Why Do All (Scam) Marketers Pick One of My Old Books?

I know that what I'll refer to as "indie marketers" have ways of locating authors to target, but Google isn't supplying me with methods that seem applicable to my situation. It mentions the US Copyright Office, social media, author organizations and forums (that last one, maybe), as well as Amazon. But I seriously doubt that these people are going for comprehensive searches; instead choosing the easiest, least labor-intensive route.  

Given that assumption, I suppose author forums and social media in general make the most sense. But however they manage to find me, why are they not focusing on the book I'm actually pushing? And why do they all pick the exact same (old) book?

The "good news" (?) is that I'm certainly getting a lot more attention lately from people who love my work so much that they're envisioning multiple ways in which to publicize it. What they don't know, apparently, is that every one of my works has a specific life cycle, and once that cycle ends, I never give the book another thought.

And so it is with Inn Dreams. I published Inn Dreams on June 9, 2024, and its overall Amazon rating is 3.4 out of 5. That's the result of finding ARC readers via Goodreads. It's actually a good little story, but a couple of those six people (yes, I have a whole six reviews) were quite snarky, offering two-star reviews, which obviously dropped my rating. I did get one five-star and two four-stars, if we're keeping score.

To quote a post from The Writing King, "...when text reviews are left, they are quite often extremely negative. Not just negative – I’ve found Goodreads reviews tend to be vicious to the extreme. It’s almost as if there’s a conspiracy to write negative reviews and torpedo books. I’ve heard this referred to as Goodreads reviewer bullying."

Before the Goodreads bitches burst my enthusiasm bubble, I was quite proud of the book. But it's a novella and it's more than a year old, so why in the world would I pay someone to market it? Yet, this is the book that all scam marketers miraculously latch onto. Why not my current book? I mean, if you're going to waste my time, at least try to keep up. Them mentioning Inn Dreams is like offering to push a book I published in 2019. I don't care about it anymore. All my books have had their run; none of them did any business, and that's that.

Which is why I'm left to wonder how this particular book catches their attention. Is it prominently featured someplace I'm unaware of? Doubtful. So, investigator that I am, I've set up a few Google alerts with various phrases relating to Inn Dreams, such as "Inn Dreams reviews", "Inn Dreams April Tompkins", etc. I want to narrow down the place where this particular book is attracting so much attention and blast that mention to smithereens, whether it's a book promo site that I can delete the book from or (my suspicion) LinkedIn, where at one time I foolishly created a separate post for each of my books. I never again want to hear from any phony money-grabber about it (or really, about any of my books).

Authors are generally advised not to interact with this type of outreach, but my computer is well protected, so I'm not risking anything by taking these people to task, which is what I intend to do from now on. Maybe I'll eventually get a reputation as a lousy contact, and thus people will leave me alone. Just the other day I upbraided one of them over soliciting my business by addressing me by another person's name and raving to me about someone else's book.

In today's case, my reply was short and to the point: "I'm no longer marketing this book."

As a side note, these book marketing strategists, as they call themselves, also aren't offering anything I couldn't or haven't already done myself for free. This particular person says she'll develop book club questions, except the questions aren't the problem. If she could actually get book clubs to read any of my books, now that would be an accomplishment. She also tells me she'll get Inn Dreams listed on Goodreads under specific categories, such as "women's fiction about reinvention". Oh. Well, there you go. "Designing cozy teasers with quotes like “She bought the motel of her dreams. She didn’t expect it to change her life.” No offense, but that sucks. I could come up with a better tagline than that, assuming I wanted to, which I don't.

There's this other guy who keeps bothering me like a pesky gnat. Also raving over Inn Dreams. He's culled facts from my bio that he's regurgitated, and from the book's blurb. He also weirdly has the same name as a well-known (my research reveals) book reviewer who's no longer in the review biz...because he's dead. (OMG, is he contacting me from heaven? Maybe I should listen to him!) And no, it's not a name like John Smith; it's quite unique. Guys, people do have access to Google, you know.

I may begin transitioning my response to, "Have you read the book?" because they've really gotta stop with the plaudits AI has formulated for them. There's gonna be a test, folks. And I don't grade on a curve. Of course they haven't read it. How could they possibly have time to shoot out five hundred emails a day if they had to read books?

I used to get momentarily excited when I received a contact form notification. Now it's just a yawn. At least with the contact form, though, someone had to actually surf over to my author site. The emails are just bulk mail, like the "learn about burial expenses" solicitations that land in my mailbox, addressed to "Resident". (Hey! Why me?) "I can't fully express how fascinating your pallid complexion appears, which is why I'd love to help you navigate the complexities of burials and cremations. As a burial strategist, I'm an expert in positioning your headstone for prime cemetery placement. I can also get your obituary in front of thousands of death fans. With the right strategy, your demise has strong potential to build a loyal following. Please be aware that I require payment in advance."

An attitude adjustment is really what I need. With nothing happening, I should look forward to at least something popping into my inbox. I could use a good pen pal.