Readers and writers blog

Although not a naive person, I have a streak of optimism that occasionally gets me in trouble. In the latest episode, it has gotten me spammed, if not scammed.

For I am now, you see, a member of Who’s Who in publishing.

Well, isn’t that fine, you might say (if you suffer from that same sporadic optimism as I do), and I certainly must be pleased that I will be included in the upcoming 2008-2009 honors edition of the registry published by Madison Who’s Who.

I was. Until I googled them.

Scam, scam, scam, said the bloggers — one a college professor who said “having a PhD doesn’t mean you won’t get duped,” another a young woman who was nominated as an attorney but doesn’t have a law degree, yet another a 70-year-old who paid $708.95 for which, she said, “I got a piece of paper.”

Now I’ve had enough experience with spam so that I should recognize it when I see it — it makes up nine-tenths of the comments we get here at R&W Blog. And I’ve been phished often enough so that I should be able to avoid a hook. (Sorry, “Bank of America,” I can’t “reconfirm” my password, account number and credit card number because I’ve never had an account with “your” bank. And sorry, “IRS,” but I doubt the real agency has really lost my Social Security number.)

But the Madison Who’s Who hit me at just the wrong time (or right time, for them): Like the professor, who was up for tenure and thought someone was doing him a favor by nominating him for a prestigious listing, I thought I knew who might have nominated me:

My wife and I know several publishers, and we had just had dinner with two of them, an amiable evening that was followed by an email exchange of pleasantries about how much we enjoyed talking about each other’s publishing ventures, they in books and we on the Internet.

Isn’t that nice, I thought. They sent my name to Madison Who’s Who. What a lovely surprise.

Then, too, Madison took a low-ball approach that seemed believable. All I had to do was fill out a form asking for information that anyone reading this weblog would know — name, company name, title, email — and my telephone number, something anyone with an Ulster County, N.Y., directory would know. No credit card numbers, no passwords. And it’s free.

So I filled out the form and emailed it back. Then, having a second thought that should have been a first thought, I checked the Internet. Apparently, I am going to get a phone call.

Although I now have a “basic listing” in their registry, “each applicant will be reviewed before the membership is approved,” Madison informed me. Judging from what I’ve read on the Internet about others’ experiences, I think that “review” comes over the phone.

That’s when I get the option of getting a “lifetime” membership in their directory for $700 or a five-year deal for $400, plus other benefits.

Well, I may have my moments of optimism stupidity, but I’m very good at getting rid of telemarketers.

And now, today’s new offerings in our Works section:

• Chapter Eight: Coyote Point of Gerard Jones’ nonfiction novel Ginny Good in which Jones takes up studies with author and literary editor Gordon Lish after starting a journal and telling his sweetheart, Virginia, that he is a writer.

• A Special Investigative Subcommittee Report in Steve Karmazenuk’s science fiction novel The Unearthing, a summary of events leading up to and repercussions following worldwide attacks by religious fanatics unsettled by a huge alien spacecraft unearthed in the New Mexico desert.

Meanwhile, I wait for that phone call. Oh, and just in case you don’t quite follow the headline on this entry, the answer to the mystery word is: I’m the “he” who should have said, “What’s this?”

– Sid Leavitt

NOTE:

The type on the image at the top of this entry comes from a poster advertising a rock program by Who’s Who, a tribute band that recreates the legendary group The Who.