Last week, out of the blue, I had a telephone call telling me I was invited to do a television interview about my book.
The young lady was at great pains to tell me all about the legitimacy of the offer: an interview with Logan Crawford (she seemed quite put out when I said I didn’t know who he was), on SPOTLIGHT TV. She invited me to look it up online while we were on the phone. This meant trudging upstairs to my office, but I was mildly intrigued to know who these people were.
Interesting results. Spotlight TV in its current incarnation (it’s a defunct US Premium channel) seems to be an independant channel that has variously broadcast on Sky, Freesat, Freeview, online, and YouTube, but is really hard to pin down as a current company, and I was somewhat disturbed by the phone call coming from the US, (Wisconsin, to be precise), for what appears to be a UK-based station.
And then there is Logan Crawford, the actor I am supposed to have heard about. Perhaps you know him? It appears he is a legitimate actor/newscaster, but being American, his name was not on my radar.
So, still being unsure about what, exactly, was going on, I asked some questions.
“Which book?” I asked, when I could get a word in. “And where did you get my name?”
The enthusiastic young lady seemed a bit unsure about which book, but told me firmly they had got my name from my publisher’s press release.
Interesting, as I don’t have a publisher, and no recent press releases.
She then told me she could see I had several books to my name and that I should pick the one I was most enthusiastic about.
I told her I was pretty sceptical about the whole thing, given the unexpectedness of the call, so she suggested she send me info and links to where I could watch an interview, and generally check things out, and she would call back the next day. I agreed this was a good idea.
The email arrived promptly, and his is the company she was calling from:
Services
Prime Seven Media turns out to be a publishing and marketing company. Hmm, thinks I.
So when the call came the following day, my first question was: “What do you get out of this? You are from a marketing companym so clearly there is going to be a financial charge somewhere along the line.”
She tried her absolute best to deny this. They were doing this purely to help authors’ careers. They take care of everything: organsing the interview, doing the editing, press releases, broadcasting it on a wide range of media outlets, and then after the event the author owns the interview and can use it anywhere they like.
“But what about money?” I persisted. “You have to be making money somewhere along the line for these services.”
Bless her, she tried so hard not to answer the question, but finally added, “The only thing you pay for is airtime.”
Finally!
So I over-rode her persistent assurances and asked how much that would be. She had to put me on hold, ‘to ask her manager’.
Only $999!!!!
“Thank you very much, you can stop there. Goodbye!”
I would hope that any authors they contact might realise that $999 is an unrealistic figure for an interview that is most unlikely to be seen by their target audience? But of course, some new authors, early in their careers and not yet wise to the schemes and scams out there to trap the innocent, may well fall for it.
I guess that’s what they are hoping for.
How about you? Has this one crossed your path yet?
Additional info
A reader has just brought to my attention that they are refining their approach by naming an author’s specific book title, and not just using the generic ‘your book’ approach. They are clearly learning from their targets, so please be aware that just because they quote one of your book titles, which they claim has been brought to their attention from an article about it, this does not make this offer any more legitimately ‘value publicity’. Unless, as one commenter has, you are willing to go deeper and approach Logan Crawford directly and get a discount. Still too steep by my reckoning.
deborahjay 
I signed up with a publishing house (well-known) for help, support and marketing with my first book about six years ago. A complete waste of time and money and I learned a costly lesson. You were right to push for an answer to your straight question. Transparency is key and every scam costs time. I wanted to go into print and ‘out’ them but was advised that their legal muscle was way bigger than mine. ❤ to you, Deb. Good luck with your teaching tour. Xx
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Did you move your blog, Jane? I’ve lost track…
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Hello Jacqui, yes, I moved to Ghost (away from WP)….thank you for asking.
https://www.janesturgeon.com/
Thanks Debby, for letting us do this on your comments. ❤
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You are most welcome Jane. Did you move away from WP for any particular reason?
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Yes. I self hosted through WP.org. WP have stretched way beyond their original remit of a blog site and are now trying to be everything (including web site builders) to everyone. Upgrades come through that mess up existing set-ups, PHP upgrades that end users have to install and they then mess up existing plug-ins. It was adding a time consuming layer into my working life that was beyond frustrating. ‘Happiness Engineers’ is an ironic description. I voted with my feet. ❤
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Good for you, I’m glad I haven’t ventured into self hosted and now I never will!
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Thanks, Jane! I checked out your new blog. It looks like I need to join to comment?
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Hello Jacqui (and thank you, Debby), you can read without logging in but if you want to comment, you need to have an account, which is free. ❤
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I’ve yet to hear of any authors being financially successful with such an arrangement. I really don’t think it’s worth distinguishing between such houses and vanity publishers. It makes me mad that they take advantage of people so callously – and as you say, we are but the small fry, we’ve no chance if we try to take them on.
