# Anyone used authoroffer.com?



## jimkukral (Oct 31, 2011)

Looks like a competitor to Bookbub. Anyone know who is behind it? Or has anyone used it?

New KB forum looks spiffy.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

I'll just say I'm suspicious. They have virtually no footprint at all.


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

I came to ask the same question, Jim, but used the spiffy new Search function to find your thread, so I won't repeat.

It looks like Bookbub, charges like Bookbub, but, as Monique says, leaves almost no footprint at all. Where did their half a million subscribers come from? 

I know we'd all love a BB competitor, but it sniffs funny to me. Has anyone heard of them before today?


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

I second (or third) what Monique said.

Their prices are higher than BookBub's! They actually could have acquired a mailing list (shady--but it would work) and that's why they charge such high fees. Also, I just noticed that their submission form doesn't actually include a space for your book?

Hmmmm....


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

I think you're supposed to apply for a spot and if they pick you, they send you an invoice.

I have an author friend who applied, got an invoice, and asked if I thought they were legit. I can't see any way to tell!


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## Wansit (Sep 27, 2012)

I also find it weird that their sub-categories have the same amount (btwn 200,000 & 300,000) of subscribers on every single category. No reader base would be that interested in every single topic. For one thing Teens & YA is almost equal to Women's Fiction.

http://www.authoroffer.com/advertise/pricing


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

By the vibe of their website, it feels like they are giving the impression they have bee doing this for a while... but if no one on Kboards has heard of them, I'm going to be really suspicious.


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## Mark Dawson (Mar 24, 2012)

If it is a scam, it's a nice website for a scam. Has anyone signed up for their emails?


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## Wansit (Sep 27, 2012)

Shawn Inmon said:


> By the vibe of their website, it feels like they are giving the impression they have bee doing this for a while... but if no one on Kboards has heard of them, I'm going to be really suspicious.


It's new...very new. Down to the 'press release' distributed via services two days ago.

http://www.wnd.com/markets/news/read/26636634/authoroffer.com_announces_one


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

I found this contact info:
Mrs. Sally Anderson, AuthorOffer.Com
2202 N. West Shore Blvd, Suite 200, Tampa, Florida, 33607
Office: (813) 336-2101
Fax: (813) 336-2108
[email protected]

On a two-day-old press release about the service posted here: http://www.wnd.com/market-overview/#ogz7Z8u5TlZoJhKr.99

The site is nice, but I see no way to sign up for their mailing list. That makes me suspicious. I don't think it can be a freebookservice-style scam if they really do advertise discounted (not just free) books, but there's no way of knowing which books they advertise if you can't sign up for the list.


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## Tia K (Sep 28, 2013)

Monique said:


> I'll just say I'm suspicious.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah. I'm with you on that. not sure and can't if it's scam tho.


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

Yes, it's gotta be new, or we would have heard about it, right?

It is possible that they've been beta testing, of course, but when they refer to their results like they do in that press release, it gives the impression that they've been up and running for a while.

My question would be, how do they build a database of half a million readers so quietly that we don't hear about it until it launches? Maybe buy a list?

I've subscribed to their list, but only just now.


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## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

I googled the address out of curiosity. An IP and patent law firm is at that same place.


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## Randirogue (Apr 25, 2011)

Becca Mills said:


> I found this contact info:
> Mrs. Sally Anderson, AuthorOffer.Com
> 2202 N. West Shore Blvd, Suite 200, Tampa, Florida, 33607
> Office: (813) 336-2101
> ...


My old stomping grounds. Grew up in the Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater area and moved back to NY just a few years ago. I wonder if I could convince someone I know down there (family, friend) to give it an in-person look see...


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

I submitted a book. 

I'm the Guinea pig.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Shawn Inmon said:


> I've subscribed to their list, but only just now.


How do you subscribe, Shawn? I didn't see a link for that.

ETA: Never mind. It's right on the front page.


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

When I signed up for the list, I got this very nice email...

Welcome to AuthorOffer.com!

You've successfully registered for our service and completed your reading preferences. Starting very soon, you'll receive email alerts with free and bargain book offers that match your interests. Please make sure you add [email protected] to your address book, safe sender list or white list so you never miss an email.

Did you know that 129 trees are cut down every second on this planet? That’s why we plant a tree for every 100 new subscribers. We’re trying to do our part to counter the cutting and save the planet. Learn More.

And again, thanks for joining AuthorOffer.com! We hope you enjoy our free service and tell other booklovers about it. You are the best ambassador we have for this free service.

The AuthorOffer.com Team
AuthorOffer.com, 2202 N. West Shore Blvd, Suite 200, Tampa, Florida, 33607


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

Becca Mills said:


> How do you subscribe, Shawn? I didn't see a link for that.


Right at the main page: http://www.authoroffer.com/


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Huh. Well, if they vet books for quality, promote discounted books, and let you sign up for their mailing list, it's hitting all the right notes. If it's a scam, it's an elaborate one.


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

It *is* possible that they have bought email lists. I know people who do that for other industries--buying lists of people interested in finance, for example.

Those lists tend to be of dubious quality--but extremely expensive.


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

> Well, if they vet books for quality, promote discounted books, and let you sign up for their mailing list, it's hitting all the right notes. If it's a scam, it's an elaborate one.


They might have bought some lists. I would still let someone else try it first though...for my genre they are more expensive than the Bub!


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

I signed up for their emails, too. We'll see what they're like.

FYI, looks like they do promote erotica. It's one of the genre check-off boxes, at any rate.


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

I sent Ms. Anderson an email asking how she acquired her list.

Will let you know what I hear back.


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## Maia Sepp Ross (May 10, 2013)

My concern is that the authors in their testimonials don't link to their books or last names, so you can't take a look at their books/reviews/rankings. I've signed up to get their newsletters. I'm curious to see what they look like.


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## nightfire (Mar 22, 2012)

It would be extremely easy to:

1. Purchase an email list - or pretend you have one
2. Hire a guy to make a pretty site
3. Create a daily newsletter out of books that may or may not have been paid for.

It smells like "that other site" revised because of the crap they got from Amazon and here. They can get the "downloads" and also get you kicked off Amazon for your $149.

I would love for a competitor to BB to come along, but this smells bad.

Registrar is:
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.internet.bs
Registrar URL: http://www.internetbs.net

If you are operating in the US why are you registering your domain in where ever BS is? Contact info from whois:
http://whois.domaintools.com/authoroffer.com

Nothing at all about Florida.

How do you get over 500k email addresses with no website traffic (Page rank is a ? and Alexa doesn't know they exist).

If someone knows a real person that has used the service I'd love to hear from them.


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## Rich Amooi (Feb 14, 2014)

The website domain was purchased on December 12, 2013. Brand new.


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

They're not in the Wayback Machine either.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://authoroffer.com


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

> My concern is that the authors in their testimonials don't link to their books or last names, so you can't take a look at their books/reviews/rankings. I've signed up to get their newsletters. I'm curious to see what they look like.


Ha ha ha, my concern is those photos look like stock photography. The more I look at this, the worse I feel about it. How could a site that's been around two days generate results for anyone?


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

I just now submitted a book for consideration and modified my earlier post in this thread to announce:

I'm your Guinea pig!


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

Thanks Cherise, for taking one for the team!

I have a BookBub promo at the end of the month. I have too much to live for right now!


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

nightfire said:


> It would be extremely easy to:
> 
> 1. Purchase an email list - or pretend you have one
> 2. Hire a guy to make a pretty site
> ...


It can't be exactly the same kind of thing as FBS if they actually promote real discount books successfully. Whatever tiny token FBS was paying people to download a free book wouldn't be an adequate incentive to buy a $.99 book, much less a pricier one.

Since they're letting people sign up for their list, it should quickly become apparent if it's a scam. For instance, if the list I just signed up for is a secondary list created as a cover for the main list, which really only sends free-book emails to click farms, that should become clear when none of the discounted books I see advertised on the secondary list actually get a notable sales bump.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

C. Gockel said:


> Thanks Cherise, for taking one for the team!
> 
> I have a BookBub promo at the end of the month. I have too much to live for right now!


You're welcome. 

They just sent me this email confirming they received my book submission:



> The information you provided has been received and we will be in touch after we review your submission. Please feel free to reach out if you haven't heard back regarding the status of your order after 7 days.
> 
> In order to preserve a consistent experience for subscribers, our team only selects the listings they feel are the best fit for our members.
> 
> ...


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

Cherise Kelley said:


> You're welcome.
> 
> They just sent me this email confirming they received my book submission:


And you can bet you'll be accepted.


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## David Peterson (Feb 8, 2014)

nightfire said:


> Registrar is:
> Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.internet.bs
> Registrar URL: http://www.internetbs.net
> 
> If you are operating in the US why are you registering your domain in where ever BS is?


BS is Bahamas, I think.

Thought it was a little odd that they use the dot "." for the thousands separator on their advertising page (for a US based site).


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Rayven T. Hill said:


> And you can bet you'll be accepted.


Hey now! Don't go jinxing me!


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2014)

SBright said:


> I googled the address out of curiosity. An IP and patent law firm is at that same place.


