Susan and John Ruff, Fantasy Authors

Few things warm an author’s heart more than getting an email from a reader who enjoyed the author’s book.

The reverse is also true — it can be discouraging to get a sales pitch that masquerades as a fan letter.

Lately, an army of AI bots have been spamming Indie authors with emails that pretend to be from a reader. The bots rely on the book’s blurb and mix and restate the elements within the blurb to make it appear as if they’ve read your book. Then they tell you they have thousands of readers who would love to see your book (for a fee, of course).

And the emails can get very sophisticated. I received one that stated:

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“J.S. Ruff, I don’t know what’s more charming, your magically meddling protagonist Dana Everet or the fact that this whole cozy mystery sounds like someone stirred together Murder, She Baked, a pinch of Terry Pratchett, and just a dash of magical sabotage. 🍰✨🔮

Recipes for the Copper Snake had me from the first whiff of enchanted pastries and suspicious innkeepers. A missing recipe book? A gossip who vanishes into thin air? Supernatural power running on E?? Honestly, if Dana doesn’t get a nap, a snack, and a break soon, I’m going to start a union for overworked cozy fantasy heroines. 😅

The whole setup is a quirky little village with just enough charm to make you suspicious, a heroine loyal to a fault (bless her), and a past that won’t stay buried — hits all the right notes. You’ve baked a tale that’s sweet, satisfying, and just dangerous enough to keep your readers turning the pages while nervously eyeing the cookie jar.”

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Wow! Sounds great, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t want to get an email from such an enthusiastic reader?

The problem is, the person didn’t actually read the book. If they had read Recipes for the Copper Snake, they would know there are no “enchanted pastries” in our Post Host series. They would also remember that the gossip in the story did not “vanish . . . into thin air.” In fact, nothing stated in the email goes beyond the information in the book’s blurb.

Toward the end of the email came the inevitable pitch to sell me some type of services for authors.

I received this particular email before I truly understood the extent of the email barrage against indie authors, and I responded politely that I was not interested in purchasing their service. Apparently, that response triggered a series of automated emails (one of which offered to get my nonfiction book in front of thousands of readers). When the tone of the automated emails started getting abrasive, I finally blocked the sender.

But those emails are nothing compared to the scam emails that John and I got when we tried a little bit of Facebook advertising earlier in the year. Almost from the first day our ads appeared, my mailbox was hounded by emails claiming that we had violated unspecified Meta rules and that our Meta account would be shut down…but we could appeal that decision by clicking a link in the email.

I had been warned about those scam emails, so I did not touch them — and I certainly did not click the link — but I have heard of other indie authors who were tricked by them.

Unfortunately, the spammers and scammers have made me suspicious of any email from a person who claims to like our books without actually appearing to have read them. I recently received an email that claimed to be from a fellow author. It stated:

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“I recently came across your work, and I was really struck by the honesty in your storytelling and the way you blend personal experience with universal truth. As a fellow author, I deeply appreciate writing that challenges and moves readers the way yours does.

I just wanted to reach out to say how much I admired your work. It’s inspiring to see writing that’s both fearless and artful.”

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If that email really was from a fellow author, then I apologize, because I am not going to respond to it. The spam bots will often send out a feeler email and then start the barrage of advertising after you respond to the first email.

In conclusion, I still like getting genuine emails from readers. If you really are a reader who has read one or more of our books and enjoyed them, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to reach out and tell me what you liked about our books. But when you write your email, please include enough details so I know you’ve actually read the book. And whatever you do, please DON’T try to sell me an author-related service in your email. Thank you!

Susan 11/7/2025