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A Writer’s Life: Beware of Scams · Street Smart Naturalist

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Greetings.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is David B.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Williams and the podcast of my newsletter,
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: The Street Smart Naturalist, Explorations of the Urban Kind.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Every week I share my observations and adventures with the human
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: and natural world around Seattle, Puget Sound, and the Pacific Northwest.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode addresses a bit of my writing life.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about my work,
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: including my new book,
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: In the Range of Fire and Ice,
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: A Human and Natural History of Washington's Cascades,
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: please go to my website, geologywriter.com.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: You'll also find a link to my Substack newsletter and my previous five years
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: of newsletters, as well as images tied to this week's episode.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for joining me on this adventure,
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: and welcome to Podcast 96 of The Street Smart Naturalist,
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: A Writer's Life, Beware of Scams, October 8, 2026.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't mind, here's a bit of a deviation from my normal writing.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Readers often wonder about the writing life and what authors do after a book is finished.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: I do a lot of promotion, as I care about getting the book into readers' hands.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: It would be nice to have help sometimes.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Many writers must feel the same way because there is an ongoing wave
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: of scams seeking to capitalize on the innocent author who wants to meet with
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: a book club or get some marketing help.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you an insider's view of the smarmy messages I've been getting
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: and my journey from feeling flattered to annoyed.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Few things in life should make a writer happier than receiving an adulatory email
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: from a book club with a 4.9 rated experience.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Or so I think I'm supposed to think.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Recently, such an email bearing this information arrived in my inbox.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: The author was Sneha,
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: who not only merits just a single name,
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  SPEAKER_00: but also organizes the Berlin International Book Club,
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: notable for a membership that tops 1,079 people.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Truly cosmopolitan,
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: the club embarks on literary journeys from around the globe, guided,
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: by the strong ripple effect of discovery and conversation of passionate readers.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sneha had sought me out regarding my first book, A Naturalist Guide to Canyon Country.
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  SPEAKER_00: A traditional field guide,
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  SPEAKER_00: the book has long gotten favorable reviews such as,
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: all pages of the book have a slick feel
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: and would probably handle outdoor use much better than most ordinary books.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: As you might imagine,
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I had been thrilled to read such high praise,
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: but now it seemed I had jumped to the big time with interest
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: from 4.9 rated German bibliophiles.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: With piercing,
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  SPEAKER_00: multi-syllabic insight,
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Sneha hoped that my book would help readers address questions such as,
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: how does a geologic and naturalist framework strip away the static,
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: commercialized veneer of iconic desert landscapes to reveal a living,
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: fragile repository of ancient time?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing was more central to my mind when I wrote my book,
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: and I certainly hope that an answer to a question such as this will be within
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: the grasp of the Berlin Book Club.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: But I worried how such a discriminating group would react.
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  SPEAKER_00: Would they be concerned about the lack of narrative arc and dialogue,
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: or the descriptions of kinky sex rituals,
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: such as female black widow spiders eating their post-coital mate?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Alas, the note from Sneha was a scam.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: If I had accepted her offer of sharing the wonders of my writing,
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  SPEAKER_00: All I'd have to do was cough up a nominal fee,
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  SPEAKER_00: and A Naturalist Guide to Canyon Country would be on its way to fame
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: and unimaginable sales.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Suffice it to say, reader, I did not respond to Sneha.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: In the months since she wrote,
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: I have received dozens of similar solicitations,
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: becoming more frequent with the recent publication of my newest book.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Every one of the email writers flatters me and my prose
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: and offers trenchant sesquipedalian analysis focused directly on
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: the book's subject matter.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: With their repetitious paraphrasing of passages from the book,
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: droll content analysis,
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  SPEAKER_00: and attention to useless details,
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  SPEAKER_00: it is clear that all were written by AI,
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: though none of them had the grace to mention the quality of paper in the book.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Initially, the emails were like Sneha's, noting a book's interest in my brilliant book.
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  SPEAKER_00: Next came marketers who let me know they had unique ideas that would propel my book
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  SPEAKER_00: to the upper ranks of Amazon,
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  SPEAKER_00: followed by agents who would jump-spart my career to new, unimaginable levels.
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  SPEAKER_00: Recently,
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  SPEAKER_00: the newest scammers felt that my book would be a great topic for their podcasts,
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  SPEAKER_00: radio, or TV show.
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  SPEAKER_00: What makes the bullshit AI worse is that many of the emailers are masquerading
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: as legitimate people who actually do have real shows.
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  SPEAKER_00: For example, one claimed to be Katie Campbell of KUOW here in Seattle.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Katie has heard from more than 40 people who received her quote-unquote invite,
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  SPEAKER_00: one of whom ponied up $250 before realizing the scam.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: As a regional writer with limited audience,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm surprised at how many of these solicitations I'm getting.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do they really think that I have the money to pony up for their services?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: After all,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm the type of writer who has gotten royalty statements with $1.52 in earnings,
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  SPEAKER_00: and that based on a year of sales.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think my mom bought that one book.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: I may be trying to make light of these solicitations,
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  SPEAKER_00: but they are becoming a huge problem for authors,
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  SPEAKER_00: agents, publishers, and the real people who are being impersonated.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: As I told the real Katie Campbell when I spoke to her,
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  SPEAKER_00: for those of us,
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  SPEAKER_00: like yourself and me,
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: who worked really hard to create something that we're really proud of and have
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: to have it sort of thrown back at you with purely syrupy,
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  SPEAKER_00: saccharine, sycophantic shit is not really good.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, these scams are horrible and offensive and yet another pernicious influence of AI.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Have these people no shame?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Once again,
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: this is David B.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Williams,
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: author and voice of the Street Smart Naturalist,
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind,
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: a weekly newsletter and podcast focusing on the human and natural world
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: and sometimes the writing life around Seattle,
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound, and the Pacific Northwest.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like more details about my walks, talks,
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: and books,
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: including In the Range of Fire and Ice,
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: along with a link to sign up for my newsletter and podcast,
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: check out my website, geologywriter.com.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: And don't forget to slow down, pay attention, and enjoy the world around you.