Warning to all Authors, do not fall victim to "professional editors."

[FRWriter]

Has your story received a really positive comment? Most likely in the very first chapter of your story?

Chances are:

1. You are an excellent author, and your first chapter is absolutely flawless and has drawn in a reader so deeply that he just had to comment instead of reading on.

2. It's an art scammer, especially if the person talks about "bringing your story to life" and mentions pathetic compliments like: "The writing is so vivid, I can see the scene in front of my eyes," and empty phrases like that.

3. It's an "editor scammer".

Without meaning to sound harsh, the possibility 1 is quite low, especially if your story is rather new or has a small readership.

So these art scammers have been around for a while now, and they usually want you to contact them via mail or Discord, which is a warning sign. Sometimes they also try to draw you in first before pulling out their "D's," namely their Discord tags.

Lately, a lot of "professional editors" have appeared, which I'd like to warn fellow authors of.

A few warning signs and red flags I noticed:

1. Account is brand new (less than a few weeks old)
2. Account has a very "clean and generic" name. Emma_Reads19 Julia_Editor361 (these are made-up account names, they do not exist... yet.) Most of them have FEMALE names, so beware of that.
3. Most of them are stupid and do not know or care that you can see their profile activities, which instantly gives away their identity as a scammer.

For example, I've received a comment from a scammer who has written 22 comments until now, all in the span of just a few days, and all under new stories exactly on the first chapter. Most of their comments are duplicates or just minor variations.

Just some examples, so you can recognize them (which shouldn't be really hard... I suspect they are recycled or 100% AI written).

"I enjoyed the opening and found the character voice easy to settle into. There were moments where the momentum dipped slightly for me as a reader, but the chapter still held my interest emotionally. Looking forward to seeing how things unfold."

"The opening establishes the premise effectively, and the character voice feels intentional. From a reader’s perspective, there were a few spots where the pacing softened, but the chapter overall remained engaging. I’d be interested in seeing how this builds in later chapters."

"I enjoyed the introduction and found the character’s voice consistent. Even with a few pacing lulls, the chapter held my attention and left me curious."

Included a screenshot of the suspected scammer whom I have just reported. I don't think name-calling is allowed, so I'll censor the name, just to be sure.

In the screenshot, you can see that one author has thanked the scammer for her "praise" and has received a comment in return, trying to rope him in with a "detailed set of notes that goes beyond what's practical to post in the comments" and a request to DM the person.

What you should do:

1. REPORT the scammer.
2. BLOCK the scammer.
3. NEVER ever give out personal information to the scammer.
4. Delete their comments... they are not real comments, they are an assault on your stories intregrity. No feedback is much more preferable than only scammer/AI feedback.

So next time you receive some glorious feedback, chances are you are not a godlike author... You are being scammed. Just be careful.

 

[L1aei]

Yay. I can react again!

 

[JordanIda]

The essential challenge is that people suck.

 

[FRWriter]

The essential challenge is that people suck.

These people are the lowest of the low.
They target mostly new Authors who share their stories for free. They target people who are providing entertainment for anyone else, preying on their inexperience and abusing their lack of comments/feedback. Oftentimes, the scammer is the very first person providing feedback... people who actually fall for their crap end up wasting a lot of money and end up with such a bad experience that they might even quit writing.

These vile flies need to be reported and banned ASAP.

 

[Tabula_Rasa]

The natural evolution of A.I. Art -> A.I. editor

It is just as Jurassic Park said
Clever Girl
Life finds a way.

 

[TinaMigarlo]

oh. Mine? I get a lot of the "you write in such a vivid cinematic style, I can just visualize your scenes". And, they can "see" my story as a graphic novel.
LMAO. of course, they wanna talk about it. On discord.

not my first rodeo. Went thru this on two other WN sites.
yah, my first one of these? was my first comment. I was psyched... and immediately smelled a rat, lol.
My writing group clued me in for sure.
"I got my first fan! I'm psyched!"
"Oh. You sure it isn't an art scammer?"
and yeah, that made more sense.

 

[FRWriter]

oh. Mine? I get a lot of the "you write in such a vivid cinematic style, I can just visualize your scenes". And, they can "see" my story as a graphic novel.
LMAO. of course, they wanna talk about it. On discord.

not my first rodeo. Went thru this on two other WN sites.
yah, my first one of these? was my first comment. I was psyched... and immediately smelled a rat, lol.
My writing group clued me in for sure.
"I got my first fan! I'm psyched!"
"Oh. You sure it isn't an art scammer?"
and yeah, that made more sense.