The office building in question also leases "virtual office space." Which means despite having a mailing address there, the mail could be forwarded anywhere.


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## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

I don't know if it'll help anyone solve this mystery, but I got this message through Goodreads yesterday:



> Hello Laura Rae Amos. I thought I'd send you a quick message to see if you might want to take and use my AuthorOffer.com coupon. It's for $30 off and valid until April 30. I can't use it. I'm in a dispute with my writing partner about getting a publisher. So until that gets resolved we won't be doing any new promotions. It's a long and complicated story.
> 
> Anyway, we did use Author Offer during the last month and the results were pretty good. We sold about 900 copies in just two days as a result and got quite a few 'likes' on our Facebook page. So I would use them again in a heartbeat and may well do so in the future if we don't go with this publisher. The code is 'Cxdc30u' if you want it. If not, I hope you'll pass it on. Thanks. Goodbye!


I haven't replied, and probably won't because I'm anti-social like that. But I did feel like it was very weird. And especially now that you guys say this site has only been around 2 days and this guy has apparently used it before and sold 900 books? Yeah, I don't think so. 

I'd steer clear of it!


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2014)

No Facebook or Twitter presence, either. Which is odd, considering one of the ... eh hem...testimonials claims they were sharing the news about Authoroffer on Facebook.


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## Carol Davis (Dec 9, 2013)

Laura Rae - I got almost the same e-mail!

_Hello Carol Davis. I like your books! So I chose you to get this coupon I got from AuthorOffer.com. I hope you can use it. I'd love to use it myself, but my daughter is going into the hospital for surgery tomorrow and I'm going to have my hands full dealing with the aftermath of that for several months, so I don't have time to monitor my ebook for a while.

The last time I used AuthorOffer.com, I got about 900 sales from it, so I know it works and will definitely use them again. But this coupon code '4xdc30u' expires April 30. I hope you can use it. If not, please pass it on. So long! _

That had "spam" written all over it. Curious how this person says she got 900 sales... from a site that's brand new.


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## AriadneW (Feb 16, 2013)

Google image search brings up the testimonial images as stock images. Uh yeah.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Cherise Kelley said:


> I just now submitted a book for consideration and modified my earlier post in this thread to announce:
> 
> I'm your Guinea pig!


Did you submit a free book, Cherise?

Anyone who submits *discounted* books, please post results. If discounted books do well, it's got to be legit, right? (Because if you pay authoroffer $299 to promote a $.99 thriller, and the book gets 1255 downloads -- their claimed average -- authoroffer can't be paying people to purchase all those books. Paying for 1255 $.99 purchases would eat up the fee the author paid, times four.)

One possibility is that the service does have a real list of potential downloaders/buyers, but that the list was purchased and is largely untested, so all the download/purchase numbers, genre-interest numbers, and testimonials on the site are invented (and probably greatly inflated).


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm not signed up with them nor have I subbed anything, but I'm told by a fellow author one of our 99c box sets was picked up for today's mailing. Fortunately, it's not currently one of our bestselling boxes, hasn't had promo for a while, and has been selling consistent numbers for the past few days, so it'll be easy to see how many sales are influenced by this company.

So far ... decidedly underwhelming. I'll know more mid-morning.


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## Justawriter (Jul 24, 2012)

C. Gockel said:


> Ha ha ha, my concern is those photos look like stock photography. The more I look at this, the worse I feel about it. How could a site that's been around two days generate results for anyone?


All of the "author images" are from shutter stock, and one of the testimonials says they are a two time user of the "free download service". Thought that was interesting, and a bit familiar sounding.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Those emails are pretty hilarious. It's a good thing spammers don't want to work hard. Makes it so much easier to spot them. Those emails certainly do shiny stinky light on this, don't they?


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## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

C. Gockel said:


> Ha ha ha, my concern is those photos look like stock photography. The more I look at this, the worse I feel about it. How could a site that's been around two days generate results for anyone?


They actually *are* stock. I found one of their "authors" lol! http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-98096240/stock-photo-young-man-hiking-smiling-happy-portrait-male-hiker-walking-in-forest.html


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## nightfire (Mar 22, 2012)

They can still be sending to click farms for free book downloads.  They can for .99 books too.  If it is their own money - like a famous author did - they can just distribute it to multiple people to make the purchases. If your promo for your paid book doesn't do well they would just blame it not being a good day or whatever.

I don't have a problem with people purchasing legit mailing lists to get started.  But I actually don't think they have that many emails on their list.

Also I can get a PR 1 and some kind of Alexa ranking on a site that was built in December if I actually sent traffic to it.  They didn't.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Rich Amooi said:


> The website domain was purchased on December 12, 2013. Brand new.


Okay, with that many followers and a website that's this new? They bought the emails, which means the ads will be targeted at people who did not willingly sign up, in all probability. Could result in hostile views?


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## Scottish Lass (Oct 10, 2013)

Laura Rae Amos said:


> They actually *are* stock. I found one of their "authors" lol! http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-98096240/stock-photo-young-man-hiking-smiling-happy-portrait-male-hiker-walking-in-forest.html


Yeah, and the 2nd photo of "Jim from Texas" is also stock; I looked at it as a possibility for my 'Skiing with Santa' cover.

Scam.


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## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

Cherise Kelley said:


> I submitted a book.
> 
> I'm the Guinea pig.


And into the breach she goes!  

May your downloads be many, Cherise, and may this site end up being legit. Nice if it was a tiny bit less expensive though...


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I love this Board! Isn't it popcorn time?


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

nightfire said:


> They can still be sending to click farms for free book downloads. They can for .99 books too. If it is their own money - like a famous author did - they can just distribute it to multiple people to make the purchases. If your promo for your paid book doesn't do well they would just blame it not being a good day or whatever.


I run 4-5 BookBub ads per month. I know what sales from emails look like throughout the day. The box of ours they picked up (again, let me stress, I did *not * purchase this spot) has sold about 10,000 copies in less than 3 months, and does well when promoted, so I would expect at least a small bump for it even at some of the smaller sites. Right now, it doesn't look like it will sell any more today than it did yesterday. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt until tomorrow when overnight sales have a chance to dump in and I do my daily sales captures. But from the results so far pretty sure I'll be calling BS.

The box set is historical romance with 3 classic bestsellers by "name" authors.


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## nightfire (Mar 22, 2012)

Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:


> I love this Board! Isn't it popcorn time?


We're waaaay past popcorn time lol. I'm truly impressed by the sleuths on the board.

Wonder if anyone will show up defending them? There are a couple of people in a facebook group thread that are saying "give them a chance". I've seen overwhelming evidence to keep me away.


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## Incognita (Apr 3, 2011)

nightfire said:


> We're waaaay past popcorn time lol. I'm truly impressed by the sleuths on the board.
> 
> Wonder if anyone will show up defending them? There are a couple of people in a facebook group thread that are saying "give them a chance". I've seen overwhelming evidence to keep me away.


I know, right? My husband just asked me why I was smiling, and I told him it was because I was watching the Writer's Cafe super-sleuths sniff out another spammy-sounding outfit.


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## horst5 (Aug 9, 2013)

I subscribed 20 minutes ago. So far no answer.
Horst


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

I agree. Love this board for stuff like this.


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## jimkukral (Oct 31, 2011)

Nothing wrong with using stock art. We use it all the time.


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## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

jimkukral said:


> Nothing wrong with using stock art. We use it all the time.


For our pretend people, too!


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## jimkukral (Oct 31, 2011)

SBright said:


> For our pretend people, too!


Wait, they are using it for fake testimonials? I missed that. Heck no. We just use it for site design stuff. Our members send us their own real pics.


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## Guest (Mar 12, 2014)

A few of the ladies at Broad Universe also reported getting a similar email via Goodreads about a discount code for something they had never heard of. I would suggest anyone who got one of those messages should report it to Goodreads. 

And someone else pointed out that there is no city in Arizona called Yukon, despite what the testimonial says.


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## nightfire (Mar 22, 2012)

Does anyone have a current newsletter from them? Apparently someone is impressed that "major houses" have "bought ads" with them.  I haven't seen an email that they send to readers yet to determine if they are using affiliate links (they only allow Amazon books)?  Regardless I informed the author that I can easily create an email from free and bargain books on Amazon without anyone paying me or without anyone's permission and make it look like those folks are buying ads from me. It's done all the time as either filler or as proof of concept.  Doesn't mean any of those folks paid that company money to be in those emails.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

PamelaKelley said:


> All of the "author images" are from shutter stock, and one of the testimonials says they are a two time user of the "free download service". Thought that was interesting, and a bit familiar sounding.


Ooo, I didn't notice that! 

And of all the books to pick, they chose Phoenix's! If they're scammers, boy did they ever mess up. Chuckles.


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## Bookside Manner (Aug 24, 2013)

I also got "want to use my coupon because my daughter's in the hospital" spam via Goodreads. Whole thing seems very hinky to me.


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

It's like they think we don't all talk to each other!


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## nightfire (Mar 22, 2012)

I need to go log into GoodReads! I feel left out.


