The Authors Manuscriptia is an AI Scam for Indie Authors, but it doesn’t have to be

If you’re an independent author, you may receive an email by a company claiming to want to feature your book’s review to their subscriber base of tons of readers. Their contact email may also include a brilliant commentary of your book based on its Amazon description and reviews. I recently was contacted this way and was at first flattered but soon skeptical, yet I wanted to play along.

The scam is clever, because indies are easy targets, often desperate for more readers and to build platform. And the pitch sounds like someone out there likes the premise of your book, and they have a website so they must be legit, right? Unfortunately no.

Here’s their email pitch:

As part of an ongoing literary review, our Editorial Team recently selected The Little Universe for consideration. During that process, your work distinguished itself through the ambition of its central idea, the questions it raises about existence and discovery, and the unusual way it brings science fiction, spirituality, and human curiosity into the same narrative. As our discussions developed, they naturally extended beyond a single publication to the broader journey reflected throughout your writing. It became evident that your work represents more than an individual title. It reflects a continuing commitment to thoughtful storytelling and a meaningful contribution to literature, qualities our editorial features are created to recognize.

As tempting it is to believe a room-full of editors are in love with your book, the obvious problem is that The Authors Manuscriptia is certainly an AI scam targeting authors. They create contact through partial reviews written by Chat GPT or some other program, posing as a reputable literary service of dedicated staff with half a million monthly subscribers.

Here’s more in their email pitch for The Little Universe:

The Little Universe immediately presents a premise capable of drawing readers into questions much larger than the experiment at its center. The idea of creating a self contained universe and observing life as it evolves gives the story an expansive scientific foundation, but the novel reaches further by asking what such discoveries might mean for humanity itself. Through Jon Gruber’s unexpected involvement with Webster Adams and the extraordinary discoveries that follow, the story moves from scientific possibility into questions of purpose, spirituality, consciousness, and the origins of existence.

What makes the book particularly interesting from an editorial perspective is the way your fiction invites readers to consider both the possibilities of science and the mysteries that science may not completely explain. The progression from technological discovery to questions about God, creation, and the meaning of life gives the novel an intellectual dimension that extends beyond conventional science fiction. Your work creates room for readers to imagine what might exist beyond our known world while also reconsidering their understanding of the world they already inhabit.

At first glance it has promise because it’s actually quite thorough and flattering for the book. I have to admit how much I enjoyed reading it. However, the flattery disappears fast with just a modicum of research on The Authors Manuscriptia, or any other similar company. Scam alert, authors beware.

Why it’s a scam:

They present themselves as something they’re not. Nothing is real there, the people nor the books they feature. An About Us page on their website has pictures of several people claiming to be book editors, reviewers, and marketers who are passionate advocates who help spread the love of literature and connect authors with readers across the globe. They claim 500,000 monthly subscribers, yet their website only has links to a few indies (who apparently aren’t real either) and a link for Amazon Bestsellers. Unfortunately, some authors have most likely fallen for this scam or ones like it, though they’re not even getting the benefit of being promoted on The Authors Manuscriptia webpages.

The few “reviewed” books on their website have links for Amazon and Goodreads that don’t go to matching books at Amazon or Goodreads.

They also have no social media presence. No Instagram. No Facebook. No Twitter (X). No LinkedIn. No YouTube. Any book review business that doesn’t have even one of those fundamental social media links is certainly not interested in connecting readers with writers and great books.

The humans who do work there are predictably evasive. I was contacted by a “Nora DeVault” who has no social media links and would not provide a phone number when asked if we could do a phone call for our “author interview”. Nora was only willing to conduct a Zoom Call, where she would not show her face on camera but would only show screenshots of Authors Manuscriptia projects. Nora also had such a thick accent, it was challenging for me to understand her English.

When I shared my concerns with Nola that it seemed like a scam and I’d like to speak to someone who could assure me it wasn’t, Nora disappeared along with any effort to prove the legitimacy of their organization.

It was fun while it lasted.

Why it doesn’t have to be a scam:

Here’s the weird part. In my opinion, The Authors Manuscriptia, or some other AI indie author review outfit, could still have value and do this business, making it beneficial to everyone. We might still have a little ways to go, but AI can review books; it can give detailed thoughts about the premise, characters, and happenings, along with weighing a compilation of ideas within the reviews. On a basic level, it can easily accomplish the most important part of a book review since AI can give a reader a sense if they want to read a specific book. Any AI program could also be linked to Amazon, Goodreads, etc. while also having active social media posts, email/subscriber list, and so on. The interactive possibilities with such an author/reader/reviewer service are off the charts.

Perhaps there are legit organizations already out there or coming soon. Let me know in the comments what’s happening with that or any thoughts on the matter.