# How to spot the book club scam | Brief letters

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/how-to-spot-the-book-club-scam-brief-letters/
- Published: 2026-11-06T16:33:23+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-06T17:05:35+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/nov/06/how-to-spot-the-book-club-scam
- Topics: Business

## Key points

- Authors report recurring book-club emails followed by requests for fees.
- One writer forwards suspected scam messages to the UK phishing service.
- Other letters debate past hardships, fabrics and a Scottish pirate.

## Summary

One letter writer says authors are regularly targeted by emails offering to have hundreds of book-club members read their work, followed by a request for a fee. After replying to one such message, Carolyn Steedman now reports suspected scam emails to the UK phishing service.

The letters also challenge a description of the coming decade as the country’s toughest on record, citing the 1920s and 1930s, the Second World War and the inflation of the 1970s. Other correspondents dispute a claim about natural fabrics drying faster than synthetics and recall the supposed 17th-century Perthshire buccaneer Findo Gask.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.