“Hi, this is Mark with the Amazon publishing team. Our editors came across your book, and we think it has bestseller potential.”
Self-published authors all over the country get some version of that call. The caller is friendly and flattering, and knows the title of your book. Within ten minutes he’s offering to republish it, relaunch it, turn it into a screenplay, or ghostwrite the sequel, and all he needs is a payment to get started.
Those people aren’t Amazon, and they aren’t publishers. These outfits borrow a famous name to reach into the savings of people who wrote a book for their grandchildren, and it makes me sick.
Florida gets the same crowd after every hurricane. A pickup with an out-of-state plate rolls through the neighborhood, a man knocks, says he’s working with your insurance company, and asks for a deposit to get your roof on the schedule. The deposit is the last you see of him. Book scams run the same play: a stranger borrowing a name you trust, then asking for money before any work starts.
Are the “Amazon publishing” companies that offer ghostwriting a scam?
If they claim to be Amazon or to work for Amazon, yes. Amazon’s own KDP help page on scams warns about “fraudulent companies that falsely claim to be affiliated with Amazon or KDP” and says flatly: “KDP is a free self-publishing service. We do not offer fee-based services like editing or book design.”
Amazon has gone to court over this. In October 2023 it sued a group of nearly 20 individuals and associated companies that it said falsely claimed affiliation with Amazon Publishing and Kindle Direct Publishing, and in 2025 it announced a court had awarded it damages in that case.
A company that helps people publish on Amazon without pretending to be Amazon is a different animal, and some of those are honest service businesses. Check the wording on the website and in the pitch. “Publish on Amazon” describes a legitimate service when the company is honest about who it is. A company name with “Amazon” folded into it, an Amazon logo on the contract, or a caller who says he’s “with Amazon” is a lie, and it tells you how the rest of the deal will go.
Is a publisher calling to republish or ghostwrite my book a scam?
Treat it as one. Real publishers and studios don’t cold-call self-published authors with offers that need your money, and KDP’s help page says that larger traditional publishers and movie studios “rarely approach authors out of the blue with incredible opportunities.”
The government has described this exact pattern. In January 2025, federal prosecutors in San Diego announced charges against three people in a scheme they said targeted elderly authors nationwide through a company called PageTurner Press and Media. Prosecutors said callers working for the scheme contacted authors “through unsolicited calls and emails” and told them their work had been picked for publication or for film and television. Then the callers collected payments for things like “pre-payment of taxes and transaction fees.” Prosecutors counted more than 800 victims.
Picture who those 800 people are. Retirees who spent years on a memoir or a novel, got a call telling them they’d finally been noticed, and paid because they wanted it to be true. The bastards running these operations know exactly who they’re calling.
If someone calls you, hang up and look up the company on your own, never through a link or number the caller gave you. Keep in mind that a publisher that wants your book pays you. It doesn’t ask for money first.
How do book publishing and ghostwriting scams work?
They sell you a dream in pieces. The first payment covers the “relaunch” or the “republishing package.” A few weeks later there’s a fee for a marketing campaign, then another for a film treatment, then another for a bookstore placement or a trade show, and each one comes with an urgent deadline. The people running these schemes keep inventing fees for as long as the author keeps paying, and every new one is sold as the last step before success.
Fake ghostwriting companies work like the roofer with the out-of-state plate. A slick website promises a finished book in a few weeks for a price that sounds like a bargain. The salesperson takes a deposit, the “writer” sends a chapter that reads like it came out of a machine, and every question after that goes to a support inbox. I’ve written about cheap ghostwriters, stolen bios and bestseller scams in more detail, and outfits like these reappear under new names.
The bargain price is the bait. A book built from interviews takes months of a writer’s time, so a full book quoted at a price that sounds too good means somebody is skipping the interviews or lying about what you’ll get. My article on what moves the price of a ghostwriter explains what a real quote pays for, so you can tell when a number makes no sense.
Bestseller promises are bullshit. Anyone promising you a bestseller for a fee is selling a result nobody on earth can deliver, and a company that guarantees one plans to be gone before the sales numbers come in. I tell every client that a book is very unlikely to pay for itself through sales. The return comes from what they do with the book: speaking, consulting, courses, a promotion.
Why do scammers target self-published authors?
Because a published book puts your name, your title and your hopes on a public page. A scammer can find thousands of authors in an afternoon, read the book description, and open the call by praising your second chapter. Who doesn’t want to hear that a stranger loved their book?
The PageTurner case involved elderly authors. Memoir clients in their nineties aren’t rare for me, and I know what a finished book means to someone who waited most of a lifetime to write it. A call saying a publisher finally noticed is the call they’ve been hoping for. I’ve got nothing but contempt for the people who treat that hope as a target.
