I’ve recently been made aware that someone has been impersonating me and Bookishly, contacting independent authors and requesting payment to “feature” their book in a Bookishly book club.
To be very clear: I do not operate an author spotlight scheme. Bookishly does not charge authors to be featured. If you’ve searched for “Bookishly book club payment” or similar, this page is the official clarification.
Our subscription boxes focus on curated classic literature, selected independently by our team. Most of the authors we work with have been dead for quite some time. We do not invite contemporary authors to pay for inclusion, and we will never request payment via Gmail or personal PayPal accounts.
If you’ve received an email claiming otherwise, it isn’t from me.
What’s Been Happening
The messages I’ve seen use flattering language about “intentional reading communities” and “selected author cycles,” followed by a request for a participation fee via PayPal Friends and Family.
Independent authors are constantly being approached with “opportunities,” so it’s not unreasonable that something like this could slip past a first read.
But there are some clear red flags:
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Requests for payment to be “featured”
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Urgency around securing a spot
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Payment via PayPal Friends and Family
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Communication from generic Gmail addresses rather than a business domain
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Vague references to a private community without any public record of previous participants
If something feels slightly off, it probably is.
How Bookishly Actually Works
Bookishly is not a pay-to-play platform. We curate classic literature subscriptions and create literary gifts inspired by the books we love.
We do not recruit authors to join a spotlight programme. We do not sell feature placements. We do not run private reading cycles for a fee.
If you ever receive communication claiming to be from me and asking for payment, please check the email address carefully. All official correspondence from Bookishly comes from our bookish.ly domain.
And if you’re unsure, you can always contact me directly through the website. I’d much rather confirm something quickly than have someone feel pressured into paying for something that doesn’t exist.
A Thank You
Thank you to the authors who paused and checked before responding. That instinct to verify is exactly what protects creative communities from this kind of thing.
If you’ve received suspicious communication claiming to represent Bookishly, please forward it to hello@bookish.ly so I can continue reporting it.
