P.J. Murphy's Writer Site

I started this blog with the intention of sharing my self-publication journey, warts and all. So far, it has been fairly upbeat. Today’s post will contain a few more warts.

When I published my latest novel, Six Steps to Salvation, I was overwhelmed by people getting in touch. It was surprising, as it’s a satirical novel set in Geneva’s nonprofit sector, so “niche” is the word, but maybe not when you examine what the messages were actually about.

I received at least fifteen contacts through Facebook Messenger, warning me that I had breached some unspecified Facebook rule and my account would be terminated. Apparently, a significant portion of the audience for my Facebook Ad campaign consisted of bots. Money well spent!

I’m still not sure that these messages were trying to achieve – and no, my Facebook account has not, to date, been suspended. If you want proof, you can view it here.

I also received a significant number of messages through my author website, falling into two categories:

1. Telling me how much they liked my book and offering marketing services
2. Telling me how much they liked my book and wanting to talk about it, or asking a random question such as “Where can I buy your book?” Hmm, so you enjoyed reading my book without purchasing it, did you? They call that a “red flag”!

Some of these messages were clearly copy/pasted and sent to many unwitting victims, as they didn’t even mention my book’s name. Others were more advanced and talked about aspects they had enjoyed. It was remarkable what they were able to scrabble together using an AI tool and my book’s blurb.

While it’s nice to be complimented on your writing, I remained sceptical, especially when any compliment was accompanied by an offer of paid services. But some of these paid services were potentially quite interesting, so after a while, I thought, “Why not have a conversation? What’s the worst that can happen?”

This was a mistake. Not a huge mistake, because in the scheme of things, having an excruciating call with someone who’s very vague about what they’re offering and wants to interpret anything I say as “let’s negotiate the price” is perhaps not the worst thing that can happen to someone. But it was disappointing, as there were some interesting options there (book clubs, video shorts, social media marketing). If only they were real.

*** A short aside: Apologies to those in the masses who messaged me who were genuinely offered decent services (I doubt you exist, but just in case). I couldn’t face having the same excruciating call again and again until eventually I got to you.***

So, what’s the learning here?

Well, first of all, the environment has changed. Whilst it’s long been clear that the self-publishing industry is funded more by authors than readers, I didn’t receive anywhere near as many contacts when I published my previous books. Yes, maybe my profile’s a bit higher now, but I think the main culprit is AI. It’s now easier than ever to con people en masse.

So, BE CAREFUL OUT THERE, WRITERS!

Secondly (and here comes the more upbeat bit), this reinforces the message that if you want to be an author, you’ve got to do it for the love of writing. You won’t necessarily get validation from millions of sales or rave reviews in the mainstream media. These random spam contacts will take up time and energy, and maybe for a moment spark a little hope that someone might have enjoyed your writing, before your suspicious side cuts in and you realise it’s a hoax. You need something to keep you going, to keep you writing and engaged in the self-promotion (because if no one knows about your books, no one’s going to read them, even if they’re bots). And that has to be the love of writing – the sheer thrill of creation.

Fortunately for me, I’m having a whale of a time writing my next novel, a cross between James Bond and Groundhog Day. I only hope that people get as much enjoyment from the reading as I’m getting from the writing, because I’m going to be at this business for a while yet.