The day Dave Eggers, Jean
M. Auel, Jacqueline Wilson, J.M Coetzee and Donna Tartt asked to be my friends.
It all started when I
announced the publication of my latest book, (A novel ironically titled “On the
Backs of Others”), on a number of Facebook Groups dedicated to writing and
writers. My Facebook page was immediately inundated with people congratulating
me, telling me how much they liked the cover and the synopsis of the plot,
asking me to tell them more about my “writing journey” and my “inspirations”,
wanting me to describe the “greatest challenges” I had faced in the writing,
asking if this was my first published work and what my marketing plans were.
They all professed that they wanted to be my friends in order to swap author
tales while sitting at my feet, gazing up at me, adoringly, (that mental
picture I added myself).
For a few heady moments I
was thrilled to receive such an avalanche of reactions so quickly after
publication, but then I noticed that they were all asking the same questions
and they were all then telling me that they could help me to get reviews on
Amazon, or increase my sales in the same way they had done for their own books,
with a variety of magic marketing strategies. Apparently, it was all going to
be extremely affordable. So far, so predictable. I mean everyone’s got to
hustle a living in any way they can, right? Even a Bot.
Then Dave Eggers got in
touch. Yeah, I know – Dave Eggers. I did a quick bit of due diligence and it
certainly looked like him and sounded like him. Now I happen to be a big fan,
so this hit a button for me. I asked if he was the real deal, and he assured me
he was, and he chatted so convincingly that I suspended all disbelief and went
with the flow. I mean – it was Dave Eggers! After a bit of affable, writerly, to-ing
and fro-ing, he then offered to brief his team to help me to get more reviews
on Amazon, and my disbelief was no longer suspended. I mean, I fully believe
that the charming Mr Eggers would be helpful if he could, |his track record in
such matters is impeccable, but what were the actual odds that he would decide
to bestow his kindness on someone he has never heard of, who lives on the other
side of the pond?
Then I noticed that one
of the others who had been offering to help was none other than Jean M. Auel.
And then, as if that was not exciting enough, I got messages from Jacqueline
Wilson, Catherine Steadman, J.M Coetzee and Donna Tartt. If any of these
authors genuinely did contact me in order to congratulate me on the stunning
cover of my book, and on my amazing achievement of being published, I apologise
for doubting you. But I have a strong suspicion someone is pulling my leg.
The question that occurs
to me, however, is do any of these distinguished authors have any idea that
they are being impersonated in this way? I seem to remember there was someone
who got away with impersonating Graham Greene for years, back in the analogue
days of yore, but the digital world seems to have taken this template to
extraordinary heights.
There is an army of
imposters on line, pretending to be famous authors, in order to win the
confidence of less famous authors and sell them services of dubious value or
quality, but the saddest part of the whole story is that I really enjoyed being
Dave Eggers friend for those few minutes.