Love v. Wiley Book Writers: A Publishing Scam Gets a Rare Comeuppance

Raymond Love just wanted to publish his children’s book with a trustworthy self-publishing company. Instead, he found a scam that took his money and delivered nothing of value. For most authors in this situation, lost cash and lost dreams are unrecoverable, but Raymond Love’s story has a different ending. He sued–and won. The legal documents in his case provide fascinating insight not just into the techniques scammers use to bleed their victims of resources–manipulating them with constant and egregious lies into believing that services are being delivered and promises fulfilled–but also the complex web of shell companies and shady operators that keep the scam humming. The Scam: Wiley Book Writers In January 2023, Canadian citizen Raymond Love responded to an online ad from a purported Illinois-based company called Wiley Book Writers (WBW), engaging them to provide publishing services and paying $3,200 for a “premium publication package” (WBW’s website is gone but you can see an…