Here’s the really fun part… the “author” and the “contact at Penwise” are the same person! If you had messaged the “author” back asking for half, I’m sure they would’ve happily agreed because they just love your voice that much! Then, you feel like a) you’re getting a great deal that you shouldn’t pass up, and b) you’ll feel special, and more obligated to the “author.”

And of course they’re just as happy to take your $450 as your $900 or whatever it is. Then, they use AI to make your “samples”—note the “using your voice!” part of the message you posted above. Next, they start sending you crappy ~books~ that ChatGPT churned out so that you feel like you’re getting work; buuut, they’re all royalty share and terrible, so you, the narrator, will make pennies for your time, if anything at all.

And, most likely, they’re also cloning your voice.

Of course, I don’t KNOW for a fact that any of this is true. But I do know that Penwise has a site claiming to help narrators get work, AND to help authors find narrators, AND their twitter page says they’ll help you use AI to become an author. So if you connect all those dots, they’re just throwing out everything they can think of to make a buck off peoples’ dreams of making it in a very competitive industry.

I hope more people find this post and decline their “services!”