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

I sent them an email yesterday...got this response:

CG,

Thank you for your interest. Let me give you detailed information about our project.

We’ve worked tirelessly for several years to collect our readers' list. During this time, the project operated in stealth mode as we collaborated with authors and publishers privately. We were happy to put in these hours because we want to serve you as best we can. The company stayed private as we worked out potential bugs and problems - this way, our customers could experience a superior product. Because our active subscribers list grew exponentially, we can immediately offer our customers’ great and significant advertising results. We’ve been open to the public for fewer than six months - and we’re pleased with the results!

At this point, we are only featuring Kindle books simply because our subscribers are mainly Kindle owners. However, we have started running tests and you’ll be able to promote on different devices - possibly in the next six months, so keep checking in with us!

When this project began, the subscribers were not separated by genres. Everyone who enjoyed discounted (and free) books, joined our list no matter their genre. Because everyone had access to all genres, many of our subscribers began crossing between genres. Subscribers weren’t limited to their old favorites. Instead, they found new stories that they may never have seen as they experienced new genres. This excellent discovery allowed us to offer practically identical free download and/or purchase results for all genres. Now pricing is divided into two categories, Group A and Group B, featuring slight differences in price and performance. We are constantly adjusting our processes to ensure authors are reaching the perfect audience for their books while readers have access to content that they’ll truly enjoy.

In order to ensure that your needs are met, we have a very comprehensive submission form. Authors can choose their desired advertising date. You can also indicate whether the advertising period is flexible - this option enables us to offer the next available date if needed.

Our selection process features many steps but we carefully evaluate each listing submission individually. 
First of all, books must meet the following basic criteria in order to be considered: 
* be well-formatted, free of typos and grammatical errors. 
* have a professional cover and appealing description. 
* be free or discounted for a limited time. 
It’s important for authors to ensure their books meet those guidelines before submitting. We also look at the plot, author background, and reviews. Unlike our competitors, we do not have strict requirements for the page number or number of reviews. Therefore, we often feature new releases that are relevant and interesting to our readers; we also include box sets, collections, and other similar items. In some rare cases, we even list permafree books and books that aren’t on sale.

Here’s the bottom line: we’ve known our subscribers for years and we want to serve them properly, so we only select product offers that are both exceptional values and filled with content they’ll enjoying reading. How do we know what they enjoy? We review data on our past titles to better understand our readers’ tastes. These statistics also ensure that  our authors are reaching an audience of engaged subscribers, ones who are most likely to click on their title.

Truthfully, we receive more submissions than we can possibly use without overwhelming our subscribers. As such, we select only about 30% of the submissions we receive. Your title may offer a great value but we won’t be able to use it at the time if we have too many other offers.

Currently, there are no more than 10 listings in one genre per email. Emails reach our subscribers every morning between 8 and 9 AM.

We can feature your book once a month at most and we can feature a particular author only once per week.

Featured Title submission is an optional method used to increase free book downloads or sales. Our statistics show that such highlighted titles usually receive about 30 % more downloads or purchases. If your title is approved, it will be highlighted and pushed to the top of the email list for our subscribers.

Additionally, I’d like to share another exciting fact about our company! After finding terrifying statistics that said 129 trees are cut every second, we knew someone needed to make a stand. That's why we support the www.plantabillion.org program. For every 100 new subscribers who join our free, no-obligation service, we plant a tree. In other words, we contribute 3 to 5 trees per day in order to aid our planet’s health. We’ve already provided an astounding 578 trees since the beginning of the program. Digital books are convenient and fun, but they’re also environmentally friendly. Mother Nature doesn’t suffer a bit when the words we read stay in the digital world and never find their way onto precious paper. Planting a tree may be a small contribution, but as more people join us, our contribution grows.

CG, it was a pleasure to provide you all this information.

Sincerely,
Sally Anderson
AuthorOffer.com Editorial Manager


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## Guest (Mar 12, 2014)

> During this time, the project operated in stealth mode as we collaborated with authors and publishers privately.


If these people managed to operate in stealth mode for years and acquire a million subscribers, they are more dangerous than the NSA. Who are these people, S.H.I.E.L.D.?


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## CLStone (Apr 4, 2013)

Just in case this wasn't posted.

From whois, will highlight:

[Querying whois.verisign-grs.com]
[Redirected to whois.internet.bs]
[Querying whois.internet.bs]
[whois.internet.bs]
Domain Name: AUTHOROFFER.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1838458144_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.internet.bs
Registrar URL: http://www.internetbs.net
Updated Date: 2014-02-27T04:22:36Z
*Creation Date: 2013-12-09T16:07:39Z*
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2014-12-09T16:07:39Z
Registrar: Internet.bs Corp.
Registrar IANA ID: 814
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected]
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: 
Reseller: 
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID: 
Registrant Name: Domain Administrator
Registrant Organization: Fundacion Private Whois
Registrant Street: Attn: authoroffer.com, Aptds. 0850-00056
Registrant City: Panama
Registrant State/Province: 
Registrant Postal Code: Zona 15
Registrant Country: PA
Registrant Phone: +507.65995877

In my universe (worked in the 'at home industry' for 15+ years, even taught a class at the university) this is the first thing to look for if you're trying to scope out a company.

Don't buy into this.


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## Courtney Milan (Feb 27, 2011)

I think someone needs to pretend to be gullible enough to get to the point where payment is required, see who they're using as a payment provider, and file a complaint with that person.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

C. Gockel said:


> We've worked tirelessly for several years to collect our readers' list.


In "several years" many readers will have changed their email accounts or have forgotten ever signing up with the place. The eBook market moves faster than this.



> We've been open to the public for fewer than six months - and we're pleased with the results!


Definitely fewer, according to when their web site went live.



> Because everyone had access to all genres, many of our subscribers began crossing between genres. Subscribers weren't limited to their old favorites. Instead, they found new stories that they may never have seen as they experienced new genres.


Wow, that's a lot of activity in just a couple of months.



> we've known our subscribers for years


Probably had lunch with them just the other day.



> We review data on our past titles to better understand our readers' tastes. These statistics also ensure that our authors are reaching an audience of engaged subscribers, ones who are most likely to click on their title.


Collecting meaningful data since December 13. Did they operate under a different name before this in order to amass such wealth of info?



> As such, we select only about 30% of the submissions we receive.
> 
> We can feature your book once a month at most and we can feature a particular author only once per week.


That doesn't seem to work. Do they have few authors submitting in order to have this rule?


----------



## zoe tate (Dec 18, 2013)

CLStone said:


> Don't buy into this.


That's putting it mildly.

There seem to be about 10 or 12 different red flags, with this one.

Their domain-name has been registered only since December 2013, nobody here had heard of them at all, and they're claiming to have over half a million subscribers already?

It's time to send this information to the FTC, among others, and "await developments with interest".



Courtney Milan said:


> I think someone needs to pretend to be gullible enough to get to the point where payment is required, see who they're using as a payment provider, and file a complaint with that person.


That, also. Or at least alert the payment-processor to our collective suspicions. The FTC is better-placed to investigate, but terribly slow-moving. It's all* truly* suspicious, though.


----------



## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

Courtney Milan said:


> I think someone needs to pretend to be gullible enough to get to the point where payment is required, see who they're using as a payment provider, and file a complaint with that person.


They use PayPal. In the submission form they ask for your PayPal email address.


----------



## CLStone (Apr 4, 2013)

My responses are in red.



C. Gockel said:


> I sent them an email yesterday...got this response:
> 
> We've worked tirelessly for several years to collect our readers' list. During this time, the project operated in stealth mode as we collaborated with authors and publishers privately.
> 
> ...


Sorry. Seen to many of these to pass it up. Facts are, they're new, no one has heard of them, and they're doing misdirection in order to lure people into signing up.

There is absolutely NO marketing from them for readers to sign up for their services ANYWHERE. They have a sign up on their front page, but ALL of their marketing has been cheaply bought press releases to dime a dozen PR sites no one reads from. And all the marketing encourages buying their services, not signing up readers.

And if they're saying "marketing" and "stealth in the same breath and expecting people to buy it, they're full of it. You don't market by being stealthy.


----------



## horst5 (Aug 9, 2013)

I tried now three times (including yesterday ) to subscribe as a reader.
Still no response.
Horst


----------



## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Such a shame I don't keep detailed sales info on SMP titles. Oh, wait.

To baseline: They featured PIRATE HEARTS, a box set with historical romance titles by Jennifer Blake, Christina Skye and Lynette Vinet, authors who've sold over 50 million print copies between them. Christina had the top pick of Kirkus' 10 best romances of 2013. I'm going to assume a couple of folk will know these authors (and it's likely why the set was picked up in the first place).

For instance, Christina had a BookBub ad on Saturday for another historical romance. It's sold 2200 copies since. 
Lynette has a BookBub ad today. The email just went out and KDP says 30 sold so far.

(*Just want to reiterate, authoroffer picked this set up on its own - I did not purchase the spot nor have I had any dealings with them.*)

The box has sold about 10,000 copies in the past 3 months. Here's Tracker's verification.