Yeah, that must be a really shitty feeling. Don't be discouraged. We all get them. Frankly, I've received like 10 or so of those comments in between all of my stories.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

There are chances they try to bait you in the middle of uploading your chapters, as long as they see your work getting updated. They do the shotgun approach, trying to look for someone who is gullible enough to believe their sweet talk.

An obvious info for someone who's been in the web novels for years, but can still help newbies.

So, enough of that. I didn't read anyone's story for weeks now, but you guys write in such vivid cinematic style, I can visualize your scenes! I'd like to bring your works to life, and I have an idea in mind.

Contact me soon.

? OnlyHans69

 

[EliseValkyria]

I mean,I don't want to be negative but if you are starting, and something is too good to be true, is because it is.

The reality is that your possibility of blow up on internet is super extremely low. Is too difficult to become the next Harry Potter success out there, because everyone is trying too.

Real editors or "novel Explorers" have so many options and novels to choose the next big thing, like probably find a novel with a million readers on internet and good reviews but not mainstream yet. Or receive so many requests and example of novels that are already full of work.

Especially now with AI and a lot of "entrepreneurs" that think they can just throw prompts to the AI to write the novels for them and then land a big Lord of the rings levels of publishing, so they throw even more slop to the workers of publisher


But you can also just use the same AI they would use for editing too, they are some a little to somewhat business slop level of professional too do there is something, for free. Or look on forums for other authors or bored people.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

Oh, I must add another thing, though this one is quite rare.

They aren't art scammers or 'professional' editor scammers; they are head-hunters of some sweatshop 'reputable' web publishers looking for someone gullible enough to sign a slave contract with them.

This is more obvious in Chinese web publishing sites, though they can appear in Western sites as well. Correspondence will include sweet words like ones previously mentioned here, even when it's obvious the only moment they looked into your book is when they saw it getting updated.

The company is legit. The contract is legit. But will basically tie you to their company for years with little to no rest, and equally-pathetic pay for your hard work.

Know your worth; take time to read and understand your contracts. Avoid these rackets.

 

[RainyLiquid]

Duh.

 

[mutio]

I haven't posted anything here yet, but I constantly get those art scam comments on other sites. Makes me roll my eyes every time, especially because I only use my own artwork for covers, so I would never need to hire someone to do it for me (Feels like insulting my artistic ability lmao). It sucks that they prey on people who just wanna create stuff and gain support for their work

 

[Anonjohn20]

What next? Are you going to try and claim that there aren't hot MILFs in my area that are dying to meet me?

 

[Rezcore]

OnlyHans69

I googled that and found an OF page...

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

I googled that and found an OF page...

No sh*t.

Only Hans is my Discord page, minus the 69.

What next? Are you going to try and claim that there aren't hot MILFs in my area that are dying to meet me?

No, but I know a Nigerian Prince who's willing to give you a million dollars.

I haven't posted anything here yet, but I constantly get those art scam comments on other sites. Makes me roll my eyes every time, especially because I only use my own artwork for covers, so I would never need to hire someone to do it for me (Feels like insulting my artistic ability lmao). It sucks that they prey on people who just wanna create stuff and gain support for their work

Makes your gears grind especially when they claim to be able to create better artwork than what you currently have, not knowing it is you who drew that. ??

 

[kelmor]

I got kind of an interesting one the other day. It wasn't the usual "generic empty platitudes with no reference to the story in the first chapter" thing you usually get, but a comment on a chapter near the end that talked about specific story points, and didn't have any hint of a 'collaboration offer', not at that stage, at least. I imagine that would have followed, had I replied. I might have, but something seemed ever so slightly off about the comment, so I checked their activity. They'd posted the same thing to a batch of other stories, always picking a chapter near the end, within about two minutes of each post. Seemed like an AI-based fishing trip. Reported, and the user was removed not long after.

 

[Anonjohn20]

No, but I know a Nigerian Prince who's willing to give you a million dollars.

Those princes are the best. I have bought 7 bridges in Nigeria and even sent millions to repair the bridges, singlehandedly saving their infrastructure. You're welcome.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

Those princes are the best. I have bought 7 bridges in Nigeria and even sent millions to repair the bridges, singlehandedly saving their infrastructure. You're welcome.

Tsk. Damn...I knew I should've take on that MILFs offers.

 

[Worthy39]

Damn, so you're telling us we can't trust our favorite otter? That's a shame.

 

[Anonjohn20]

Tsk. Damn...I knew I should've take on that MILFs offers.

I ignored them; I don't need women. I need futas!