STATUS: Still working on a contract and reading some new client proposals. Fun.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? BEATS SO LONELY by Charlie Sexton
Must be the day for the spam kings. I read about this Blogger issue at Media Bistro.
Blogger Attacked by Hackers Posting Fake Entries (BBC)Google’s Blogger site is being used by malicious hackers who are posting fake entries to some blogs. The fake entries contain weblinks that lead to booby-trapped downloads that could infect a Windows PC. Infected computers are being hijacked by the gang behind the attacks and either mined for saleable data or used for other attacks.
I’m almost afraid to provide the link to the full article but if you want to take that chance, here it is.
Also, I had gotten an email from a client asking me to link to her at a site called QUECHUP. Good thing I didn’t have time to do anything about it this morning because it too is a spam scam.
I was chatting via email with an industry friend who had asked me to be linked with him via LinkedIn (which is a legitimate site). He warned me about QUECHUP. It turns out that what that outfit does is simply email everyone in a registrant’s address book automatically, without asking if they’d like to do that.
A quick email to the client verified that that was indeed true. And let me tell you, the email you get looks pretty real so watch out for it.
And last but not least, I have a public announcement for any LA authors who are interested in learning more about publicity etc. Several of my clients have worked with Bella Stander so I can recommend her. The line up looks pretty good as well.
BOOK PROMOTION 101
Los Angeles — September 29 The Orlando Hotel,
West 3rd St.9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Class limited to 8
Price: $495; includes lunch at La Terza restaurant plus 1-hour follow-up phone consultation.
Registration deadline: Sept. 10
Guest Speakers:
Sally Nemeth, author of The Heights, the Depths, and Everything In Between
Laurie Viera Rigler, author of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict
Jane Marla Robbins, reading coach, actress & author of Acting Techniques for Everyday Life
Kevin Smokler, editor of BOOKMARK NOW: Writing in Unreaderly Times; cofounder, BookTour.com
Guest Publicists:
Megan Underwood Beatie, West Coast publicity director, Goldberg McDuffie Communications
Kim Dower, Kim-from-L.A. Literary & Media Services
Bonus: Wine & cheese poolside chat with guest authors after the workshop.
TO REGISTERSend email to with subject LA Workshop. Please include the following information:
1) Your name.
2) How you heard about Book Promotion 101.
3) Your literary agent’s name.
4) Book title(s), publisher, publication date (include month if published 2006-07). 5) A one-sentence description of your most recent book.
Example: OLIVER TWIST (Penguin Classics, 1998). In 19th century London, a runaway orphan boy is taken in by a gang of young pickpockets directed by a scheming miser.
I will respond with payment directions & homework assignment.
Charlie Sexton? I thought I was the only one who remembered him!
My condolences–as a fellow bloggerite, I was spammed over the past 24 hours. Thank goodness I clicked on NOTHING. Whew.
If only the hackers would spend one third of their creativity to do something useful and not malevolent. Oh, well. Criminals will be criminals.
I wish I lived in LA!
Angelique
I have a wordpress blog (it’s about publishing operations and financial questions) on my site.
I have only had it up for a few weeks, and haven’t yet promoted it, or done more than a few posts. I STILL get those spammy link-filled comments and link requests.
I guess it’s not just blogger, and the spammers have got very good search bots.
If only folks were that creative in a good way!
Love Bella Stander. What a nice woman.
A fellow contributor to a writer’s blog I participate in got zapped by the Quetchup scam. He said it looked like a ‘genuine invite to from an editor to join a community’ of writers. He followed the link looking for another way to network and ending up at a dating site – and his whole address book got spammed.
Thanks for getting the heads-up out to writers, Kristin.
Bella’s a lovely person, brilliant. Her newsletter is well worth subscribing to for author tips and tricks (and some enlightening war stories!). ~Linnea