Ereader News Today kindly ran the set in Dec. It sold 400 copies per their invoice.










It's on the wane now and is just selling a few copies per day (it'll be unpubbed at the end of the month). Here are the numbers on AMZ .com only for the last 5 days:
36
68
61
33
47

From Tracker. You'll see the box had a bit of a weekend spike.










So, being VERY generous and not assuming any catchup sales numbers from Monday to Tuesday and disregarding Monday is generally a low-sales day for us anyway, the set had 14 more sales on Tuesday than it did on Monday. Though down by 14 sales from Sunday.

Very low double digits.

You may draw your own conclusions...


----------



## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

horst5 said:


> I tried now three times (including yesterday ) to subscribe as a reader.
> Still no response.
> Horst


I subscribed and got an email immediately, then set up my preferences.

They may be trying to pepper their list with real addresses mixed in with fake ones.


----------



## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> If these people managed to operate in stealth mode for years and acquire a million subscribers, they are more dangerous than the NSA. Who are these people, S.H.I.E.L.D.?


Seriously, the government needs to study these people and see how they manage to stay under the radar, because the NSA can't pull that off!



horst5 said:


> I tried now three times (including yesterday ) to subscribe as a reader.
> Still no response.


I'd bet it's because they don't want or need you as a reader, but would love to have you sign up as an author. That's where they get the money.


----------



## CLStone (Apr 4, 2013)

Don't worry. When the reps at Author Offer catch wind of this forum post when it comes under radar on Google Search, there will be a rep here trying to dispel any questions with more promises and some new folks with no names and wildly successful stories chiming in. 

And just to note, I love the marketing companies that have started up honestly and are building their lists trying to compete with BookBub and do support those. I like honest lists. Those are the worthwhile ones.


----------



## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

CLStone said:


> And just to note, I love the marketing companies that have started up honestly and are building their lists trying to compete with BookBub and do support those. I like honest lists. Those are the worthwhile ones.


This.
I spend money on marketing when I find good venues. But venues, especially new ones, must stand up to close scrutiny. This one does not.


----------



## BellaRoccaforte (May 26, 2013)

not sure if someone already posted this, but the address is for one of those regus $99 a month mail box spots.


----------



## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

Phoenix Sullivan said:


> Such a shame I don't keep detailed sales info on SMP titles. Oh, wait.
> 
> So, being VERY generous and not assuming any catchup sales numbers from Monday to Tuesday and disregarding Monday is generally a low-sales day for us anyway, the set had 14 more sales on Tuesday than it did on Monday. Though down by 14 sales from Sunday.
> 
> ...


Thank you, Phoenix. I've been waiting for this data all morning. (I've gotta get a life.) I guess all the anonymous Goodreads authors who got 900 downloads had a different experience. I can't believe they think they can scam us this easily.


----------



## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

***********


----------



## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Shawn Inmon said:


> Thank you, Phoenix. I've been waiting for this data all morning. (I've gotta get a life.)


Sigh. If only my next release were so eagerly awaited...


----------



## Justawriter (Jul 24, 2012)

C. Gockel said:


> Weve worked tirelessly for several years to collect our readers' list. During this time, the project operated in stealth mode as we collaborated with authors and publishers privately. We were happy to put in these hours because we want to serve you as best we can. The company stayed private as we worked out potential bugs and problems - this way, our customers could experience a superior product. Because our active subscribers list grew exponentially, we can immediately offer our customers great and significant advertising results. Weve been open to the public for fewer than six months - and were pleased with the results!


This is how BookBub began, which is probably why they are saying this. They are trying to convince people that they are another BookBub. Key difference though is that even though BookBub did build their subscriber base while in stealth mode, when they launched, it was at free or very minimal cost, until they proved themselves. These people are boldly charging BookBub prices now....and if you look at their subscription numbers, there's not a comma there, it's a period, so technically, they are not claiming numbers like 300,000 on a list, but rather 300....nice misdirection.


----------



## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

***********


----------



## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Phoenix Sullivan said:


> So, being VERY generous and not assuming any catchup sales numbers from Monday to Tuesday and disregarding Monday is generally a low-sales day for us anyway, the set had 14 more sales on Tuesday than it did on Monday. Though down by 14 sales from Sunday.


So, the site claims 486,000 romance readers and 1,255 purchases on average, with a range of 120-3,390. On a collection of *three* books from major authors on sale for 99 cents, Phoenix gets 14 purchases ... maybe. The 14 could be part of the box's natural ups and downs.

I figured it'd be bad, but not that bad. It sort of boggles the mind.

I'm revising my guess downward from "untested list of purchased reader addresses" to "no list of real readers at all."


----------



## Guest (Mar 12, 2014)

PamelaKelley said:


> This is how BookBub began, which is probably why they are saying this. They are trying to convince people that they are another BookBub. Key difference though is that even though BookBub did build their subscriber base while in stealth mode, when they launched, it was at free or very minimal cost, until they proved themselves. These people are boldly charging BookBub prices now....and if you look at their subscription numbers, there's not a comma there, it's a period, so technically, they are not claiming numbers like 300,000 on a list, but rather 300....nice misdirection.


Actually, that is just further evidence the company is running out of Panama and not Florida, as their address would have us believe. In much of Latin America, it is common to use the decimal point instead of the comma. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it isn'y uncommon in much of Europe, either.


----------



## Daniel Dennis (Mar 3, 2014)

I did a quick check on their domain statistics from one of the site's I use for work. The domain was first recognized in March 2014, so the domain hasn't been active but a week or so. The web block is owned by Web Hosting Hub, Inc. The domain has no previous hosting history. Everything else is pretty common-place. PHP-enabled, Apache web server, unknown operating system (probably a Linux flavor). If they've been around "several years" as stated in one user's posted e-mail reply, they either changed the site's name or had no online presence.


----------



## evanjacobs (Aug 20, 2011)

I signed up for the AuthorOffer email this morning and just received my first email from them. I've pasted the text of the email below.

It looks like their software still has several bugs which results in duplicate offers and free books which aren't listed as such. It's difficult to imagine how they would get the clicks required to support their sales with problems like this.


Today only, authors offer you these free and bargain books:

Category:
Bestsellers
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH
By Ken Follett
A departure for the bestselling thriller writer, this historical epic—a twelfth-century tale of the building of a mighty Gothic cathedral—stunned readers and critics alike with its ambitious scope and gripping humanity.
Today's Price: $5.06 
Originally: $6.83	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Bestsellers
The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Mediterranean Cookbook with 150 Healthy Mediterranean Diet Recipes
By Rockridge University Press
The Mediterranean diet has been rated as one of the “Best Diets Overall and “Best Diets for Healthy Eating” by U.S. News & World Report! The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook makes it easy to transition to, a Mediterranean diet, one of the healthiest diets in the world, with 150 Mediterranean diet recipes that are delicious and easy to follow.
Today's Price: $2.99 
Originally: $5.24	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Bestsellers
11/22/63 - Enhanced Kindle Edition
By Stephen King
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen Kings heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination—a thousand page tour de force. Enhanced with historic footage from CBS News.
Today's Price: $2.99 
Originally: $9.99	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Bestsellers
Undone by the Duke (Secrets in Silk, Book One)
By Michelle Willingham
Reclusive designer Victoria Andrews designs sensual lingerie for the most exclusive dressmaker in London, although she has never known a man's touch. Can a woman trapped by her emotional scars escape from her self-made prison and learn to love a duke, even if it means abandoning her safe world to embrace the life of a duchess?
Today's Price: $1.99 
Originally: $3.99	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Bestsellers
Justice League Vol. 1: Origin (The New 52)
By Geoff Johns and Jim Lee

Comics superstars Geoff Johns and Jim Lee bring you an all-new origin story for the Justice League! For today only, click here for eight volume 1 graphic novels featuring the Justice League at just $2.99 each.
Today's Price: $2.99 
Originally: $5.89	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Bestsellers
Panic (A Leopold Blake Mystery / Thriller)
By Nick Stephenson

40% off the everyday price!

FBI criminology consultant Leopold Blake had his weekend all planned out - and it didn't involve dealing with a murdered senator, a high-profile kidnapping, or half a dozen near-death experiences. Three politicians have been murdered in as many weeks, all expertly dispatched, and only Leopold can get to the bottom of it.
Today's Price: $4.99 
Originally: $4.99	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Mysteries & Thrillers
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH
By Ken Follett
A departure for the bestselling thriller writer, this historical epic—a twelfth-century tale of the building of a mighty Gothic cathedral—stunned readers and critics alike with its ambitious scope and gripping humanity.
Today's Price: $5.06 
Originally: $6.83	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Mysteries & Thrillers
Panic (A Leopold Blake Mystery / Thriller)
By Nick Stephenson

40% off the everyday price!

