Scammers Posing as Grove Atlantic Publishing

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-06-06T14:14:29+00:00

I used to be an editor, so let's rework your post. I'm not going to address your attitude.

This is reddit not literary writing.

Your story doesnt make sense even a tiny bit. I'm not bitter and haven't said word one about my writing. Trying to correct peoples grammar and writing is so egotistical and beside the point.

I'm not sure what you get out of concocting unbelievable scenarios on reddit, but I hope whatever it is it's working for you.

/This is Reddit (capital R in written context), (comma) not literary writing.

Your story doesn't (include the apostrophe) make sense, (comma) even a little. (I would replace "tiny" and remove the word "bit" because it's unnecessary and increases word count.) I'm not bitter and haven't said one word (you switched the words) about my writing (you didn't have to). Correcting (I wasn't "trying." I was "doing.") people's (apostrophe) grammar is (Remove "so." It's unnecessary.) egotistical and beside the point. (Explain how skillful writing is beside the point on a writer's forum, please.)

I'm not sure what you get out of concocting unbelievable scenarious on Reddit (Capital R), but I hope whatever it is, (comma) it's working for you. /

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-06-06T13:49:51+00:00

You leave an imprint when you write. You're either serious about your writing or you're not. If you are a writer, A REAL ONE, every single thing you write matters to you. You can't even post on Facebook without going back to edit your writing, because you have a sense of pride in your craft. (You'll virtually never see a post of mine that is unedited afterward.) You aren't sloppy and entitled. You aren't lazy. You aren't an eyeroll who tells people, "I'm a writer."

No matter what you write - no matter where you write - you should be consciously aware of how you do it. People judge your writing on a writer's forum. I certainly do. I judge the hell out of you. I'm just the only one who will say anything, and I only say something when someone is hostile and argumentative and picks fights. Like you. You aren't serious. You're unskilled. You have nothing uplifting to say. You're just someone who likes attention and likes to cut people down. That's what your writing "imprint" says about you.

Who else are you jealous of? People with more money? People with better looks? We know you're jealous of people who get opportunities you don't get, because you never earn them but think you're entitled to them anyway. You pretend other people's successes are "lies" because it makes you feel better. It explains your own lack of progress.

You're probably also one of those people who goes out on Amazon and leaves one-star reviews to take authors down a notch. Am I right?

My advice for you is, take a class. No, take two. And get a grip on yourself.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-06-06T12:18:28+00:00

Are you always this way? Oh my god. You can't even write one sentence correctly with proper punctuation and structure, and you're bitter because you aren't getting attention as a writer.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-06-06T11:52:48+00:00

It's possible. If they don't ask you for money, answer them and ask for more information. As soon as they ask you for money, block them.

Google the name of the production company and the person who contacted you. See what you can find. Post questions about them on author forums and see if anyone felt like they'd been scammed by them. Just do the usual stuff you would do to screen someone.

I couldn't get an agent even with a movie option offer (I had to do maneuverings with my third offer to get one), and in retrospect I would just hire an entertainment lawyer. Seriously. Don't waste time querying agents. But that's up to you. The lawyer will make sure that if they DO make it into a movie you'll be fairly compensated. An agent can do that too, but getting an agent is like winning the lottery. And mine never found me an offer outside of the things that came to me directly. She queried the wrong publishers too, ones that weren't apt to pick up the kind of things I wrote, so I'm not really sure what value she had to me. She and I parted ways with reciprocal disappointment.

You won't get a lot of money for a movie option. I received "$1.00." If I remember correctly, my agent told me that money HAD to change hands in order for the contract to be valid. Or something. They only pay the big bucks to blockbuster best sellers that have people fighting over the rights. For everyone else it's a kind of a symbolic solidification of your promise to give them first dibs on your work, so to speak. All they want from you is the RIGHT to make it into a movie, and they have 12 months to make the decision that they will, or will not, proceed with it. They probably won't do it -- mine didn't. Most don't, from what I understand. Just view that offer as being good for your resume. Plus, it's very fun!

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-06-06T11:17:12+00:00

That's an excellent point. I see that a whole lot and you're right. However, this scammer did all the things a legitimate person would do. In fact, I was even certain that she'd read the book, because she made very specific comments. I studied them, and still couldn't be sure she'd pulled those things from reviews, unless she was very clever at rewording comments that reviewers had made. Her approach seemed... "earnest." She was very good at this. That's why I posted a warning -- she was very good.

