How To Hire a Trusted Publicist and AvoiD Scams

Hiring a trusted publicist is not about flashy promises - it’s about credibility and accountability. It shouldn’t be difficult to verify the track record of any reputable PR firm and it also should be easy to tell from your conversations with them and your research if they are the right fit and if they will be a partner you can trust.

But with a dramatic increase in scams and phony, AI-generated bots targeting the book publishing industry some authors might find themselves being duped by lofty promises and losing money.

We’ve been alerted to some of these scams. Fake, AI-generated emails that are being sent out to authors from “managers” who work for Nissen PR. This has us very concerned and we’d like to offer a few points and suggestions so that you don’t fall victim to these bad actors looking to steal your money. These should apply to anyone you are looking to hire whether you’re in a need of an editor, publicist or publisher.

• We NEVER solicit authors. We do not contact authors first, we only respond to inbound requests.

• We never engage authors strictly by email. We will ALWAYS have an in-person conversation (or several conversations) with you by phone or Zoom to discuss your project, explain how we work and discuss if there’s a mutual fit before proceeding.

• We NEVER ask for any money upfront. When you work with Nissen PR you will meet with us, you will receive a detailed proposal, and we will agree upon and execute a contract before any funds are exchanged.

• All correspondence regarding proposals and contracts will be done with Rob Nissen and not anyone else claiming to represent him or Nissen PR.

• All email correspondence from us will be from a “nissenpr.com” email address. Any other email address is fake. Most scammers use some sort of doctored Gmail address. If you receive an email from anyone claiming to work for Nissen PR with a “gmail.com” address it’s a scam. You’ll also notice on this site and across the web that bios for people such as “Rachel” or “Emily” claiming to work for us are nowhere to be found.

Scams have become a real problem for many in the publishing industry. The Society of Authors has posted this excellent overview of how publishing scams work and how to protect yourself. The University Press of Mississippi has shared some of their experiences dealing with the problem while the The Bookseller provides helpful insights in this article on what a typical marketing and promotion scam looks like.

We hope this is helpful and please contact us if you have any questions!