Thanks for the good wishes, I’m anxiously waiting to see how much work the forecast weather will permit me to do!
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Fingers crossed the weather holds off for you, Debby and thank you for yoru support. You are right. ❤
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Yikes! Thanks for the heads up, Debby. This is terrible. Hugs 💕🙂
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I’ve not heard of this one until they contacted me – the least I can do is warn others!
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HI Deborah, this is rather awful to read. Some people could really get caught out by something like this and the air time is really expensive. Not that many people have a $1000 lying around for television interviews.
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You’d have to sell a heck of a lot of books to recoup that outlay, and as it’s not targeted to a speciific audience I reckon its unlikely anyone would profit.
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I’ll be ready if I get that call. They sure didn’t vet you well enough!
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🤣🤣 That’ll teach them not to do their research!
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I am absolutely gobsmacked! Thanks for sharing this with us Deb. I thought it was bad enough receiving scammy emails offering up similar things. It’s ridiculous already. Our world is full of scams! 😦 xx
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I was gobsmacked enough to investigate it despite the waste of time, as I wanted to get the whole story so as to warn others.
It’s unbelievably audacious, but I guess some people must fall for it or they wouldn’t persist 😔
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Oh for sure Deb. That’s how they get by scooping people in. Not too many are investigative like us. 🙂
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I just had a similar call from a lady. She was seemingly a foreigner but it was a California number. She said the same things about my name/book being submitted for a talk show hosted by Logan Crawford. Apparently I needed to decide quickly since there were only 2 slots left. I asked her how much and she said $2200. I was googling during her pitch… and responded “I don’t even know who Logan Crawford is.” After a deep exhale she said, “okay bye.” She didn’t try hard to convince me at all. I sure hope they aren’t getting anyone with this scam.
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😲 Wow, the price has gone up since they called me!
I’m glad to hear it isn’t just me who is not impressed by the name Logan Crawford!
I can’t believe anyone is falling for it, but there might be a newbie author out there who isn’t wise to the pointlessness of paying for something like this, hence why I want to share.
Thank you for dropping by and confirming its not just me that’s had this call.
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Yes. Got a call this evening? Dec 22, 2022. Very similar although they did not say about airtime! I was very skeptical from the get go and told them to call back in January. I have now blocked the number. I am in Australia and have three children’s books published.
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They won’t tell you about airtime costs until the very last minute, once they’ve made you really eager to do the interview. I had to really push to get them to admit to it, but I’ve worked in direct sales in my past and I know how to get there.
Don’t waste your time on another call, or if you really want to investigate, ask them directly about costs and push until they answer you.
My hope in writing this post is to save others from wasting as much time as I did.
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Happened to me few days ago,
Still figuring out are they scam or what’s happening.
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It’s sales. They will hook you until you are enthusiastic enough, and then present you with the cost. If you consider that cost is worth what you are getting, then that’s up to you. For me, I consider the price tag far too high to be worth it, considering your interview will go out to an untargeted audience, and then sure, you can use it yourself, but will you ever recoup the investment? I think not.
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Hello Deborah, well well! I received a call yesterday from an enthusiastic and very pleasant representative of Prime Seven Media, Anna Jacobs (with an Asian accent – 14148825319 – the prefix 141 is used to withhold a private number). I received the same information as you with reference to Logan Crawford who I too, have never heard of. However, I later googled and all seemed legit in terms of what I was told about him. She emailed with information and also a couple of sample interviews, one of which was of a rather eccentric UK author chatting about his work with parapsychology and DNA. I did not manage to watch it to the end as the content and presentation was sending me to sleep. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rPiSTW7iE8) Logan Crawford just let him waffle on and I could tell by his body language it was about as interesting to him as watching a chocolate fireguard melt. I reviewed google for more information about the company because she arranged to call me back today which she did at the precise arranged time. Like you when I asked where she had picked my work up from, there was no specific answer as such. Her next question,
‘Tell me about your book?’ my response, ‘Which one?’
She had no information to give me making me think she knew my work. Anyway, I listened intently and gave her extensive information about my books. The call lasted nearly an hour and right at the end (what I was waiting for happened) – PRICE: 999 USD/833.769. ‘Would I like to pay now?’ My response of course was, ‘I am a pensioner, and no way do I have a disposable income of this nature. I was then assured, ‘Not to worry you can pay in installments, would you like to pay half now?’