FBI criminology consultant Leopold Blake had his weekend all planned out - and it didn't involve dealing with a murdered senator, a high-profile kidnapping, or half a dozen near-death experiences. Three politicians have been murdered in as many weeks, all expertly dispatched, and only Leopold can get to the bottom of it.
Today's Price: $4.99 
Originally: $4.99	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Mysteries & Thrillers
Blood Sacrifice (John Jordan Mystery)
By Michael Lister

4.9 Stars on Unanimous Rave Reviews!
Confronting the irrational, superstitious, and greedy, Blood Sacrifice delves into the rise of American exorcisms following their explosion in popular culture, and mourns the loss of Florida's final corner of unspoiled beauty.
Today's Price: $4.99 
Originally: $4.99	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Mysteries & Thrillers
to MAIDS OF MISFORTUNE! UNEASY SPIRITS A Victorian San Francisco Mystery
By M. Louisa Locke
In this cozy historical mystery of romantic suspense, Annie Fuller delves into the intriguing world of 19th century spiritualism, encountering true believers and naïve dupes, clever frauds and unexplained supernatural phenomena. The sequel to Maids of Misfortune.
Today's Price: $0.99 
Originally: $3.99	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Mysteries & Thrillers
A Fine and Dangerous Season
By Keith Raffel
October 24, 1962: The phone rings in businessman Nate Michaels' California home before dawn, and an hour later he's on an Air Force jet to Washington. Michaels hasn't seen or spoken to President Kennedy since they met at Stanford in the fall of 1940, but now JFK needs his help to defuse the threat posed by Soviet missiles in Cuba....
Today's Price: $1.99 
Originally: $3.99	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Mysteries & Thrillers
Tempest in the Tea Room
By Libi Astaire

(An Ezra Melamed Mystery)

When a mysterious stomach ailment invades the Mayfair home of Lady Marblehead, a young Jewish physician is accused of poisoning his wealthy patient, and an increasingly hysterical Jewish community turns to Ezra Melamed to investigate the case. But there are too few clues and too little time, with the latest victim at death's door...
Today's Price: $0.99 
Originally: $3.99	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Romance
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH
By Ken Follett
A departure for the bestselling thriller writer, this historical epic—a twelfth-century tale of the building of a mighty Gothic cathedral—stunned readers and critics alike with its ambitious scope and gripping humanity.
Today's Price: $5.06 
Originally: $6.83	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Romance
Broken (#1)
By Annie Jocoby
Man-wh*** ... Look in the Urban Dictionary under that word, and you'll find Nick O'Hara. The only qualifications that he looks for in a bedmate is that she be hot and breathing. Mainly hot. He has no desire for an emotional connection with another person ... until he meets a young woman named Scotty James, a Columbia grad student...
Today's Price: $2.99 
Originally: $2.99	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Romance
Definitely, Maybe in Love
By Ophelia London

67% Overnight Price Cut!
Her theory of attraction is about to get a new angle....Spring Honeycutt swears she’ll do whatever it takes to get her college paper published. "Whatever it takes," however, means forming a partnership with the very hot, very privileged, very conceited Henry Knightly....
Today's Price: $0.99 
Originally: $2.99	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Romance
Undone by the Duke (Secrets in Silk, Book One)
By Michelle Willingham
Reclusive designer Victoria Andrews designs sensual lingerie for the most exclusive dressmaker in London, although she has never known a man's touch. Can a woman trapped by her emotional scars escape from her self-made prison and learn to love a duke, even if it means abandoning her safe world to embrace the life of a duchess?
Today's Price: $1.99 
Originally: $3.99	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Romance
Can Juliette overcome the darkness of her past in the arms of the man she once loved? Unraveled by the Rebel
By Michelle Willingham

(Secrets in Silk, Book Two)
After being seduced and ruined by her worst enemy, Juliette Andrews has vowed to marry no man—especially not Dr. Paul Fraser, her childhood sweetheart. Content to bury herself in accounts and numbers, she refuses to let the devastatingly handsome Highlander back into her life.But he's a rebel with a cause...
Today's Price: $1.99 
Originally: $3.99	
GET DEAL NOW


Category:
Romance
to MAIDS OF MISFORTUNE! UNEASY SPIRITS A Victorian San Francisco Mystery
By M. Louisa Locke
In this cozy historical mystery of romantic suspense, Annie Fuller delves into the intriguing world of 19th century spiritualism, encountering true believers and naïve dupes, clever frauds and unexplained supernatural phenomena. The sequel to Maids of Misfortune.
Today's Price: $0.99 
Originally: $3.99	
GET DEAL NOW

Don't see any books you want?
You may need to adjust your preferences.
GET MORE BOOKS!

All prices were verified by AuthorOffer.com this morning, but prices may change without notice. Verify that the deal is still available before downloading. For readers outside the United States, Kindle content availability and pricing may vary.
Copyright © 2014 AuthorOffer.com, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the AuthorOffer.com daily newsletter.
update subscription preferences | unsubscribe from this list
AuthorOffer.com, 2202 N. West Shore Blvd, Suite 200, Tampa, Florida, 33607


----------



## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

CLStone said:


> Don't worry. *When the reps at Author Offer catch wind of this forum post when it comes under radar on Google Search*, there will be a rep here trying to dispel any questions with more promises and some new folks with no names and wildly successful stories chiming in.


Oh, we don't have to wait for Google. I linked to this forum thread in my book submission.


----------



## zoe tate (Dec 18, 2013)

If they've "worked tirelessly for several years" to build their subscriber-list, then (a) why has nobody ever heard of them, and (b) *why was their domain-name registered for the first time about 2 months ago?!*

Has anyone actually asked them these questions, I wonder? (They must have an answer for at least the second of those two questions, if they want to be taken seriously, you'd think?).


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

_Pillars of the Earth_ is historical fiction, but I didn't see it listed under that category. Did I miss it? And it's originally $7.99, not $6.83.


----------



## Guest (Mar 12, 2014)

I'm sorry, Zoe. But I am afraid you need Level Seven Agent Clearance for that information.


----------



## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

FYI: I signed up for the email too. I notice that some of the books they're posting today are also being blasted by BookGorilla. I think they're glomming on to other sites promos and/or picking books already high in the rankings to make it look like they are the source of these books success.

Maybe someday they'll build a good list--but I don't think they have it now, and would not be the first to experiment.


----------



## zandermarks (May 20, 2013)

Shawn Inmon said:


> By the vibe of their website, it feels like they are giving the impression they have bee doing this for a while... but if no one on Kboards has heard of them, I'm going to be really suspicious.


A WHOIS Search of that domain indicates that it is brand-spanking-new:

*Creation Date: 2013-12-09T16:07:39Z*


----------



## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

C. Gockel said:


> FYI: I signed up for the email too. I notice that some of the books they're posting today are also being blasted by BookGorilla. I think they're glomming on to other sites promos and/or picking books already high in the rankings to make it look like they are the source of these books success.


I agree. Some of the books were featured yesterday on other sites as well.


----------



## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

C. Gockel said:


> I notice that some of the books they're posting today are also being blasted by BookGorilla. I think they're glomming on to other sites promos and/or picking books already high in the rankings to make it look like they are the source of these books success.


Now THAT is clever, in a devious sort of way!


----------



## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

evanjacobs said:


> I signed up for the AuthorOffer email this morning and just received my first email from them. I've pasted the text of the email below.
> 
> It looks like their software still has several bugs which results in duplicate offers and free books which aren't listed as such. It's difficult to imagine how they would get the clicks required to support their sales with problems like this.
> 
> ...


ALL of these deals are from other sites they've scraped. Like BG, BB, ENT etc...........scam.


----------



## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

Here's the clincher. None of their links have an affiliate code attached, which is rare for promo sites. Either Amazon wouldn't accept them, or they were afraid to apply.


----------



## Andrew Ashling (Nov 15, 2010)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Actually, that is just further evidence the company is running out of Panama and not Florida, as their address would have us believe. In much of Latin America, it is common to use the decimal point instead of the comma. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it isn'y uncommon in much of Europe, either.


Yep. Most European countries use the comma as the decimal point and a space or a period as the thousand divider.

It is rather difficult to say from the IP address of the server of the hosting company where exactly the company is based. E.g. I'm based in Belgium, but my website would make you believe I'm somewhere near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Neither I nor my hosting company are there. The servers they rent are.


----------



## 28612 (Dec 7, 2010)

Many, many thanks for the heads-up, and to those sharing their sleuthing! 

I've shared with some authors, pointing them here for the results of the digging and for new details.


----------



## nightfire (Mar 22, 2012)

By using promos from the other emails they also hide whether *their* ad did any good or not.


----------



## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

nightfire said:


> By using promos from the other emails they also hide whether *their* ad did any good or not.


Good point.


----------



## purplesmurf (Mar 20, 2012)

I got a random message from someone on goodreads saying they like my books and had a coupon for authoroffer but couldn't use it so they wanted to see if I could use it. I submitted my book for fun to see if they accept and see if the coupon makes the ad free or not. I figure it could be interesting...


----------



## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

I chose a book from their mailing to watch yesterday. The book was also featured on BookGorilla. So these results are from the combination of both promos. It was Science Fiction priced at $2.99.

Starting rank: 60,000
Best rank from promos: 18,000

Total sales: approximately 12
Total earnings: $24

AuthorOffer ad cost: $799
BookGorilla ad cost: $100

So, the advertized ads cost $899 and earned $24. 

