It has recently been brought to our attention that a US-based publishing services provider called Script-Marker has emailed authors to claim the ASA has recommended their book for a marketing campaign. We have no relationship with Script-Marker and we do not endorse this company. To be clear, the ASA does not recommend any of our members or their manuscripts to publishing service providers or marketers as part of our services. 

Any cold approaches from “publishing companies” or book marketers should be regarded with suspicion and interrogated carefully, especially if they are requesting payment. It is simply not how the publishing industry works – reputable companies have no need to attract business in this way. If you ever have any questions about emails such as these please use the ASA’s free Member Advice Service.

We understand the subject line of the email is: FREE AUDIO PRESENTATION FROM AUSTRALIA SOCIETY OF AUTHORS and the email begins with “I am pleased to share an update on the Initial Marketing Campaign that Script-Marker Australia has been conducting for your book since January 2022, as recommended by the Australian Society of Authors.” 

There are several aspects to this email which make it clear it may be a phishing scam, including:

• the subject line stating the email is from the ASA, but it is actually from Script-Marker
• the blurry and unnecessary use of the ASA logo
• the ‘template’ nature of the email
• the odd job title of the sender – Senior Project Manager – which is not a typical title in the publishing and book industry
• the inconsistency of the organisation’s title, which in some cases is Script Marker and others Script-Marker
• the vague language and random capitalisation, such as “our campaign has garnered significant interest from several Traditional Publishing Houses”.

If you have any concerns or questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.