There’s a new scam doing the rounds and it’s aimed at authors. It involves an email with a very flattering review of your book and a request to feature it for a book club. The first one I got allegedly came from Singapore. I thought, “That’s odd, book clubs don’t usually ask authors’ permission,” but then I thought, “Maybe they do in Singapore.” And the review was really good. It said,

“Starting Your PhD: What You Need to Know” immediately stood out to me as a thoughtful and practical guide that addresses one of the most important transitions in an academic journey: understanding how to begin, navigate, and confidently approach doctoral study.

What especially caught my attention is the way your book transforms the often overwhelming experience of starting a PhD into something more approachable and manageable. Through its accessible question and answer format, the book addresses the real concerns prospective and new doctoral researchers often face, offering clarity around the expectations, challenges, decisions, and opportunities that come with entering this advanced stage of academic development.

I was particularly drawn to the fact that the book does not simply explain what a PhD is, but supports readers who are standing at the beginning of a major personal and intellectual journey. Whether someone is considering doctoral study, has recently started their program, or is supporting another person through the process, your guidance provides reassurance, direction, and practical understanding at a time when many students need it most.

The combination of academic guidance, research development, higher education insight, and personal encouragement makes “Starting Your PhD: What You Need to Know” especially valuable for readers interested in education, research, career development, and lifelong learning. It is the kind of book that can help transform uncertainty into confidence and give aspiring researchers a stronger foundation before taking their next academic step.

That is why I would love to invite “Starting Your PhD: What You Need to Know” to be featured at an upcoming Book Club Singapore event.

So I emailed back and said fine, go ahead. Then there was a long exchange of emails during which the writer persuaded me to answer readers’ questions online via Goodreads, and then asked for money for promotion – a request which I refused.

I talked to a colleague about this at the International Creative Research Methods Conference, and learned it was a recent and increasingly common scam. Then I got my second one, rather less fulsome but still flattering:

*The Handbook of Creative Data Analysis* stood out to me for the way it brings creativity and innovation into data analysis while maintaining rigor, systematic practice, and research ethics. Its transferable case examples also make it especially relevant to readers interested in research methods, interdisciplinary work, and new approaches to making sense of data.

This person asked for an hour on Zoom with their ‘book club’, and was quite business-focused:

There are also additional ways our community can create value around the book, including new-reader exposure, visibility, meaningful discussion, reviews, word-of-mouth recommendations, reader engagement, and potential sales.

What is your main goal for *The Handbook of Creative Data Analysis* right now—reaching more researchers, increasing visibility, encouraging discussion around creative research methods, or something else?

Reply with your goal, and I’ll explain how we could tailor the opportunity around it.

I did not reply.

The third one was apparently from Sara Cox, a well-known national radio presenter here in the UK, who actually does run a book club.

I came across Writing Creatively for Work or Study: Easy Techniques to Engage Your Readers recently and wanted to reach out personally because the idea behind it immediately caught my attention: why should professional writing have to be dull simply because it is written for work or study?

What particularly stood out to me is your argument that techniques normally associated with creative writing—tension, sensory language, metaphor, structure, and emotional engagement—can make everyday professional documents more accessible, comprehensible, and memorable.

I was especially intrigued by how far you take that idea. It isn’t simply about making a business plan or report sound more interesting. The possibility of using formats such as novels, comic books, or even film scripts to communicate professional ideas challenges the assumption that workplace writing has to follow one rigid formula.

I’m sure I would have spotted this one as a scam if it had come to me first. For a start, no way does Sara Cox do her own emails of this nature; she has BBC researchers to do that kind of work. For a second thing, the email address was sarabbcradiobookclub@gmail.com and BBC staff do not use Gmail, they have BBC email addresses.

The common phrases, words, and style across all three emails, such as “stood out to me”, “especially”, and the use of full book titles, suggest that these reviews were written by a large language model such as ChatGPT or CoPilot. Seeing them together makes this easy to spot. But I was almost taken in, and at least two professors of my acquaintance were too. It bothers me that less experienced or novice authors might actually be sucked in. So I have written this post to spread the word.