All the rest of the shenanigans aside (which should be enough to put most people off), this should make you run for the hills. If, for some reason, you are still unconvinced, please sign-up for their list and follow a few books that don't have other promos (that will be the hard part) and see what AO can really do.


----------



## Crime fighters (Nov 27, 2013)

I don't have time for this BS, but here I'll go anyway.

A.) It's a new company... with 500K subscribers... give me a [expletive] break!
B.) They are using stock photos as testimonials
C.) They're not targeted. (Two groups, simply listed as A and B are not targeted. Users signed up for one of two groups? Called A and B?
D.) They're scraping other mailing lists
E.) They're expensive as hell
F.) Look at Moniques post
G.) Joshua Yukon from Arizona has used this service TWICE. Already! Wow, he's really on a roll. 
H.) I can't find a Joshua Yukon on Amazon. He must be one of those business men selling off his own site! 
I.) Back to the damn 'targeting', In what world could those targets yield Bookbub results? Bookbub works because of the very specific targeting. 
J. Congrats LGBT authors, you're going to be paying the same price as another genre with 100K more subscribers than you. 
K. But if you're a chef, I'm sure its a steal! Go for the gold, Martha Stewart! 
L. Haven't we heard most of this crap before? I.E.) Mailing lists that appear out of thin air? 
M. Buuuut the website looks legit.
N. I guess that's better than most scams. 
O. But a scam is still a scam.
P. Good luck
Q. But you were warned.


----------



## MonkeyScribe (Jan 27, 2011)

Monique said:


> So, the advertized ads cost $899 and earned $24.


cha-CHING!

That's the way to get rich, right there. Not the poor gold miner, but the guy selling overpriced gold pans and shares in lost Spanish mines.


----------



## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

MichaelWallace said:


> cha-CHING!
> 
> That's the way to get rich, right there. Not the poor gold miner, but the guy selling overpriced gold pans and shares in lost Spanish mines.


This gold pan is lined with gold, I tells ya! Gold attracts gold, friend.


----------



## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Monique said:


> So, the advertized ads cost $899 and earned $24.


OMG. That makes me a little sick to my stomach.


----------



## zoe tate (Dec 18, 2013)

K.B. Nelson said:


> G.) Joshua Yukon from Arizona has used this service TWICE. Already! Wow, he's really on a roll.


Only because "Joshua Arizona from Yukon" had more sense, though. 



K.B. Nelson said:


> L. Haven't we heard most of this crap before? I.E.) Mailing lists that appear out of thin air?


We ought to feel sympathetic for people who decided to "try" this without thinking about it, or looking at it, I suppose, but that isnt always easy when something's quite as blatantly scammy-looking as this?


----------



## mlouisalocke (May 14, 2010)

Yesterday Authoroffer featured a book that I was promoting on Kindle Countown--I hadn't applied, and they clearly lifted the information from BookGorilla (neglecting the first line so the ad title didn't make sense.) And to make matter worse, BookGorilla was advertising my book without me asking for it (so they obviously just used earlier submissions.) So while I wasn't hurt by this (free advertising) it probably meant that authors who saw my book's rank (in 400s) thought it was because of either Authoroffer or BookGorilla, when it was because of other promotions I had done (like ERN and KIngle Books and Tips and KB Boards etc.)

Also the photos for the testimonials are commercial photos not real authors on Authoroffer.

Looks like either a scam, or at the very least very shady business practices.

M. Louisa Locke


----------



## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

It's so much worse than FBS. The site looks great -- you have to look very closely to see the cracks. They charge huge amounts to promote discounted books. And whereas FBS sort of gave the results they promised (albeit with fake downloads that put your KDP account at risk), here there's no benefit at all. I think a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money to this outfit.


----------



## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Not that anyone should need any more proof after Monique's post, but Magic After Dark was featured on AuthorOffer yesterday (I did not request this or have any dealings with them in any way). Sales were completely flat. No noticeable movement one way or another from a normal sales day. This is a boxed set at 99 cents that has sold well over 100K copies, so it usually moves when put in front of potential customers. Just say no to AuthorOffer.


----------



## Justawriter (Jul 24, 2012)

mlouisalocke said:


> Yesterday Authoroffer featured a book that I was promoting on Kindle Countown--I hadn't applied, and they clearly lifted the information from BookGorilla (neglecting the first line so the ad title didn't make sense.) And to make matter worse, BookGorilla was advertising my book without me asking for it (so they obviously just used earlier submissions.) So while I wasn't hurt by this (free advertising) it probably meant that authors who saw my book's rank (in 400s) thought it was because of either Authoroffer or BookGorilla, when it was because of other promotions I had done (like ERN and KIngle Books and Tips and KB Boards etc.)
> 
> Also the photos for the testimonials are commercial photos not real authors on Authoroffer.
> 
> ...


So, it sounds like BookGorilla isn't working very well either. I wonder if it's because they have so many books in the emails or if the lists aren't good?


----------



## James McGovern (Mar 13, 2014)

The sad thing about all this is that AuthorOffer.com is actually doing many things right. They have a great site, and a market dominated by one or two big sites.

Where they have fallen down is in trying to convince authors that they are an established site, when it is pretty clear that they aren't.

I recently had my book promoted by eBookSoda, which is also a very well-designed site. However, eBookSoda gave me my ad for free. This is a much better idea, as it gives eBookSoda a chance to start building up their presence, and authors are much likely to take a chance on them with no outlay.

http://www.ebooksoda.com/


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

From: http://authoroffer.com.w3snoop.com/

authoroffer.com snoop summary
Report last updated: 22 minutes ago

This is a free and comprehensive report about authoroffer.com. authoroffer.com is hosted in Los Angeles CA, United States on a server with an IP address of 198.46.82.210. The local currency for Los Angeles CA, United States is USD ($). The website authoroffer.com is expected to be earning an estimated $0 USD per day. If authoroffer.com was to be sold it would possibly be worth $41 USD (based on the daily revenue potential of the website over a 12 month period). According to our google pagerank analysis, the url authoroffer.com currently has a pagerank of 0/10. Our records indicate that authoroffer.com receives an estimated 20 unique visitors each day - a small amount of traffic.

authoroffer.com whois information

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

Domain Name: AUTHOROFFER.COM
Registrar: INTERNET.BS CORP.
Whois Server: whois.internet.bs
Referral URL: http://www.internet.bs
Name Server: NS1.WEBHOSTINGHUB.COM
Name Server: NS2.WEBHOSTINGHUB.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 26-feb-2014
Creation Date: 09-dec-2013
Expiration Date: 09-dec-2014

>>> Last update of whois database: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 19:59:15 UTC <<<


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## nightfire (Mar 22, 2012)

Photos on Testimonials page are gone.  Apparently they have now read the thread.

No they aren't "doing things right" - they are not in any way delivering what you pay for.  They made a pretty site.  That's the extent of it.  They are not legit.  Period.


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## nightfire (Mar 22, 2012)

Philip Gibson said:


> From: http://authoroffer.com.w3snoop.com/
> 
> authoroffer.com snoop summary
> Report last updated: 22 minutes ago
> ...


The 20 visitors a day are from this thread and the facebook group posts.


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## Daizie (Mar 27, 2013)

nightfire said:


> Photos on Testimonials page are gone. Apparently they have now read the thread.


That's what I thought, but I found the pics under the advertising testimonials.


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

***********


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## Patrick Stemp (Mar 2, 2014)

maiasepp said:


> My concern is that the authors in their testimonials don't link to their books or last names, so you can't take a look at their books/reviews/rankings. I've signed up to get their newsletters. I'm curious to see what they look like.


That was the first thing I checked. The testimonials scream *fake*


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## Windvein (Sep 26, 2012)

Just got the offer through Goodreads. I like feeling included.



> Hello S.A. Hunter. I like your books! So I chose you to get this coupon I got from AuthorOffer.com. I hope you can use it. I'd love to use it myself, but my daughter is going into the hospital for surgery tomorrow and I'm going to have my hands full dealing with the aftermath of that for several months, so I don't have time to monitor my ebook for a while.
> 
> The last time I used AuthorOffer.com, I got about 900 sales from it, so I know it works and will definitely use them again. But this coupon code '4xdc30u' expires April 30. I hope you can use it. If not, please pass it on. So long!


I checked the profile and it's for someone with no books listed as written or read and joined in March 2014. I hope everyone who has received this message through Goodreads has flagged it and reported it as spam.


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## kdpratt (Dec 2, 2013)

I glad we have this place where authors can share information. I came to this thread because I received this message on my Goodreads account, 

"I don't think we've 'met' here yet, but I have a coupon I can't use and thought you might want it. I don't have anyone else I can give it to, so I chose you sort of randomly. Anyway, it's for $30 off at AuthorOffer.com, a site that helps with publicity and helped me sell more than 900 copies of my book.

The problem is that my book includes lots of instructions on doing things in Windows, and that all has to be updated for Windows 8. So I'm taking it down for a while. Anyway, the code is 'xxxxxxx' if you're interested, and it expires April 30. I hope you can use it. If not, please pass it on. Thank you!"