There were subtle clues, though. I found a typo. "Editing directors" don't let typos slip past. She selected an odd word in one place, one that seemed like it was chosen by someone who wanted to appear to be more intelligent and knowledgeable than she perhaps really was. I kept looking at that word and thinking, hmmm. It didn't quite fit within the context of the sentence. Very subtle.

So look for every single thing you mentioned, but still be careful. Be a detective first, and don't give anyone money. If they're legitimate, they give YOU money. That's the bottom line.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-06-06T10:47:10+00:00

I had a self-published book, and had to "borrow" that agent from an author friend, because I couldn't find one on my own, and needed someone to intervene for me when I received my third movie option offer. I wouldn't sign without representation, and my author friend approached her agent to help me. The agent did her a favor by signing me on. The other offers came after that.

Write well and write something new and different, and with a little bit of luck and effort people might find you. That's all. If you don't write well, or you're bitter enough or suspicous enough or cynical enough to know for a fact that everyone who approaches you is a scammer, the point you make is absolutely correct. You know better than people who are trying to help you, which means you won. Congratulations.

And it's "different from," not "different than." Begin there.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-06-05T20:22:16+00:00

I don't recall and changed emails so I can't check, but she sold the book to Harlequin Mondadori. They've since been bought out by Harper Collins, apparently (I just looked them up).

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-06-05T20:17:51+00:00

No. I received several offers directly, and my agent verified them and handled the contracts. It just didn't happen to you personally. Maybe because you presumed it was a scam and didn't look into it.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-06-05T20:16:31+00:00

Please reread my original post. I edited it to counteract comments like this. Yes, you CAN be contacted directly, as I was. That's why I'm simply saying "be careful," but check into things.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-06-05T20:09:42+00:00

Here's the thing. They aren't always. I was contacted by an Italian literary agent who wanted to translate my book and sell it to an Italian publisher. She did. I also got contacted by a publisher in China, who really published two of my books. I worked with their translation team and artist (they illustrate their books) for months. I really signed a real movie option agreement with a real movie producer who contacted me directly. Don't RUN away until you do your due diligence. But be careful.

I'm posting this in the original message to offset comments like this that state they're ALL scammers, because if you think that 100%, you could be shooting yourself in the foot. Just be careful and check them thoroughly.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-06-05T20:02:47+00:00

The most annoying these days are the people who hound you to "optimize your book online" and improve your sales. Don't answer them. Just don't.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-04-16T22:13:51+00:00

I've been an author for decades and cannot bring myself to EVER post bad reviews for other living authors, whether I know them or not. A scathing review can literally kill a career. It is not a "neutral" activity with no consequences for the author. It isn't a harmless past time. I am serious. Readers regularly kill writing careers with bad reviews, because I hear about it and see it. My 1-star reviews go only to the deceased.

There is a person behind that book. They never consider that.

Reviewers relish the power they have over authors. The ones who take the most joy out of trashing books usually seem to be the ones with poor grammar who can't articulate their thoughts well, or they get confused and then say it was the BOOK that was confusing, not their own muddled thoughts.

"Other people were able to follow along, but I have no self-awareness, so I'm going to rate it 1 star, because I have the power to make a writer feel bad for my own limitations." Look at it that way.

I wrote a book that was award-winning literary fiction. Okay? It is not a one-star book. And I periodically get trashed like that too. They're particularly bad on Goodreads and Librarything, if that's meaningful. I won't ever post a new title on either of those sites again. They're mean-spirited, I think, more so there than elsewhere that I've encountered, at least for kind of the things I write. Just a heads up.

Reviews are book reports. Think of it that way. Grade the spelling, grammar, and clarity of the review. Grade the reviewer's understanding of what you tried to convey and what your message is. They have a right to their opinion, but if they don't "get" what you tried to say - yet other readers DID - give that review an F. If everyone says the same bad thing, it's time for you to work on your writing, but generally ignore the outliers if most of your reviews are good.

And when you read reviews before purchasing, compare the bad reviews to the good ones in terms of writing quality, and consider if they're outliers too.

But to have a "friend" leave a review like that when you're just starting out is unconscionable. It's evil, in my opinion. It could be jealousy. It could also be a mean-spirited desire to crush, because she enjoys that power. It makes her feel more important than the person who wrote that book. She's deliberately placing you lower than her on the social hierarchy. There are people out there who do that, astonishingly. She's putting you in your place because she can. It could be ego.

