According to an article in Publishers Weekly by Jim Milliot from March 17, 2026, more than four million books were published in the US in 2025. Only 642,242 books (15.39%) were published by publishing companies; 3,529,980 books (84.61%) were self-published.
I self-published my first books in 2014 and 2016, and have been active in online discussion groups, which deal which various aspects of self-publishing, for the last ten years. I’ve noticed a huge increase in scammers and hustlers who try to take advantage of self-publishing authors, many of whom are overwhelmed with the process. Their naivete makes these authors easy targets for people who offer various services associated with book publishing.
I occasionally voice criticism in these online groups, and the blowback from scammers and hustlers is usually swift and fierce. I have been threatened with violence in the past, so much so that I reported the incident to the F.B.I., as the threats were voiced in a discussion group on the “Goodreads”-website, which is a US business. That’s when the threats against me finally stopped.
A while ago, I joined a discussion group on the “Goodreads” site about beta reading. I pointed out that many of the glowing testimonials about one particular beta reader, who is also one of the moderators of this group, and who offers her services for a fee, looked suspicious to me. After a short back-and-forth with said moderator, I pointed out that I also could not independently verify anything about her: not her name, not her country of residence, nothing. I was immediately cut from the group, and all my comments were deleted. All that’s left are glowing testimonials of “authors” who vouch for the quality of this hire-me-for-a-fee anonymous group moderator.
I eventually did manage to track this person’s gmail-account to a woman in Nigeria. The name she uses on the Goodreads website is not the name I managed to link to the E-mail address. Now, there’s nothing wrong with someone who lives in Nigeria offering beta reading services. I even think that this particular person is not a scammer — just someone who loves to read and who tries to earn some money online as a side hustle.
But does that mean she is qualified as a beta reader? For which genres? For which target audiences? And why does she hide her true identity?
Let’s assume you are an independent author who writes a romance novel with characters who work and live in the US, and your targeted readers are older women. Why in all the world would you ever consider hiring a woman who lives and grew up in Nigeria to give you beta feedback on your novel? She grew up and lives in a different culture. She is young, and her life experiences, desires, and challenges do not resemble those of an older woman. Why in all the world would you ever email your manuscript to anyone you don’t know and whose identity you can’t independently verify? How naive are you, exactly?
And that’s why I blog about my publishing journey. So many scammers and hustlers are trying to take advantage of independent authors — I want to give honest advice to self-publishing authors and micro-press publishers, and share my own experiences with the self-publishing process. My advice is highly personal, true; But I don’t hide my identity!