I was immediately suspicious. Has anyone received something similar?


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

kdpratt said:


> I was immediately suspicious. Has anyone received something similar?


Lots of people are getting them - randomly, of course.


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## kdpratt (Dec 2, 2013)

Rayven T. Hill said:


> Lots of people are getting them - randomly, of course.


Thanks for letting everyone know.


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## Susanne O (Feb 8, 2010)

I got an e-mail from the the other day with a promo. I never subscribed to them. Where did they get my e-mail address?


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

Susanne OLeary said:


> I got an e-mail from the the other day with a promo. I never subscribed to them. Where did they get my e-mail address?


Probably from your web site.

I haven't gotten one yet and I feel so left out. *sob*


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## Susanne O (Feb 8, 2010)

Rayven T. Hill said:


> Probably from your web site.
> 
> I haven't gotten one yet and I feel so left out. *sob*


Aww, Rayven... I'll spam you myself if that would make you feel better....


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

Susanne OLeary said:


> Aww, Rayven... I'll spam you myself if that would make you feel better....


I don't think that would be appropriate. We're virtual strangers.


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## Susanne O (Feb 8, 2010)

Rayven T. Hill said:


> I don't think that would be appropriate. We're virtual strangers.


Well, virtual strangers can get into a lot of trouble...


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

Susanne OLeary said:


> Well, virtual strangers can get into a lot of trouble...


So it seems. The book looks interesting. I just might read it.


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## Susanne O (Feb 8, 2010)

Rayven T. Hill said:


> So it seems. The book looks interesting. I just might read it.


beware: it could change your virtual life... It's all about authors online...


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

Susanne OLeary said:


> beware: it could change your virtual life... It's all about authors online...


but... but it has a 1-star review. Dare I take a chance?


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## Susanne O (Feb 8, 2010)

Rayven T. Hill said:


> but... but it has a 1-star review. Dare I take a chance?


And 16 five star, 6 four star... I think the odds are pretty good.

Except if you're a chicken and won't dare to take a walk on the wild side.


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

Susanne OLeary said:


> And 16 five star, 6 four star... I think the odds are pretty good.
> 
> Except if you're a chicken and won't dare to take a walk on the wild side.


You just made a sale. And you thought you were wasting your time here.


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## Susanne O (Feb 8, 2010)

Rayven T. Hill said:


> You just made a sale. And you thought you were wasting your time here.


I'm beginning to change my mind.


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

Looking forward to reading it.

So much to do. So little time.


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## A past poster (Oct 23, 2013)

The people who started authoroffer.com recognized that there is big money to be made in websites advertising ebooks (they can make more than authors), so they tried to make a quick buck. 

We need more good sites like BookBub, but building them takes time. The Fussy Librarian has been working on it for what could be a year, and now ebooksoda is doing the same thing. Maybe an author-run cooperative is the answer, but would anyone know how to do it?


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

I'm sure it could be done, but it would be a huge job. And you couldn't allow every author to join. They would have to have some credibility.


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

On a side note, how do you know when a site runs an unsolicited ad for your book? Do you sign up for all these sites and check their emails, Google Alerts? Just curious how you find out so quickly.


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## Eskimo (Dec 31, 2013)

i ran authoroffer.com through Alexa to measure web traffic. They're ranked #219,373 in the U.S. which is extremely low. Not unusual for a new site, but ridiculous for a site claiming to have hundreds of thousands of readers. By comparison, BookBub is ranked #3,893 and eReader IQ is ranked #10.009.


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

David Chill said:


> i ran authoroffer.com through Alexa to measure web traffic. They're ranked #219,373 in the U.S. which is extremely low. Not unusual for a new site, but ridiculous for a site claiming to have hundreds of thousands of readers. By comparison, BookBub is ranked #3,893 and eReader IQ is ranked #10.009.


An Alexa rating alone doesn't prove very much. Their books are only offered via email, so there's no reason to visit the site.

BookBub, on the other hand, lists the books on their site, so they get lots of visitors.


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## A past poster (Oct 23, 2013)

Rayven T. Hill said:


> I'm sure it could be done, but it would be a huge job. And you couldn't allow every author to join. They would have to have some credibility.
> 
> 
> Rayven T. Hill said:
> ...


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

> On a side note, how do you know when a site runs an unsolicited ad for your book? Do you sign up for all these sites and check their emails, Google Alerts? Just curious how you find out so quickly.


I signed up for their email, so I could keep track of claims vs. the actual results for their offers.

Today they actually featured me! They got the price wrong...Ooops.

Thankfully, I did not pay money for this promotion.


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## Guest (Mar 16, 2014)

wordwan said:


> A couple of questions: If you 'submit' your ebook for advertising consideration, are you SENDING them the entire book to look at? As in, they now hold a version of your book in storage somewhere?


No, you generally just fill out an online form with your book's information. The promo site then decides whether or not to accept your ad.



> Someone in a very recent post commented that BookBub, even takes their books (without asking for ad payment) and promotes them. And some element of doing this can cause a 'bad vibe' for the writer. Is that true?


I'm not sure what you mean here? Maybe we should start at the beginning. Do you know what Bookbub is?



> Should I presume that EVERY discount booklist I receive from someone--meaning I could make one too and not charge anyone for anything, yes?--that the newsletter owner is getting paid in advertising?


Bookbub and companies that promote free/discount/etc books to their subscribers make their money off ads and affiliate sales. The better your subscriber list (i.e. legitimate book buyers and not just a random spam list) the more sales your list will generate and thus the more your ad space is worth.



> I started off thinking MOST of these newsletters were just people vetting Amazon's discount list. Isn't that the case?


I don't know of a single newsletter that actively 'vets' anything. Usually they depend on some arbitrary sales rank or arbitrary number of reviews. None of them actively read and critique the books themselves for inclusion.



> And, coming from Wattpad, where there are 'apparently' only 10 percent 'serious writers' (meaning Wattpad is working on a whopping big user READER list, now aren't they?) wouldn't it also be the case that a business like this, MAINLY, is happy you come to them to GIVE them, free, no looking anywhere else--for your current EMAIL address?


Not clear what your point is here?


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## zoe tate (Dec 18, 2013)

1001nightspress said:


> I wanted to use them again, but my father is ill? Seriously? That's the email you'd send a total stranger? Via Goodreads? Suspicious cat is suspicious.


"Suspicious", for that, is about the most supremely discreet, tactful and understated comment I've seen here.

Recipients of emails like that should forward them to the Federal Trade Commission, who will probably take at least some investigatory action, eventually, if they get enough of them.

That's what regulators are for.


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## Crime fighters (Nov 27, 2013)

Rayven T. Hill said:


> An Alexa rating alone doesn't prove very much. Their books are only offered via email, so there's no reason to visit the site.
> 
> BookBub, on the other hand, lists the books on their site, so they get lots of visitors.


But people have to go to the site to sign up for the list. So Alexa tells you a lot, actually.


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

K.B. Nelson said:


> But people have to go to the site to sign up for the list. So Alexa tells you a lot, actually.


Sure they do, but their Alexa rating is on the low 200,000's. That doesn't prove whether or not their list is legitimate.


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## nightfire (Mar 22, 2012)

Alexa ranking is easily manipulated in that range.  They can have a lot of people with the toolbar clicking their link.  Since they are using other nefarious tactics, I wouldn't put this past them either.  A lot of legit sites are in the 500k - 100k range on Alexa, but you have to take other things into account when using that as a gauge of a "good company".

I would definitely encourage all of the people getting the email through GoodReads to report them. Every single one has "900 downloads" and some bogus excuse. Sounds like lots of fake Goodreads accounts.


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## Lisa Grace (Jul 3, 2011)

Becca Mills said:


> I found this contact info:
> Mrs. Sally Anderson, AuthorOffer.Com
> 2202 N. West Shore Blvd, Suite 200, Tampa, Florida, 33607
> Office: (813) 336-2101
> ...


I live near there.


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2014)

Could folks do me a favor? Could people email me the exact messages they have gotten about this to jdawson(at)bardsandsages(dot)com. I often publish articles about scams on my blog, and methinks it's time for authoroffer to get the Sith treatment. But I would like to have the exact wording of the messages.

I won't post names with the article. But for my own protection I like to have evidence of the messages in case the site tries to claim I am making it up. I had that happen years ago with an article I wrote over at Gather.com, but since I had the original emails the company sent me I was able to show Gather I didn't make it up.


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## D-King (Mar 24, 2014)

I'd be very cautious about using this service. There is a scammer conning authors out of a lot of money and he's from Florida. As soon as I saw this and the site, I thought of him, as I am friends with some of the people who were scammed.

Here's what I discovered about AuthorOffer.com...

1. It's a new site that went up right about the time that scammer Kerry Jacobson began having problems when he didn't refund authors as per his guarantee for his fake publicist services.

