Unsolicited Sales Contacts by Company

Disclaimer: I'm not saying that these people are scammers and that their companies aren't legit, only that in my dealings with them that I did not feel their offers were on the level or that my findings at the time did not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about doing business with them at my financial expense.

This page is an alternate view of my Writers Beware page that lists specific individuals who have contacted me over the years and who they claimed to represent when trying to sell me services. What I have found is that there are some groups that contact me more commonly than others. Rather than list out the individual contacts in a chronological order of contact, this page organizes the contacts by company.

While some of the contacts do not have the initial contact date from the individuals listed, each "Contact #" entry represents a new unsolicited contact to me from them. The contact numbers are in chronological order to show how frequently each individual has contacted me. Some, as you can see, are near relentless in their efforts contacting me numerous times.

If someone has contacted you trying to sell services for your book, I encourage you to search (Ctrl+F if using Windows) this list to see if I have had contact with that group or individual and what my experience was. Always ask for references and never give anyone substantial sums of money without some level of assurance or guarantee that they can deliver what they promise. Sales people commonly get paid by commission and not actual output. They will sell you the moon even if their group can only deliver a rock because their commission is not dependent on your satisfaction.

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Anthony Devera (Spoofing Parkes + Macdonald Production)

DISCLAIMER: Parkes + Macdonald Production (or P+M Production) is a REAL production company with REAL movies to their credits. This contact was from someone claiming to be part of P+M but the staff at P+M I spoke to said he does NOT work for them and they do NOT offer the types of services he was trying to sell. I am in NO WAY saying that P+M is fake or a scam, only that Anthony Devera was seemingly misrepresenting his association with P+M.
Services: Book-to-Screenplay conversion
Cost: $999
I received an email from Anthony on 10/20/2023. It went to my Spam folder automatically so I did not see it until 10/23/2023. The email was the typical email I’ve come to expect from these contacts, all text with a few embedded images. There was a link to a website and even a link to the real P+M IMDB profile. While the email was stereotypical of the emails I get from others that wind up on this page, some of the information I was finding about the group Parkes + Macdonald Image Nation was not typical. I was, at first, conflicted about my assessment of Anthony and his offer. Without digging deeper, the offer didn’t sound legit but there was a lot of easily verifiable information for P+M to be found online.
I replied to Anthony on 10/23/2023 with a couple of basic questions seeking clarity about some of the statements in his email that were vague. I also requested a copy of a proposed contract. I thought it might buy me some time to do some more digging and maybe even give me a bit more information to go on if he replied.

Update 10/27/2023: Still no reply from Anthony

As I dug in, the idea that Anthony and the website from his email were legit quickly faded. Below is what I found:

The website from his email was created 24 hours before he emailed me (10/19/2023 domain registration created)
The phone number listed on the website was a Skype VOIP number that tracked back to an online retail store, not a movie production company. Also, keep in mind that VOIP numbers from Skype can be created from anywhere so even though the number is a number from the same area as P+M’s office that doesn’t mean the person using that number is in the same area.
I found a Facebook profile with the same name and logo as the website. The FB profile was created in Oct 2022 but had a different website address (that was no longer functional), a different phone number (that was traced back to a bicycle shop), and a physical address.
Since P+M is a real company, I was able to find the names of key people at the company and decided to look them up on LinkedIn. One of the managing partners for P+M is Walter F. Parkes. I found 2 LinkedIn profiles for Walter. One was several years old (likely a real profile) but the other was created around the same time as the Facebook profile. Both profiles had the same picture, same name, same credentials, etc.. They were all but identical. I suspect whoever created the FB profile also created the LinkedIn profile in an attempt to present themselves to other as Walter fraudulently.

With a little sleuthing, I tracked down P+M’s real phone number. I called and made them aware of Anthony’s email, the website, the Facebook profile, and the duplicate LinkedIn profile. The individual I spoke with was very shocked by what I was telling them and assured me that the email I received did not come from them or anyone that works there. This is the first time I’ve run across someone spoofing a real company like this.

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Brilliant Books Literary

Layla Brooks

Contact #1 (10/10/22)

Services: Unknown
Cost: Unknown
I’m listing this one here because I don’t know what else to list it as but I’m segregating this one from the others because of the interaction I had with them is very unlike any other. While I have not yet opted to do business with Layla, our interactions have been friendly, positive, and encouraging. My priorities are not currently aligned with Layla's services but in the future that may change and Layla would be at the top of my list of considerations given our exchange versus my exchanges with others from this list.
Basically, I got an email from Layla indicating that she had come across a press release about my book and just asked how my books were coming. Layla and I exchanged a number of emails over a few days discussing my books, my inspirations, and whatnot. Never once did Layla ask me to call her to discuss anything. Never once did Layla try to sell me anything. It was just conversational in context. After a few days of chitchat, Layla just suggested that if I was ever interested in discussing promotional stuff for my books that I consider reaching out to her. She was never pushy, cheesy, nor did she employ the typical sales tactics that I’ve come to expect. It was actually a very pleasant exchange that ended in a casual request that I keep them in mind.
Not to be blinded by the polite and casual conversation, I did my typical research on the company to maybe better understand who I might be dealing with.

