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 this 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 company 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 want to contact Shawn T Murphy to find out the results of his interview with Logan Crawford, and if the interview produced sales of his books.
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Good luck with that.
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Sure, you can reach me at https://tornbetweentwoworlds.com/contact-the-author/
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👍
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Holy ****! Good thing I was doing my research while being on the call. I’m glad I found this page! Thank you for the heads up! They were charging me 1200 and they kept on repeating Crawford’s full name every time they mentioned him. Also yeah, their foreign accent is obvious.
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Wow, well done for finding my post. They must be pretty annoyed with me by now, I’ve had a handful of messages from ‘satisfied customers’ castigating me for denigrating a genuine, marvellous business 😳
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Deborah Jay,
i’m very glad you post this sort of info online. It is priceless to up-and-coming authors like myself. Have you heard of Victoria Strauss? she has a similar blog.
thank you,
Martin Tobin
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Victoria Strauss offers fantastically important info for authors, everyone should be aware of her blog 👍
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It is true that self-published authors without agent representation get bombarded with calls from marketers ranging from book fairs to radio and TV interviews about our books. Most seem to have difficulty pronouncing “Mosaic,” which is the first word of my latest book title. I always closely research both the marketers and forums they offer and, unfortunately, have yet to find one I trust. Such was the case with both the Spotlight Network, which seems to be struggling to survive, and Prime Seven Media. They push Logan Crawford, a known entity, which encouraged me at first, as did a fairly high rating by the Better Business Bureau, despite a number of author complaints. You answered any remaining questions I had, and thus I move on after another disappointment.
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I’m afraid the only person an author can truly rely upon for marketing is themself. Sure, we can buy services, but I would always treat ones that approach me, and not the other way around, with extreme suspicion.
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Just received an email from these people and just like you said they were quoting “feedback” about my book like they read it but really it was just a revised version of my synopsis!!! Thank you for sharing this!! I will be blocking their email and moving on with my life 🙂
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Good for you – there are enough calls on our precious time as it is, without such annoyances.
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Thank you, I just got this same call.
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They do seem to get around! I wonder how many people they entice into their scheme who actually pay up.
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They contacted me, and immediately told me there would be a fee. If you don’t ask a direct question, you can’t get a direct answer! I simply said what is the cost. And they told me. Of course nothing is feee. And shame on you for trying to hurt another business. You won’t add this comment but you will read it.
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Perfectly happy to add your comment, I’m always open to other opinions.
In answer to your points, I asked directly a good half dozen times before I got a straight answer, and that has been the experience of the other people I’ve talked to, so you clearly had a different experience to most.
And if you consider $999 a reasonable price to pay for an interview that won’t reach your target audience (unless, of course, your target audience is exceptionally wide), you must have more money in your marketing budget than most. All I’m doing here is pointing out to people that this is not a free service, but a rather expensive one.
Good luck with your marketing.
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Just got a call from these people. I said I’d check them out and get back to them. Thanks to you, I have now checked them out, and needless to say I will not be getting back to them.
Thanks again for the heads-up!
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Pleased I could put you in the picture 😀
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Thank u very very much! I am in Australia and received a similar set of phone calls from a Jimmy Millar from this company . Could not drag out of him what was going to be eventual costs for their help. NOW I KNOW! Again, thank you! My email is merril.thompson@gmail.com. I am 81, on a pension and have mobility problems, and have already been burnt before about my book.
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Hi Merril, I had to dig hard to get an answer, and it’s largely because I’ve worked in sales in the past that I knew what questions to ask.
Sorry to hear you’ve been burnt before, but you’ve obviously learned from the experience, and ended up here as a result.
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Again, thank you! I will now try to find a printer locally, and will let you know how it goes in case it helps someonr else
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👍
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Hi Deborah,
Thanks for this. They just contacted me today. Admittedly, some aspects of this scam are slightly more refined than the usual ploys to dupe (new) writers. Although, that said, when you can’t spell (book) ‘review’ properly it probably tells you all you need to know ))
Regards,
Matt
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Indeed, you are correct ! 😀
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I got the call today from a slightly inarticulate lady who offered the TV interview for nothing. However, the rest of the marketing was 1200 dollars reduced from 2499 because I was so special. I was amazed at the review of my book, which had just been published, and it captured its essence quite well. I didn’t know how they could do a review of the book when it had only been published for three days. Thanks for letting us know.
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Interesting. They keep changing tactics, but at the end of the day, it’s an awful lot of money for untargeted marketing.
Someone else has commented that when they read the review of their book carefully, they realised all the info had been taken from their book blurb.
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I was actually stunned by the review because it could not have been written without reading the entire book. She claimed the TV host read the book. An actor named Crawford.
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They are developing their approach all the time. When they called me, they couldn’t even name one of my books. In fact, they didn’t know I’d written several.
I’m not saying their services don’t exist, only that their approach is dubious and their price far too high for the product / services they are offering.
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I have seen about a dozen or so interviews with writers on the Spotlight Network. Here is a link. https://thespotlight.network/
The question is the effectiveness of this interview and what the results were for the interviewed person. I believe they are asking the 1200 dollars for that marketing since the rest of it is just fluff and puff. Thanks for your nice feedback.
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Thank you so much! I just got a call today. I did not answer the phone, but she left a message about wanting me to do a Spotlight interview with Logan Crawford. She asked me to call her back. Thank you for the invaluable information. It will save me both time and money.
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Pleased I could save you some time 😁
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just got the same call
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They do seem to be rather busy. I guess enough writers are taking them up on their ‘services’ to make it worthwhile for them. ☹️
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I was just literally on the phone with the lady from Spotlight Network right now. I was researching them while talking to her and came across this article here. She was getting as much info from me as she could. And even wanted a picture of me after I turned it down. Odd. Thanks for your article.