2. Whois data varies:

From w3cspy.com - 
authoroffer.com's Whois Information
Domain Name: AUTHOROFFER.COM 
Registry Domain ID: 18384581**_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN 
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.internet.bs 
Updated Date: 2014-02-08T16:29:53Z 
Creation Date: 2013-12-09T16:07:39Z 
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2014-12-09T16:07:39Z 
Registrar: Internet.bs Corp. 
Registrar IANA ID: 814 
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abu**@internet.bs 
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: 
Reseller: 
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited 
Registry Registrant ID: 
Registrant Name: Domain Administrator 
Registrant Organization: Fundacion Private Whois 
Registrant Street: Attn: authoroffer.com, Aptds. 0850-00056 
Registrant City: Panama 
Registrant State/Province: 
Registrant Postal Code: Zona 15 
Registrant Country: PA 
Registrant Phone: +507.659958** 
Registrant Phone Ext: 
Registrant Fax: 
Registrant Fax Ext: 
Registrant Email: 52a57a4a01hyrv**@5225b4d0pi3627q9.privatewhois.net 
Registry Admin ID: 
Admin Name: Domain Administrator 
Admin Organization: Fundacion Private Whois 
Admin Street: Attn: authoroffer.com, Aptds. 0850-00056 
Admin City: Panama 
Admin State/Province: 
Admin Postal Code: Zona 15 
Admin Country: PA 
Admin Phone: +507.659958** 
Admin Phone Ext: 
Admin Fax: 
Admin Fax Ext: 
Admin Email: 52a57a4ayalgpv**@5225b4d0pi3627q9.privatewhois.net 
Registry Tech ID: 
Tech Name: Domain Administrator 
Tech Organization: Fundacion Private Whois 
Tech Street: Attn: authoroffer.com, Aptds. 0850-00056 
Tech City: Panama 
Tech State/Province: 
Tech Postal Code: Zona 15 
Tech Country: PA 
Tech Phone: +507.659958** 
Tech Phone Ext: 
Tech Fax: 
Tech Fax Ext: 
Tech Email: 52a57a4a3f071u**@5225b4d0pi3627q9.privatewhois.net 
Name Server: dns1.namecheaphosting.com 
Name Server: dns2.namecheaphosting.com 
DNSSEC: unsigned 
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2014-02-10T22:00:54Z <<<

Yet others here found Whois info registered to other states.

Also, their contact info on their site is:
AuthorOffer.com
2202 N. West Shore Blvd, Suite 200,
Tampa, Florida, 33607

Tel: 813.336.2101
Fax: 813.336.2108

This website explains an approach that is very similar to the one Kerry Jacobson used on my friends...
http://bardsandsages.com/juliedawson/2014/03/21/authoroffer/

Jacobson has created multiple LLCs over the past few years, using names like AuthorBub.com, Tank Top Media and Book Genie (not to be confused with UK company by the same name.)

While I can't be certain this site is run by the same guy, I don't see anything other than a scammy site.

You can learn more Kerry Jacobson at http://archive.is/RttqK. This is an archive from an author he conned and it's awkward to read but it gives you the gist.

-- D-King


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## Guest (Mar 25, 2014)

D-King said:


> This website explains an approach that is very similar to the one Kerry Jacobson used on my friends...
> http://bardsandsages.com/**********/2014/03/21/authoroffer/


That site is mine. 

Welcome to KB. I'm *****, resident Sith.


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## D-King (Mar 24, 2014)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> That site is mine.
> 
> Welcome to KB. I'm Julie, resident Sith.


I should have worded that better, Julie. I meant to say that how you describe AuthorOffer tells me it's very similar to Jacobson's approach.

--D-King


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## lindakovicskow (Jan 15, 2013)

Hi guys,

I subscribed to Author Offer on the 20th and logged the sales rank changes of five authors who used the promotion over a period of three days. Let's just say, that the results were NOT impressive. I used the contact form on the Author Offer site, nicely informed them of my findings and asked if they would consider a lower price, given these results. They didn't respond to my email AND removed me from their mailing list! Very unprofessional, at the very least!

-Linda Kovic-Skow


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## jillcflanagan (Jan 26, 2014)

I decided to apply to them. I used the promo code from WND.com "2014spring25off". I applied yesterday and I got an approval through.

This my acceptance email that came through at 4:57 AM (MST) this morning:
Hello, Jill,

Congratulations! We're pleased to approve your offer for inclusion in an AuthorOffer.com email to our subscribers on 04/14/2014. We look forward to hearing from you about how this promotional opportunity has advanced this book and made a difference for you in other ways.

Soon you will receive an invoice for payment to the PayPal address you provided. Please pay this invoice immediately so we can secure your position.

And again congratulations. We accept only about 30 percent of the submissions we receive, and we're very pleased your submission has made the cut. We think our subscribers will enjoy knowing about it.

Sincerely,
Sally Anderson
AuthorOffer.com Editorial Manager

This is my reply:
I respectfully decline your offer. For a few reasons. 
1) You're charging me for both Erotica and Romance categories? Which I didn't realize when I was putting in another category. 
2) Which takes me to the promocode which had the number 25 in it which has a person assuming that there will be a 25% discount. Plus, you didn't even take the full 25% off as the promo code suggests. You took a total of 8.3% off. I tried to do the math to see how you came up with the number of $264. I tried to see if you took 25% off one of the categories. If you took it off the larger category of Romance, which is $149 that =111.75+139=250.75, and taking it of Erotic Romance would equal 253.75. So how do you get $264? * 
3) I perused the KIndleBoards and decided to give you a chance. Until I found out that you even used stock photos for your testimonials. Which makes you totally bogus, IMHO. Please see http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,180973.0.html - If you address these arguments against you in the forum, and then perhaps your business will not appear as shady.
4) You charge almost as much as BookBub. They are proven. You are not.

*This was not in the email. After I sent the email (at 6 am this morning. I am blaming foggy morning thinking for this brain fart, btw. I figured out that the 25 is actually $25. Which would equal $263, not $264 ($139 + $149 - $25= $263). They sent me a separate Paypal invoice.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

jillcflanagan said:


> 4) You charge almost as much as BookBub. They are proven. You are not.


Word.
I'm far more impressed by midlist.com who are growing their mail list slowly and organically, from what I can see. And for now they're free. I'm certainly going to point my readers in their direction.


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## jillcflanagan (Jan 26, 2014)

Quiss, I couldn't find midlist.com. I found a publisher called midlist.org - is it under another name? I'd like to have a look at it. I know of ebooksoda, thefussylibrarian, etc, but this is a new one to me.

Thanks.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

jillcflanagan said:


> If you address these arguments against you in the forum, and then perhaps your business will not appear as shady.


Welcome, Jill. 

Personally, I don't know how they could "address" the fact that our members have reported being featured by authoroffer has shown minimal-to-no effect on their sales.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

jillcflanagan said:


> Quiss, I couldn't find midlist.com. I found a publisher called midlist.org - is it under another name? I'd like to have a look at it. I know of ebooksoda, thefussylibrarian, etc, but this is a new one to me.
> 
> Thanks.


Oops. It's themidlist.com


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## jillcflanagan (Jan 26, 2014)

Becca, thanks for the welcome. 
Quiss - thanks! I will go look it up.


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## Wansit (Sep 27, 2012)

Just FYI -> http://www.claudebouchardbooks.com/apps/blog/show/41997458-authoroffer-com-fact-or-fiction-#


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

Wansit said:


> Just FYI -> http://www.claudebouchardbooks.com/apps/blog/show/41997458-authoroffer-com-fact-or-fiction-#


I'm pretty sure the take away from the other thread on this company was that it was likely a scam. People are just so evil sometimes.


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## nightfire (Mar 22, 2012)

Quiss said:


> Oops. It's themidlist.com


This company is doing questionable advertising for another site they run. I'd be careful. Free isn't always a good deal.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

nightfire said:


> This company is doing questionable advertising for another site they run. I'd be careful. Free isn't always a good deal.


Can you give more information on what you mean?


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

VydorScope said:


> Can you give more information on what you mean?


Ditto.
While it's great that we share observations and investigations into dodgy things here, accusations of it should be accompanied by some sort of explanation as to what led you to your conclusions. 
I've not seen their "questionable advertising" but, since I've used their service, I'm interested to know if something of the sort is going on. Do you have links?


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## BellaStreet (Apr 15, 2011)

It was great to know right where to go to get the skinny on this. I received the Goodreads offer today from a profile with no pic/books/ratings for the $30 off coupon. Came to Kindleboards and saved myself some grief. Y'all rock!


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## nightfire (Mar 22, 2012)

Quiss said:


> Ditto.
> While it's great that we share observations and investigations into dodgy things here, accusations of it should be accompanied by some sort of explanation as to what led you to your conclusions.
> I've not seen their "questionable advertising" but, since I've used their service, I'm interested to know if something of the sort is going on. Do you have links?


I didn't want to hijack this thread and get people confused. Themidlist is run by a company that also runs a site to give away your actual book files and that company has no contact information, private whois and is contacting authors through a site where soliciting authors isn't allowed. If you are going to hand over your manuscript to a company that you can't find any information about that is probably overseas, you may find your work on pirate sites. They may be perfectly legit, but all the red flags are waving. If you want more info PM me or start a new thread and PM me that thread.

I don't want to take this thread away from warning people about authoroffers.


----------

