The Writ of Begone, Scammer!

Introduction

Writers and Wold-builders beware, scammers are about!

It seems that no where is safe anymore and the scammer are out in force, whether they are on social media, worldbuilding sites like World Anvil, writing sites like Substack or private Discord servers.

These scammers come into your comments section with beautiful words of praise and when you reply they ask you to commission them for their vision of your written piece. These commissions are either art related, like a comic or cover creation. Whereas others will pretend to be beta or ARC readers and offer those services to you as a writer.

As with all scams, once you are aware of their tactics they are easy to spot and avoid. Since they would not have read a single word of your work, some are more obvious to spot than others, but generally speaking they work on the principle of bait-and-switch. It doesn't make it any less disheartening, especially the first time, or annoying at repeated comments even after you’ve put up a disclaimer on your work to notify them that you’re not interested. Hence, they do not read anything about your work they are merely trying to part you with your money. Thus, I have written a spell to ward them off as I’ve gotten to the point where I’m now going to amuse myself.

Do not let thy scammers fool thee; keep thy coin, readers and sanity safe with this here incantation of protection.

The Spell

Begone scammer,

Thou art not welcome here!

I’ll fetch my great hammer,

And strike thee full of fear.

Readers are what I want,

Readers are what I hold dear.

My stories I shall flaunt,

And brave a new frontier.

Those who seek and those who dare,

Come read my stories that I write with great care.

With dark fantasy, adventure and a dash of flair,

I hope to entice thee from thine armchair!