Their website registration was created in Jan of 2022 so VERY new.
Likewise, their FB page was created in Jan of 2022 and have only a very few followers to suggest that they are VERY new and unknown.
I could not find a profile for this company on the BBB website
The website registration listed as being registered to an individual in Cebu, Philippines. I’ve found a few of these questionable companies being primarily run out of that region. This company having a website registered to that area is certainly a red flag but alone is not a solid indicator.
Their website looks like the typical “services” I get calls on for my books. Paid reviews, publishing assistance, marketing services, audiobook conversion, etc. The About Us page talks about hiring a lit agent but their website does not look like a traditional lit agent outfit. Most lit agencies have you submit your work to them and they selectively choose if they want to rep you, not you just going out and hiring a lit agent willy nilly.

They have all the makings of other organizations that reach out to me that I would be hesitant to engage in a business setting but the approach used stands out as being different. I don’t know if that is just their approach to stand out from other groups and to lull prospective clients into a false sense of security through their friendly approach or if that is just really how they do things and any similarities with these other groups are just unfortunate coincidences. Either way, I’m not in the market for any services and since Layla didn’t offer anything else I’m left with nothing else to go on. I’m suspect of the group simply because of their newness and lack of information but at the same time I’m intrigued by Layla’s casual approach and refusal to engage me in pushy sales techniques.
UPDATE 2/28/2024: I tried reaching out to Layla at the address she and I had exchanged pleasant conversations at before, i.e. her Brilliant Books Literary official address. Sadly, the email was rejected. Her address no longer exists. The company's FB page is still active and their website is still up. I'm guessing this means that Layla is no longer with the group. That's unfortunate. I enjoyed my casual email exchanges with Layla and was going to inquire about marketing services since I'm approaching the final release in my Ascension Legacy series. I do not wish to start over with this group so I guess they'll just remain here, in limbo, for the time being.

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@BookMarketingProfits.com	Atticus Publishing, LLC	Author Express
Author Reputation Press	Authors Press	Author Queries
Book Bean	Book Launch International	Bookside Press
Christian Life Publishing, LLC	Christian Works Media	Citi of Books
Dream Books Media	EC Publishing LLC	Filmways Pictures LLC
Good River Print & Media	Ingenious Media, LLC	Ingress Advertising LLC
Inks and Bindings	LiftedQuery	MyBookBees.com / BookKnocks.com
New Reader Magazine	PageLink Solutions	Reading Glass Books
Silver Fox Media	Sprint Entertainment	STRAT Advertising
Unknown	Urlink Media & Publishing	Westwood Books Publishing
Writers Apex	Writers Branding	WriteQueries

@BookMarketingProfits.com

Al Galasso, NABE

Contact #1

Services: Listing in some book directory called "Best E-Book Directory"
Cost: Only $35.00 per title
Received an email from this Al Galasso and it was immediately apparent that this was little more than a mass mail-out. It was addressed to "Dear Author or Publisher:" so it wasn">
First off, I've never heard of the "Best E-Book Directory" and a Google search for that name reveals absolutely nothing. If it is a real directory, it is not a popular one so even at the low cost of $35 I don't see the value, if it is even legit to begin with.
Al leaves no signature or any information regarding who he is, who he represents, nothing. The only reason I know the name Al Galasso is because its associated with the email address the message was sent from. I can make the assumption that perhaps his group's name is NABE based on the email address and the copyright info at the bottom of the email but a BBB search for that name in Oregon yields no results. It turns out that NABE is short for National Association of Book Entrepreneurs which, according to Al's bio, he's been the director of for 40 years now.
I didn't bother replying to Al with a series of questions. I clicked the link in the email and visited the website for bookmarketingprofits.com and found them eerily similar and completely underwhelming. Both websites looked like they were created with basic HTML in the late 90's. The design was BASIC, the colors were atrocious, and there was no content. The link in the email was basically a single page with an order form and the other page was pretty much the same thing. There was nothing that made me think this was an outright scam but at the same time I didn't feel comfortable doing business with something that looked like it was thrown together by a beginner but wanted to collect my financial data.

Contact #2

Services: Entry into the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award contest
Cost: Not real clear!
Al doesn't waste time. Before hitting me up about the Best E-Book Directory, Al reached out about getting me to submit my book for his contest. The email itself is again very basic with minimal information designed to get me to click the link to go to his page. The page, like the others, are pitiful looking. There is no level of professionalism or design in these rudimentary and questionable webpages.
The page for the contest has a lot of information that is poorly organized while not actually telling much. It talks about picking multiple options to get a savings but not what each option costs. It talks about becoming a member for 2 years that gives you perks but not what the cost is for non-members. The page's disorganized flow makes it difficult to really understand what is being offered in a cohesive and comprehensive manner. Is that be design, I can't say. All I can say is that as a former web developer and programmer, this is something I would have a beginner create as a learning tool, not as a fully functional e-commerce site.
Just like before, I don't know if I'd call this a scam but I won't be doing business on such an unprofessional looking site. If they've been around for 30-40 years and do these contests annually then why don't they have a more attractive and functional website? What value is there in participating in this contest if the award for winning is being added to this website? I would not want to use this website as any part of my marketing strategy because it looks so bad, so outdated, so unprofessional, almost childish.

Contact #3

Service: Got a new email from Al on 4/12/22 selling advertising space in some online book/pdf.
Price: $150
This looks to be some part of a automated email list that I didn't subscribe to. I clicked the Unsubscribe button but we'll see if that actually does anything.