Whatever enthusiasm I had dissipated at this point. I asked her to confirm all in an email. Within a few minutes, it arrived confirming everything I was told. How disappointing and what a waste of my time. I have a few television and radio interviews behind me but never have I been asked for money and always allowed to use the content free across social media. I realize nobody would market our work for nothing, not in this day and age but the initial hook used reeled me in like a trout grabbing a fly. During my research about Prime Seven Media, I came across your review, thank you! Needless to say, the matter is closed and my savings will not be wasted on this. But this representative was very plausible and that is why we get sucked into the diatribe. Thank you, Google, and you. Happy New Year, may your quill never run dry! Lazarus
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Oh dear, I wish you’d come across my post earlier and saved yourself some of that precisous time. I’ve worked in sales in the past, so I’m fairly clued up on how to cut through the bull once I’d done my due diligence checking them out.
The name Anna Jacobs and the accent sound familiar, so same lady I would say.
I’m so glad you didn’t succumb – I hate these scammers with a passion.
Thanks for leaving your comment, it confirms what a complete waste of time this offer is.
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Thank you, me too!
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Thanks for the heads up! These scams are terrible and many uniformed people may fall for them.
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Only too happy to save others from wasting their time!
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Came across your article as they have contacted me this week so I wanted to see who else was solicited. Sales guy didn’t even know my name, called me really late or early in the morning and obviously knew nothing about me or my book. The real joke is that he said this was a stepping stone to Hollywood. My book is on theology. The last thing Hollywood wants to hear is about theology. Thanks for putting this out.
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You would really think they would do SOME research before wasting a phone call and everybody’s time, wouldn’t you? Thank for sharing your experience 👍
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Guy called me again at 6:30 this morning (I didn’t answer). I happened to be up but was ticked nonetheless. He says he’s from Colorado which would have made it 4:30am his time. I think he’s actually in the Philippines (his accent) and that they have a boiler room call center. I’ve now had to block him on my cell and ministry phone lines. Do not engage these people. They will stalk you.
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Good advice 👍
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I am a poor shmuck. Maybe you want to change how you name people who do not get that this is a scam and who still believe in the good of people and businesses. I have not only lost money but now I am called stupid for this. That does not help very much.
Best regards
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Nathalie, I totally take your point, and have edited my post to remove my insensitive wording.
I’m so sorry you got caught out and lost your money – there are so many scammers out there, which was the main reason behind my post, to act as a warning to those that have not yet encountered this one.
One good place to check out regularly is Writer Beware, https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/
which details and updates regularly as new scams come to light.
Good luck with avoiding such things in the future.
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[…] like to share with you an update on the scam I brought to your attention a few weeks ago – namely the offer of a TV interview that turned out to have a $999 price tag for […]
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I have recently had a call from them and they sent a website and info – its for self publishing, including an edit, a 3 cipies of the book – $750 – it all looks legit but I cant help thinking that the $750 will grow and frow with essential add ons required and my gut tells me its a scan.
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Don’t do it. Self publishing is what it says, not something to employ a company to do for you! You’re right, costs will escalate and you have no idea of the quality of what you are getting. It takes a little time to learn the ropes, but all the info is out there, as are the contacts for editors, cover designers etc. and there is tons of advice and help available, just use Google. I strongly recommend that you do it yourself, not pay for a ‘self publishing’ service. That’s not self publishing!
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I am working with Primesevenmedia publishing They are very nice????? Trying to help me. They mentioned having a TV interview??? They made my book cover. Just over 700 US total for publishing cost??? I am reading all this negative reports. It is very scary. It’s my first book. They are letting me pay a little at a time. What is the real deal here.
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Darlene, as a new author it’s important to understand the different types of publishing available to you.
If you are offered a contract with a traditional publishing house, you will never be asked for ANY money – they pay you, not the other way around.
If you choose to use a company, such as PrimeSevenMedia, to do the work for you, they will charge you every step of the way, some more than others, for their services. This is how they make their money – from you, and not from your book.
If you choose to self-publish, you deal with all aspects of publishing yourself, and are free to choose which services you want to pay for, and which you decide you can manage for yourself. For myself, the only thing I buy are my covers, I do the rest (with ease, and no expense, I might add) myself.
And no one will promote your book except you – even traditional publishers no longer have marketing budgets except for their big star names. Expect to work hard, and pay lots of dollars for marketing once your book is available.
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They just called me too, not mentioning anything about $£€!
I would consider paying them… if they had a wider audience. But only 1.4K youtube followers????
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I only got to the question of $€£ by being extremely persistent. Having worked as a sales rep in the past, I know that will be the very very last item on the spiel once they have fully sold you on the concept. It’s sound sales tactics, by that point you are so keen to get the product, you will pay for it.
I wouldn’t consider this a sound investment even if they had a bigger following (YouTube is only one of their platforms) on the grounds of it being a wide audience with random interests, not tailored to any specific genre.
Thanks for visiting, and I hope I was able to provide you with the information you needed about this ‘opportunity’.
