Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe! I do have an update for you all!

Update! Definitely Don’t Go With Writers’ Branding!

Yes, it’s another scammer update and felt like bringing up a bit of an update with Writers’ Branding and this happened right after submitting another book for publishing!

Earlier this month I submitted my sequel in the Backwards Fairy Tale series, Rose Thorns of Love. after writing it this past year. I started on it when I thought Stratton Press was legit but happened to be not legit and decided to stay with Light Switch Press and work well with them. I am appalled at Writers’ Branding after what they had done this time which made me want to stay with LSP even more. If anyone that writes or is from Writers’ Branding, knows that scams do exist and WB LLC, you are a scam!

So, a week after submitting Rose Thorns, I was at work when this happened. I noticed the call had Trenton, New Jersey with it and I had a bit of suspicion and decided to answer it because I had some words for them. I took it to my office for some privacy and this time it happened to be a higher up in the company or so they say. They gave me their pleasantries at first and then talked about how they wanted to publish Love Found in Cinders due to how good it is. If you remembered with the last person I talked to from this “company,” I did ask if they read my book but the person replied they only read the synopsis and told me how good it was. This did cause the red flag since I remembered Stratton didn’t really read my book since if you had read it then you would already know what the story is, characters, etc. This second person who was calling got my questions of how it was found and I was told one of their scouts found it. I did ask about reading it and they said that the scout read it and this turned into a talk about my publisher, Light Switch. I was not expecting this because of how much I worked with them in the past and already submitted my latest book to them for publishing that they would tell me that it was failing. It got me mad and told them that they were a scam from reviews I had read on BBB and that they should not call me again and take my number off their list. I did block the number they were calling me from to keep them from calling from it. I have a feeling they may use another in the future if they tried but I would ignore it. It did cause me to be a little concerned and sent an email to my publisher asking about it. When I got home later that day, I told Tobi what had happened and thought it was strange that LSP would be called a failing one and try to research it. My findings were interesting because they had a good score on BBB where there is an A+ score and a perfect rating score on their page when Writers’ Branding, on the other hand, has a D. I am wondering even to this day how can you call someone with a perfect rating failing?

Light switches Reply

I did manage get an answer from Light Switch and they asked me about who contacted me since they never had heard of a failing publisher at all nor them failing. I did tell them that it was Writers’ Branding and my findings about them scamming authors out of their loyalties since the BBB complaints mentioned that the most. I even asked how they would get my number. I tried asking Writers about it and they ignored my question about it. LSP did reply that they were trying to get me to join them as an author with aggression by making it sound like they’re the better publisher. I can see from how they sounded over the phone. LSP also mentioned that they were searching my name after finding my book and found my phone number that way. It’s creepy how they can use the internet in such a way to try to grab my book. We both contacted the BBB with me complaining about them and not sure what they are doing in contacting authors the way they

 Do.

Where Am I At Now?

I haven’t really budged on leaving Light Switch Press because I already have sent my book in. I am staying with them since they have not failed me once, especially after giving that satisfying middle finger to Stratton with the paperback version of Love Found in Cinders. As promised, I did choose the E Book and paperback versions for my sequel since I wanted my audience to be able to choose between the two and now three since I had found a way of being on Audible. That’s right folks! I’m going on Audible with my work since it is a membership I have loved when it comes to having better reach for reading. Plus, most people prefer audio over just reading regular print. I did remember how Stratton did ask about that and it’s interesting how they tried to get me to think that they would do it for me but a year later or so I was able to find the resource myself. I guess some of these scammers don’t realize that the self in self-publishing means you have to be independent not only in the writing phase but also promote yourself as a writer, your releases for your audience, and if you want to go audio then find that avenue as well. Heck, I had to find out how to get onto Bookshare myself with Cinders.  If I had gone with either Stratton or Writers then I would find out the hard way that they were not helping with either avenue in the end.

Another thing is how Writers’ Branding tried to sound like they’re the better choice in publishing when they have hurt people already by taking their money in the end. I understand how much it hurts to see your royalties being scammed out of you since I’ve been scammed in the past by a so-called Work At Home company and lost my bank account in the end. 

And of course, the part about how Writers made it sound like LSP was a failing publisher made me burn in my core because of how they thought that I could leave by gas lighting me by saying so. When I had done my research on both of them, what I found was interesting when it came to how long both publishers have been around. Light Switch has been around for nine years going on ten which they have been around since 2014 and I didn’t find them until around 2016 while Writers has been around for two years and they have a low grade for the time they’ve been around already. I think I remembered Stratton being around for the same length of time as Writers and they have both scammed people for that long? Really?? 

Tips for New Writers

I think it’s time to include this because it’s important for new writers to beware of any scammers.

1. Please stand your guard if you get a call from one of these companies. 
2. Ask questions if you get the call from these people, as in how did they find your book? How did they get your contact? Also, ask for their name and if they don’t give it to you right away then ask for the company name again because there are times where they say it fast.
3. Research behind the company, especially for their BBB page or even Glass Door if need be because they can give you the information you need such as how long they’ve been around, if they have good ratings, even any complaints where if there are more complaints than reviews which can tell a lot.
4. Look at their social media and see if people have posted about not working with them and how they interacted with you.
5. Speaking of interactions, pay attention to how they speak and their attitudes towards the questions or how they explain things. Sometimes the questions they ask you or talk to a new person can draw red flags. Remember my interaction with Stratton, how I got weird questions like if I believe in the paranormal and about my reactions to George Floyd which doesn’t have to do with my book.
6. If you are already working with a publisher you love, stay with them. As in, you don’t have to leave your publisher if you feel good with the work you or what they’ve done for you then just stay.
7. Check to see if their email addresses are legit and not from a different domain. An interesting point that I heard on YouTube is that the best way to work with an actual publisher is that they would have an email with the company name in it and not something like Yahoo, GMail or any others. I think I saw Writers had an email with their brand in it and I think Stratton as well but I would say still keep your guard if these two contact you or any others that may have scammed others.
8. YouTube is your friend with advice! Authors use YouTube as a platform to talk about how to get published and where to go if there are any vanity presses that may come up. Just take a look!

I think that completes my post. I hope no other one of these publishers gets to me this year. I did get a response from Writers on BBB and they are taking my number off their list since they claimed that someone pushed my book towards them and they thought I would have so much potential in the future. That’s cute! I was able to submit my sequel earlier this month and now working on getting Cinders onto Audible and found the info on my own without help. Not only that, I may have not sold much but people do stumble upon books or I sometimes do a quick word of mouth when it comes to my books and blog. Heck, I told one of the Beast Morphers about my book because he wrote poetry and who knows, he may get my book after the convention. Plus, I do work in my career field and about to head back to school for the Spring which I’m glad to be almost done.If you want to see your published writers have a future, pay them what they are owed.

So, that completes everything! Again, hoping no other scamming publishers come after me. Next will be the beauty products I loved last year.