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Good for you for taking the time to do your due diligence. Glad I could help.
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I’ve just been approached by Jimmy Millar to say I was the third of three authors to be chosen by Spotlight for entry to a prestigious book competition if I paid $1200 (only half, I was told, as Spotlight would pay the rest). Various inducements were made including large prizes, an agent aand publishing deals. Anybody else get a similar message? David Ellis
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Woah, that’s a new one! Thank you for sharing.
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Just had this call and they are persistent! Finally got ‘Sam’ to agree to respect my no decision.
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Well done! Persistence is the only way
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Just got a call from a guy from this number 415-599-3933. Kept saying “don’t you know Logan Crawford.” blah blah blah. I have no idea who that guy is. Anyhow, I quickly did the research while on the call and found your post. Told the Indian accent guy bye. Thank you for saving me.
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You’re welcome 😁
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Just got off the phone with Sam Philips that is talking about Logan Crawford and an interview for my book I published on November 11, 2021.
The book is a biography of my father’s time during WWII (I’m No Hero, Story of a WWII Soldier). It took me 9 years after his death to verify all his stories from actual unit records. It was a labor of love to honor my father, I wasn’t doing it to make money. I have sold only about 50 books. It was published through Dorrance Publishing (that I paid $4,400 to have it published).
They finally said that it would cost me $999 for the interview programing or something like that. It took forever for her to get my email correct, even after I corrected her many times. It is Verizon.net and it took her forever to understand Verizon, even when I said “Like the Phone Company”.
My call is coming out of Texas but, she does not have a Texas accent.
I’m a 70 year old disabled Vietnam Veteran, and still working so I can afford to retire. My Family has a long history of Military Service.
What would you recommend?
I’m ready to tell them Bye, Bye.
Steve Weick
Disabled Veteran
Son of a Disabled WWII Normandy Veteran
Father of a Disabled Afghanistan Combat Veteran
Son-In-Law of a WWII Pacific Veteran
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Hi Steve, my advice is to totally tell them goodbye. You will never recover that money if you spend it on such an un-targeted ‘marketing’ effort.
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Thank you for this post. I too just received a phone call pertaining to this exact thing. The gentlemen discussed Mr. Crawford frequently.
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I’d never heard of him before this
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Thank you for posting this, it has been super helpful in making sure my 80+year old father-in-law is not taken in by the scammers.
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Glad to have been of help.
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I was in the middle of considering this when I found your article. My caller was a woman with an accent and the price was $999. The review she read to me sounded wonderful and enticing. Glad I found your warning. Thanks!
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To be fair, I think you would have got you were promised, but in my opinion (and that of a vast number of other experienced authors ) the price is far too high for something that isn’t going to reach a targeted audience. You would never recoup the cost, let alone earn from it.
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I just got this call today. I didn’t answer and they left a voicemail. It sounded very suspicious. Thanks for sharing your experience. I will not be calling back 🙏.
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Well done for checking it out first, Jesse
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Thank you.
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I too have received the calls. Thank You everyone for your warnings. I get calls day and night.
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Glad we could all help.
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Les King – Just had call from Keren Settman PrimeSeven Media and it took several attempts by me to determine cost of an interview would be £750-00 sterling. I politely declined based on your info. Thank you
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Glad my experience (and all the many who have contributed comments) has been of help to you in making your decision. It’s a very steep price for something of limited value unless you have a book of incredibly broad appeal.
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Hi, Deborah, I just posted chapter and verse about my experience with Prime Seven Media and the ‘legendary’ Crawford Logan. I was very open about Prime Seven Medis … could you please ‘pull’ my post and let me repost without mentioning them by name but by reputation?
Appreciate your support, thank you!
Kind regards,
Katie xx
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No problem. Done.
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Thank you, Deborah!
Do you still have a copy of what I wrote (that I can edit) or should I rewrite?
Kind regards,
Katie xx
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Sadly not, I deleted the comment
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Deborah. Just had a call and an email. Thought I would do some research and came across this post. Thank goodness I did.
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Well done for doing your research before going any further!
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I just received my second call from them. I don’t think he realized he had called me already this week! Thank you so much for posting this. Something about it just didn’t feel right, so I am glad to have found your post when I tried to research Logan Crawford.
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Pleased to have helped you to make your own decision – that’s what writers sharing is all about 😀
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I just received a similar contact. When I said I wanted to “cut to the chase” and asked “John Kelly,’ the man with the Fillipino accent, about the cost to me as the author, he wanted to discuss 5 options. I said, “No, I’d really like to know the price.” When he quoted me $999, as mentioned in the article above, I used your response: “You can stop right there. Goodbye.”
Thank you for this information. Although as a new author I was very excited at first, I felt it was a scam. Beware!
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It’s really disappointing, isn’t it, to realise there are so many people out there trying to part you from your hard-won income, rather than give value for money. Well done for cutting to the chase and not wasting your time.
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Hi Deborah, you’ve gone to a lot of trouble to present all this information, it might be apropos for you to post a link to one of your books on Amazon so that we might show our appreciation.
I just got the call you’ve all been talking about. Checking with https://writerbeware.blog/scam-archive/ They are listed as a scam, along with several other company names. I also checked out Logan Crawford. He runs a book review for money business. His price varies depending on how long of an interview you wish.
“They’re so cold, these scholars!
May lightning strike their food
so that their mouths learn how
to eat fire!”
Nietzsche
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Love that quote 👍
I’m glad to hear it’s now listed on Writers Beware. Hopefully even more people will become aware of it before being sucked in.
As regards my books, that’s a kind notion. You have found this post on my blog, there is a page on here (see list across the top of this page) detailing all my books.
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