Recently, many authors I know have been receiving scam emails which are written by AI. Some get hundreds per week via their author website. These emails all follow an extremely similar structure and form. For those of you for whom this might be a new experience, perhaps because you are just starting out on your writing journey, recently published or building web presence, I have analysed one which I received recently. Click ‘Analysis’ after each paragraph, to see it, below this clip from the Disney Jungle Book animated film.
Dear Leila,
I hope this message finds you well hopefully surrounded by good books, which I imagine is never in short supply at Waterstones Brussels!
Analysis
First red flag: The sender’s email address is a generic name + number @ Gmail dot com. Of course many legitimate organisations use these, but in the context and taken together with everything else I have listed below, it is a red flag. I have not shared the email address, as I assume it belongs to some unfortunate person who has been hacked.
Second red flag – I have not worked at Waterstones Brussels for nearly 20 years. Anyone who had researched me properly would not use old information like this.
I recently came across Emeralds & Ashes and was completely swept into the world of Somerton Court. What you’ve built across the At Somerton trilogy is something genuinely special — a world that feels like Downton Abbey but with far more courage1. Charlotte’s transformation from selfish socialite to battlefield nurse. Sebastian and Oliver refusing to let a cruel society define the limits of their love. Ada choosing her Oxford brain and her independence over a tidy romantic ending.These aren’t just satisfying story arcs — they’re the kinds of characters that stay with readers long after the final page2.
Analysis
1This sentence is classic AI in structure and vocabulary.
2So is this one. ‘These aren’t just… they’re…’ (compare: ‘This isn’t just food, this is M&S food’). It’s a tautology. A satisfying arc will mean that a character stays with readers after the final page. It’s like saying ‘This isn’t just green, it’s a subtle blending of yellow and blue that produces a verdant hue reminiscent of trees in spring.’
At this point – stop and ask yourself. What does the person sending this email want? What is the purpose of this email? When I contact an author for professional reasons, such as booking them for an event, I get to the point quickly. I don’t begin with a lengthy, flattering-yet-generic review that summarises the plot and tells the author things they know already. Clearly the books have been ‘read’ by AI because it’s accurate in the sense that these are accurate summaries of the character arcs. But the ONLY reason to summarise the arcs to me, the author of the book, is to attempt to prove it has been read and must be from a human.
What makes Emeralds & Ashes stand out as a series finale is the weight of WWI pressing down on every character —1 forcing each one to shed who they were and discover who they truly are under pressure. That’s ambitious storytelling for any genre, let alone YA historical fiction, and readers across multiple languages and countries have clearly felt it2.
Analysis
1Dashes per se are not a hallmark of AI (I use loads of them when I am writing fast and casually, as I am right now) but dashes used in this specific way, in combination with all the other red flags, are.
2It’s the sentence structure. Especially the ‘That’s… and’. The two ideas in the sentence: 1) ambitious storytelling, and 2) it has been translated, also do not really connect to each other. Why join these two ideas together? Just to get in some extra information to make me believe that the sender really knows something about me and my books.
It is true that human writers often create sentences which contain ideas that don’t really connect to each other, especially in a messy first draft. What makes this stand out as AI is the slickness of it. The idea is confused, but the expression of it flows well enough that you might not notice if you’re not paying attention. See also the tautology example.
At this point you should be asking yourself: Who is the writer of this email talking to? Why does it feel as if they are talking to themselves? What do they want from me and why haven’t they told me yet? Why are they into a second paragraph telling me things I know already about my own book?
With 30 books to your name1, an MA in Children’s Literature and Creative Writing2, and a career built around putting the right books in the right hands3, you bring a rare combination4 of craft and passion to everything you do5. That story deserves to be told6.
Analysis
This paragraph is the worst.
130 books is wrong – I have not published anything close to this number.
2There is no MA in Children’s Literature and Creative Writing that I’m aware of in the UK. I have one MA in children’s literature and a second in Writing.
3‘career… hands’ suggests they’re still assuming I’m a bookseller.
4‘Rare combination’ is terrible. It’s a phrase that means and communicates nothing at all. Maybe it once meant something but now the meaning has been chewed out of it, leaving just pulpy filler.
5Everything I do? Really? Last night I made supper that was a bowl of boiled potatoes with lumps of cheddar on top of it. Zero craft and passion in that, I assure you.
6What does this even mean? What story? Sounds like they want to write my biography.
I’m reaching out to offer a full review of Emeralds & Ashes on 1our platform, alongside an author profile feature celebrating your career, your At Somerton trilogy, and the kind of inclusive, emotionally rich storytelling you’ve championed2 throughout your work. It would be a wonderful way to introduce the series — and your voice — to readers who haven’t yet discovered Somerton Court.
Analysis
Ok so here’s where they get to the point. Any professional email sent out with a genuine offer of this kind, would get to what they actually want/ are offering, far sooner. Of course sometimes people ramble, it doesn’t mean they are not human if they don’t write emails efficiently. However, after reading hundreds of these emails it becomes very easy to tell which ones are AI generated and which ones are from real people. Importantly, real people would include crucial information that is missing here, like the name and web address of the platform, examples,, and reasons to sign up to it.
1Our platform: what is it called? What is the web address? Show me an example. Who else is on there? Why are they not showing you the website itself, examples of what they do? Metrics? How many site visitors and click-throughs etc.? Put it together with the gmail address and alarm bells should be ringing. This is not a real offer. This is a fishing expedition and you are the fish.
There is nothing to stop anyone reviewing a book they like, or profiling an author, on any platform. They do not have to ask an author’s permission. So why send this email? One reason only. If you respond ‘yes please’ to this, they will be asking for money.
2Championed is such an AI word.
Would you be open to connecting? I’d be truly delighted to feature you.
Best regards,
Generic English Name
Analysis
Connecting? What does that mean exactly? Being interviewed? Sending a review copy? Too vague. Too AI. After being specific in the paragraph before (we want to review your book on our website), to go back to this vague language suggests the author isn’t thinking about what they write.
Feature you – again, on what platform? What website address?
Broken down like this, it seems incredible that anyone falls for this kind of email. But many authors are busy, reading fast, and keen to believe in positive feedback. It is really easy and fast to send these automated emails – all the info in it is scraped, probably from my own author website and links, then it uses the contact form to send it back to me. So if they send out, e.g. 1,000 in 1 hour, and get 1 response that turns into someone giving them money or personal data, that’s probably a good enough result for them. AI is getting better and soon may be more realistic than this. Bottom line: if the email:
– sounds like Kaa out of the Disney Jungle Book, whispering ‘Trussst in mee… jussst in meee…’ rather than a genuine attempt to communicate
-gets key facts wrong
– is coy and vague about important information
-sounds slick on the surface, but when the ideas are examined they don’t hold up
then it’s probably AI and almost certainly a scam of some sort. Delete and block sender.
This should also be a wake-up call to anyone who does need to get in touch with an author for a legitimate reason. Your email mustn’t sound like AI or it will get trashed. So don’t use AI to write it.