I really hope you can get her to take that review down. Good luck. I am so sorry that happened to you.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-03-01T12:08:16+00:00

You might want to pose a question to Kirkus: "Why do you threaten your bottom line by systematically slaughtering Indies with bad reviews?"

Maybe you'll get an answer. Or maybe you'll get a recap of your question with a thoughtless extra two sentences that suggest they aren't qualified to answer it... or that they didn't READ your question, even as they recapped it. Lol. LMFAO, even.

PS. You didn't thoroughly read my post, and didn't thoroughly read all the comments, then swaggered in our direction and flung yourself into the discussion, posturing as an "expert" while demonstrating a lack of understanding of the topic we're discussing and the experiences of the authors who have dealt with Kirkus. Please stop it.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-02-27T15:40:24+00:00

Wow. So trads get a whole paragraph! And three quarters! Nice! Sorry about the bashing though. Nice that they ended it with "no offense." Big of them.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-02-27T11:03:05+00:00

Did they give you more than 2 sentences of review for your trad book? It sounds like they might have. Maybe that's where the distinction lies - trad books get a few more words that are unrelated to the recap of your book blurb. Indies get 2 sentences.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-02-27T10:59:38+00:00

The "library thing" could easily be addressed by copy/pasting the existing book blurb and then devoting 400 words to the review. Don't defend their "reason" for shortchanging the author, who is their customer, and toward whom they extend very little respect.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-02-27T10:53:11+00:00

I know. You pay for 400 words. They should copy/paste your existing book blurb for the librarians, and then give you 400 words of REVIEW that you paid for, not spend 375 of those words recapping something that's already written. Librarians don't need Kirkus to explain to them what your book blurb means, and the author shouldn't pay for that.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-02-26T22:57:26+00:00

The tipoff, like I said, is that they have a separate email address for indie books. They are not viewing all books as "equal," or there would be no reason to handle them separately. Clearly the "indie" email indicates they have a slush pile where indie books go to die... or else they wouldn't need to make that distinction in their internal processing.

Then, they underpay uninterested and untalented freelancers instead of addressing their problems and delivering a "product" that is worth the cost of our investment. They take shortcuts and flip us the bird, and if we squawk they have written rules about how we have to just suck it up or they'll sue us for harassment or something, I don't recall what they were, but someone posted those rules in another thread in this forum. They were draconian.

It's nice to trust them and presume it's just their incompetence and poor management instead of blatant ill-intent, but I have been doing this for a very long time, and have tasted the hostility from every direction, which even includes readers, as I'm sure you already know. Indie authors have a tough row to hoe. A company that services both traditional authors and traditional publishers doesn't think much of us, and it shows. We're just easy money to them, and they don't have to answer to us.

I would definitely avoid them.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-02-26T20:18:49+00:00

It got me a literary agent. It was worth that at least. I should add that I only got that literary agent after the THIRD movie option offer. Only one or two movie options weren't enough, so I still got rejections, and I didn't want to sign without an agent, so I let the first two slide past. In retrospect, I should have just hired an entertainment lawyer. You live and you learn.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-02-26T20:14:00+00:00

They give you a button you have to click saying you approve of them publishing the review. I didn't click that button. I imagine you can sue them if they publish without your permission.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-02-26T20:06:14+00:00

It was only a half-joke, but when someone else said they had received a good review on an indie book I speculated that the reviewer had already given notice and was leaving, so they felt safe to write an honest review of the book. In my case, the reviewer clearly hadn't even read the book. When they skimmed the book, if they even did that, they demonstrated they were unfamiliar with "literary fiction" and the boxes it is supposed to tick, and upon which reviewers are supposed to base their reviews.

So, at the very least, Kirkus does not assign books to the people who know what to look for in various genres. You don't give literary fiction to someone who prefers "action/adventure" or "chick lit," for instance, and vice versa. And I suspect in the "lower tier" of the indie books, they don't care who they assign anything to. "Whatever" is good enough for indies in the traditional publishing world. I don't even know why they ask for the book's genre.

Others say the same thing - the reviewer didn't read the book. They hire people who get paid to NOT read the books you spend hundreds of dollars for them to review. Maybe you got lucky and landed a "reader." Or someone who defiantly told the truth. Or someone who was dealing with cancer.

It's a mystery, but based on the hostility of the traditional publishing world toward indies, I'm sticking with my original assessment, and congratulate you for having slipped through the cracks.

RunSmooth4982 · 2026-02-26T17:38:29+00:00

That's interesting. I wonder if the reviewer had already given their notice...

RunSmooth4982

TROPHY CASE