“But when you’re talking about the value of a debut author, there is literally no immediate value in putting it on the internet, because nobody has heard of this person.” Rowlings, you could come up with a different theory,” said Dan Strone, chief executive of the literary agency Trident Media Group. “If this were just targeting the John Grishams and the J.K. Meanwhile, Bob Woodward’s book “Rage,” which came out in September, was never targeted, Mr. But the scammer has also requested experimental novels, short story collections and recently sold books by first-time authors. Sweeney’s first book was a best seller, so she, like well-known authors Jo Nesbo and Michael J. “Ultimately, how do you monetize a manuscript that you don’t own?” “It’s so befuddling because it’s not like fiction is driving our economy,” Ms. Sweeney got this response: “It’s me, Henry. Finally, she said, she wrote back, asking the person to leave her alone. She did not reply to the scammer, but the emails kept coming. Sweeney as odd, so she forwarded it to her agent. You told me you would have a draft around this time. “I loved the partial and I can’t wait to know what happens next to Flora, Julian and Margot. Sweeney’s deadline and the names of the novel’s main characters. Sweeney’s second book, however, hadn’t yet been announced anywhere, but the phisher knew about it in detail, down to Ms. Often, these phishing emails make use of public information, like book deals announced online, including on social media. The emails began about eight months after she had sold her second novel based on a sample of the manuscript called a “partial.” Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, two of the biggest publishers, have sent out warnings about the scam.Ĭynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, the author of the debut novel “The Nest,” was targeted in 2018 by someone pretending to be her agent, Henry Dunow. This year, the volume of these emails exploded in the United States, reaching even higher levels in the fall around the time of the Frankfurt Book Fair, which, like most everything else this year, was held online.īooks targeted include “ Such a Fun Age,” by Kiley Reid, “The Sign For Home,” by Blair Fell, “A Bright Ray of Darkness,” by Ethan Hawke, and “Hush” by Dylan Farrow. This phishing exercise began at least three years ago, and has targeted authors, agents and publishers in places like Sweden, Taiwan, Israel and Italy. “They know who our clients are, they know how we interact with our clients, where sub-agents fit in and where primary agents fit in,” said Catherine Eccles, owner of a literary scouting agency in London. This person understands the path a manuscript takes from submission to publication, and is at ease with insider lingo like “ms” instead of manuscript.Įmails are tailored so they appear to be sent by a particular agent writing to one of her authors, or an editor contacting a scout, with tiny changes made to the domain names - like instead of, an “rn” in place of an “m” - that are masked, and so only visible when the target hits reply. Whoever the thief is, he or she knows how publishing works, and has mapped out the connections between authors and the constellation of agents, publishers and editors who would have access to their material. “It seems like no one knows anything beyond the fact of it, and that, I guess you could say, is alarming.” “The real mystery is the endgame,” said Daniel Halpern, the founder of Ecco, who has been the recipient of these emails and has also been impersonated in them. When copies of the manuscripts get out, they just seem to vanish. In fact, the manuscripts do not appear to wind up on the black market at all, or anywhere on the dark web, and no ransoms have been demanded. But short story collections and works by little-known debut writers have been attacked as well, even though they would have no obvious value on the black market. High-profile authors like Margaret Atwood and Ian McEwan have been targeted, along with celebrities like Ethan Hawke. It isn’t clear who the thief or thieves are, or even how they might profit from the scheme. Hannaham was just one of countless targets in a mysterious international phishing scam that has been tricking writers, editors, agents and anyone in their orbit into sharing unpublished book manuscripts. Hannaham said, “to say, ‘That wasn’t me.’” George’s email address and a little note, and hit send. Hannaham’s website that he rarely uses, so he opened up his usual account, attached the document, typed in Mr. George, asking him to send the latest draft of his manuscript. Earlier this month, the book industry website Publishers Marketplace announced that Little, Brown would be publishing “Re-Entry,” a novel by James Hannaham about a transgender woman paroled from a men’s prison.
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