and where they reside. Regardless, the website is only just over 2 years old which is still below the 5 year threshold recommended. Any website that's less than 5 years old that you don't directly know or came recommended by a trusted source is commonly recommended to be avoided because of the vast number of less than legitimate and/or under-delivering groups that seem to start up, shut down, and restart with new names so frequently within the literary market space.

The phone number that was left as part of the message does track back to a registered owner. That owner is simply listed as "LITERARY AGENT". No name. No company. Just LITERARY AGENT. That just strikes me as odd.

And Aspire Publishing Hub, LLC does have a BBB profile (check it out here). At the time this article was written, the profile has a 1 star rating (the lowest rating possible). It shows 3 complaints in the last 12 months, not an encouraging sign. Of the 3 complaints, 2 still showed unresolved/unanswered with the most recent of the 3 being over 90 days old and the complainant indicates that after various issues between them and Aspire that the author made multiple phone calls that were unanswered and sent a certified letter that was returned as "not deliverable as addressed." When a company goes so silent with an author when trying to resolve a dispute or issue it doesn't give me good vibes. Perhaps there is more to that story that the author doesn't represent in their complaint but a total shutdown of communication by the publisher is rarely a good sign.

The other complaints, possibly the same case filed twice, have to do with unpaid royalties, lack of communication and responses from the publisher, and the official response to the BBB complaint was a letter indicating that the royalty check had been mailed to and received by the author a few days after the complaint was filed. I do not like that the official response from Aspire was simply signed "Business Manager" and did not include a contact name only a title. I've seen a number of letters from groups and the ones that are questionable to me do tend to share the trend of either only giving a business title and not a representative name or a person's name but no company name.

It seems deliberately elusive to me.

And finally, I did also find the name Aspire Publishing Hub on another website that tracks possible overseas scams. I can't comment on what about Aspire Publishing Hub landed them on that group's list but their inclusion there is something of a red flag to me and others.

Below is the Siri speech to text translation for the voicemail I received on 7/24/24 that prompted my research and this post.

“Like it like Mary this is me with Johnson , the literary agent from NAR literary agency , and I'm calling since we added my team that you may be looking for a literary agent to help you with your book or screenplay will Gary if you're looking for your agent to represent your book Traditional publishers or pinch your screenplay and film industries just let me know so that I can discuss with you, Michael and plans for this project. Call me at 9 1 6- 9 7 4- 9 4 0 4. Again it's 9 1 6- 9 7 4- 9 4 0 4 thank you so much and have a wonderful day. Now…“

And let me be clear, I have never contacted anyone named Mavis Johnson nor anyone at Aspire Publishing Hub LLC regarding literary agent services or pitching my book as a screenplay. I have never put out an open call for literary agents to call me at will for services. I have only submitted my works to specific lit agents with specific, reputable agencies but that was well over a year ago that the last submission was made. Those submissions are not known to be referred to other agents or external service providers. The target agent will accept or reject the submission and nothing else so it is unlikely that anyone was given my information from another agent. I have released press releases with the release of a few books and that is commonly how these groups find your contact info or they scrub it from websites, social media, or anywhere else that you might market your work.