Pesky Marketers

Yes! We have a winner! Today, April 21, 2026, I received yet another call from a re-publisher (maybe) about republishing one of my books. I told them that I’d celebrate their call; it’s #100 in my database of cold-calls from such firms. I’ve yet to hear anything that I’d accept except that one time.

Write a book, and I guess I ended up on a cold-call list that re-publishers use to troll for business. The pitch usually goes like;

“Republish with us

We’ll redistribute your book.

You’ll get more profits because we are so well connected.

Oh yeah, and pay us a few hundred or thousands of dollars for the service.”

It actually usually starts with;

“One of our reviewers read your book and told me to contact you.

I’ll connect you with our marketing (or somesuch) team.”

So, the person I’m talking to probably hasn’t read the book. That may be why they mispronounced the title, or maybe my name, or both. They may also not realize that I’ve written other books. They also assume that the only criterion for judging a book is sales.

They may also realize that they’ve contacted me before, like more than a dozen times before. No means no. No?

After dozens of such calls, it struck me. Why should I pay them to sell my book? If it’s that valuable, and I’m giving up control of the book, then there’s value that I should be compensated for. Pay me for the privilege.

I also no longer hold any animosity towards the caller. They’re not in the business. They’re someone who got a job making calls. They could be selling cars, caskets, or cobras. They’re probably poor and simply trying to earn some money. I frequently turn the call on them to find out how they get paid: is it by the fact that I picked up, or is it by the time on the line, or is it by me accepting to talk to their market staff, or is it only if I sign up? I don’t want to waste their time, but I am curious about their situation. None have engaged in that part of the conversation.

At the beginning, I was irate. Some challenged my marketing strategy. I obviously didn’t know what I was doing so they should do it, they said.

Ah, but I was young(er) than.

Book sales aren’t the only measure of a book. Championing an idea or chronicling a time is precious. Books have been ways to start conversations. My writing has gotten me writing gigs. Spreading ideas can be powerful, and talks make that happen. So do books, but it’s not the only thing a book can do.

For me, these calls have become entertainment. I think they have all been from people. I suspect AI will take these jobs, too. Stay tuned. I’ll pass along any trends I see.

Note, I haven’t said any of these are scams. To detect a scam I’d have to be scammed. These might all be legitimate businesses, poorly run legitimate businesses, and legitimate – maybe.

A writer reminder note to me. It’s all material. Every conversation is an opportunity to explore incentives and motivations, probably in a foreign culture. The culture may be in south Asia, but a call center may have hundreds of individuals and hundreds of stories, at least. Their employee may never break from their script, but they may also hear that someone is willing to hear them. That can be more valuable than sales.