Here's a segment from an excellent post on
GuysLitWire about
writing scams. This site is worth taking a look at once in a while. As we all know, guys are much, much, much different than girls, and their reading tastes are often quite different as well. Guy readers are often neglected, but not on this site.
"[Scammers] will promise the world, play off your insecurities and ignorance of publishing, and try to convince you they are your only friend in the industry. They are experts at dangling those dreams just out of reach, making it seem so tempting that you forget common sense.
I know because they got me once. Luckily, I never got in too deep, since I had more experienced writer friends who told me how they operate. (Actually, they told, You stupid little moron, you couldn’t get any stupider if we cut your stupid head off with a chainsaw. But same difference.)
Just as bad as the money I lost was the realization that I’d been rooked. After all the rejection I’d already dealt with as a writer, to get my hopes built up then suddenly smashed... I wanted to quit writing altogether.
It was a horrible feeling and an expensive lesson, and I hope other young writers won’t have to pay it."