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Thanks for spreading the good word about this scammy marketing ploy! I just sent a PayPal request to the person who emailed me and said I’d happily do an interview for $500 upfront and another $1k afterward. Hope they can afford me. 😂
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🤣🤣🤣 Good for you! 👏👏👍
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Just got one of these. Was super skeptical because it was scammy. I asked around and someone pointed me to your article. Thanks for posting this.
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Pleased I could help!
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Yes, they just called me after doing an interview with Kate DeLaney. I also asked the question of how much $$
They said to call them for details. Thank you for disclosing this. I’ve spent quite enough already in publishing…
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They seem to be getting ever more active – I’m pleased my experience is saving other people time and money 😀
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I had the same thing happen to me. The charge was $1700.00. I said I would have to wait and think on this. Googled Logan Crawford and got an interview booked with him through Fivver for under $500.00. Logan is an absolute professional. I have sent the interview to contacts at the BBC and other press outlets. It does help other professionals to know how to interview me about my novel, The Shattered Vase. Logan is worth the money but I would hire him direct.
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Thanks for sharing this, there may be others out there who feel $500 would be worth it.
For me, writing in the niche genre of epic fantasy, I wouldn’t consider it to be a good use of my advertising dollars – any advertising I do needs to be targeted at people who read in my genre, and this sort of interview (even though you can use it in other places after its done) is not aimed at the specific audience I need to get it in front of.
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I understand! Thank you for your blog and all the wisdom you share. It is needed!
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I’ve received an email from them today. Thank you for sharing this information. And thank you for not letting companies like the one mentioned not using the hopes and dreams of people against them. These companies give many false impressions. One that your work is doing well. Two your going to be able to market your work internationally through this interview. Self publishing is already hard enough as it without scams like these.
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I guess it’s not truly a scam in the regular way of thinking – you do get a service and a product at the end of it, but I object to the heavy and false impression selling process before you finally get told how much it’s going to cost you. I also can’t imagine what author is going to benefit from this sort of marketing well enough for it to be worth that price. I’m glad you saved your valuable time by coming here to take a look at my post.
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Thanks for the heads up, I thought there must be a catch. I got a message from a phone call and then a follow up email (both to my private phone and email) and thought I would check them out before I replied. Then I found this article. The guy who left the phone message did correctly say the name of one of my books and said they it had come to their attention due to an article about it, so I think they are refining their pitch.
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Oh that’s a worry. More authors will be inclined to believe them if they actually use an individual title as opposed to a generic ‘your book’ approach. Thanks for the heads up, I will add this info to my post.
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Hi
I got an email from a Mary Wilson saying “We have received a compelling article about your book and we find your book very interesting. Further, we want to help you to introduce your book in the market so that millions of people will be notified about it.”
I asked from where she got the article and may I have a copy of it. She responded and the first thing that caught my eye was the grammatical errors, and I must admit I had to read her response a couple of times to understand what the hec she was saying. I’ve been approached by another company promising to market my book to their millions of viewers for the low price of $1000US also, so I was leery of this one from the get go. She said it was from the press release and apologized for not contacting me sooner. I never got a copy of this ‘compelling letter’ nor did she ever mention the name of my book. I’ve been on a no TV diet since the start of the pandemic but I’ve never heard of Emmy winning Logan Crawford either. Curiosity got the better of me and I watched the attached YouTube video of Logan and it threw me off within seconds. I just got this vibe. I will kindly decline their offer after being told the interview is free. The only free interview I will accept is when Oprah calls. LOL
Thanks for the warning!!!
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Ha! Yes, the interview is free, but showing it to people isn’t. Glad I could inform you of the reality of this ‘offer’.
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Thanks for blogging about this, Debby! These comments have lots of good info too. Victoria Strauss says any marketing company that cold-calls you is very likely a scam. Successful marketing companies don’t have that kind of time on their hands. These “Logan Crawford” (who?) ones seem to at least deliver an expensive interview, but many simply take the money and run. BTW Mr. Crawford has a terrible website. Half the text is unreadable. He seems to be a legit character actor who isn’t getting film work these days.
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Thanks for dropping by, Anne. I’m naturally suspicious of anything like this, and always check things out before making a decision. This one does appear to give you a product, but in my opinion a ridiculously over-priced one.
Comments keep coming in, with new info and different opinions, which makes for helpful and informative reading. At least one person has been caught by this, which makes me sad. It’s hard enough being an author these days, without all the vampire scammers trying to take money from us.
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This JUST happened to me nearly play by play. They didn’t know which book of mine by title either, and the price has gone down to the high $800s, but otherwise same racket.
Also, I had no idea who Logan Crawford is either.
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I fear they must be finding enough authors who fall for it to make it worth continuing to cold call ☹️
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