Protect the people in your family who’ve published a book, and start with the oldest. Sit down with them and describe the call out loud: the friendly voice, the praise for a chapter they wrote, the deadline that expires tomorrow, the fee. Ask them to phone you before they pay anybody for anything connected to their book, and make it clear you won’t be annoyed when they do. If they’ve already paid once, go through their card statements with them, because the second and third charges come fast.
How do I know if a ghostwriting company is legit?
A legitimate ghostwriter talks to you live, tells you who will write the book, and shows you work you can verify. I won’t take on a client without a phone or video call, and I treat anyone who’ll only negotiate by email as a scam risk. Hold every company to the same rule.
Ask the name of the writer who will do your interviews and write every chapter, and then talk to that person. Why would a writer hide from the client whose book they’re writing? I’d walk away from any company that dodges the question, and I’d do it before a single dollar changes hands.
Agencies that sell through a salesperson and hand you to a stranger aren’t all scams, but the structure gives a scammer plenty of places to hide. Ask for books the writer has finished that you can buy, or books they can describe in detail when a nondisclosure agreement covers them. My guide on vetting a ghostwriter when NDAs hide the portfolio walks through that.
Then check the company itself. Search its name with “scam” and “complaint.” Look up when its website domain was registered, since a company claiming fifteen years in business with a domain registered last spring has told you something. Ask for references and call the references yourself.
Read the contract before any money moves. It should name the book, the length, the schedule, the payments, and your ownership of the manuscript and every recording. Pay by credit card if you can, because card disputes give you rights a wire transfer won’t.
Can I trust Trustpilot reviews of ghostwriting companies?
Treat them as weak evidence. Review sites help you spot a pattern of complaints. A wall of five-star praise proves very little, because companies write their own, buy them, or bury the bad ones.
The FTC considers this serious enough to write a rule about it. Its final rule on fake reviews, announced in August 2024, bans fake reviews, paying for reviews that express a particular sentiment, undisclosed reviews by company insiders, and using threats or intimidation to get negative reviews removed. The book business isn’t exempt from the problem. In July 2026 the FTC approved a final order against Publishing.com, a seller of self-publishing programs, settling allegations that included undisclosed endorsements by employees and relatives and incentives for positive reviews.
Read the one-star reviews first. Look for reviewers who name a book title you can find in a store, and check whether the book exists and whether it reads like a human wrote it. Praise with no book attached is worth nothing. When I see a company with hundreds of glowing reviews and no book titles anywhere, I assume the reviews came from the same place as the website copy.
I got scammed by a ghostwriting company. Can I get my money back?
Some people do, and how you paid decides your odds. If you paid by credit card, you’re in the best position of anyone, as long as you move today, because the deadlines are short.
The FTC’s page on what to do if you were scammed says to report a credit card payment to the card issuer immediately and ask for a refund. For a debit card, go to your bank, and for a wire or a payment app, go to the company that moved the money. The FTC’s guide to disputing charges covers credit card charges for things that “weren’t delivered as agreed” and says your written dispute should reach the issuer within 60 days after the first bill with the error was sent to you.
Gather everything: the contract, the emails, the call log, the receipts, and whatever they delivered. Report the company at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, file with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov, and tell your state attorney general. If the scheme looks large, a lawyer can tell you whether a civil claim is worth pursuing, and you should have one read your contract before you threaten anybody.
The odds are poor once money leaves by wire or gift card, so pay by credit card whenever you can and file a dispute the day you spot the problem.
Are publishing scam recovery services legitimate?
Be very careful. Scammers go back to their victims a second time, posing as lawyers, government offices or “recovery specialists” who can get your money back for a fee. It’s a cruel second hit. Somebody who lost money once is embarrassed, and the fake recovery agent offers a way to fix it before anyone in the family finds out.
The FTC calls refund and recovery scams the worst of the worst. It warns that “government agencies and legitimate organizations will never ask for money to help you get a refund.” Somebody who contacts you out of nowhere offering to recover what you lost wants money first. Your card issuer, your bank, the FTC and your state attorney general charge you nothing to take a complaint, and anyone who wants a fee to reach them for you is running the second half of the scam.
Before you let anyone on the roof
Hang up on anyone who calls you about your book with an offer that needs your money. Hire a writer only after a live conversation with the person who will write it, a contract you’ve read, and a book you can hold. Pay by credit card, and keep every email.
These companies are predators, and they’ve built an industry on the hopes of people who finally finished something they cared about. I’d like to see every one of them in front of a judge. Until then, protect yourself. The Ghostwriting Hub has my guides to hiring safely, my ghostwriting services page explains how I work, and the Book Discovery Intensive is a first step with a real person on the other end of the phone.
The roofer who knocked uninvited is long gone, and the blue tarp is still flapping over a hole in somebody’s ceiling.
