If you run across a marketing pitch that offers an “incredible sales opportunity,” or some other verbiage that sounds too good to be true, well it probably is too good to be true. I’ve written about knowing the questions to ask before you make a purchase of a product or service. Warning you about publishers that are either slow to respond to emails and fail to provide phone numbers in their correspondence as companies you should stay far away from.

When the offer sounds intriguing and the price is right, but you get to the small print and discover there are “hidden fees” then stop right there and move on, it’s not worth it. If you manage to work past the small print and agree with paying the “hidden fees” and find the web site is, shall we say, less than credible in appearance, then run the other way. If a legitimate company cannot give you (1) biographies of the principles of the company, (2) phone numbers or contact numbers besides a mere email address, or (3) a web site that looks like it was created by a ten year-old, then folks, you are not going to get what you think you are getting.

People and companies that offer products and services to writers and authors that fail to meet these minimum of standards, don’t belong in the business. Their claim to fame is making money off your desire to sell books! Don’t buy it! Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.