This is an actual email I received last week:
Dear Dr. Harmon,
I hope this message finds you well.
My name is Debbie Doofus (name changed to protect the innocent), and I am an Editorial Director at HarperCollins. Your book Life Hikes: Walking Through Loss to What Comes After recently came to my attention, and I wanted to reach out after reviewing its deeply moving premise and reflective narrative.
What immediately stood out is the profound emotional honesty at the heart of your work. The journey through grief following the loss of your husband, combined with the years of caregiving that preceded it, creates a powerful and authentic foundation for the narrative. The way you frame movement, both physical and emotional, through hiking is particularly compelling, offering a tangible metaphor for healing and resilience.
I was especially drawn to the structure of the book as a series of essays shaped by place and experience. From the Galápagos to Mount Kilimanjaro to Ithaca, these journeys appear to serve not only as physical milestones but as moments of introspection and transformation. The interplay between nature, memory, and personal growth adds a rich and contemplative dimension to the work.
At HarperCollins, we are always interested in memoir and narrative nonfiction that combines personal insight with universal themes. Life Hikes speaks to grief, renewal, and the search for meaning in a way that is both intimate and widely relatable, offering readers a thoughtful exploration of what it means to move forward after loss.
I would welcome the opportunity to learn more about your current writing plans and whether you may be developing further work that continues to explore these themes. If a literary agent represents you, I would be happy to continue the conversation through them. If not, I would be glad to discuss potential next steps directly.
Thank you for sharing such a powerful and reflective work. I would very much enjoy continuing the conversation if this is of interest.
Best regards,
Debbie Doofus
Editorial Director
One More Chapter | HarperCollins Publishers
***
I published Life Hikes on November 4, 2025. Soon after, I began to get emails from book groups who wanted to feature my book. All I had to do was send a pdf copy of the book and approve a date, usually within a week. The first time I got one of these, I pursued it to the point when I was eventually asked to contribute a small amount of money for coffee and snacks for the participants. I agreed to $20, and was given the PayPal account to which I was to send it to, but I never did. I was rescued by my much more tech savvy daughter who was pretty sure this was a scam. I then researched the book club and the person who allegedly sent it to me. Sure enough, there was a book club by this name with the same contact person. I sent an email directly to the book club’s website, and she responded that they were aware of this particular scam. I have since fielded roughly fifteen similar emails. Some even go to my spam folder now. I have quit responding, and only rarely investigate further, choosing to just delete them.
Then another crop of emails started to cross my desk. These might actually be legitimate because they were offering their marketing skills to promote the book. I get at least five of these per week.
The latest ploys are the very realistic emails from established publishing houses like the one I shared at the start of this piece. After HarpersCollin, I was approached by Penguin/Random House and then Hachette. I have to admit that my heart raced with excitement as I read these emails, but it was always tinged with suspicion. When I researched these senders, I found that they were indeed editors at the respective publishers, but the types of books they each worked with did not match the genre of Life Hikes. I emailed each of the houses to report the scam. One was aware of the problem, one wanted me to report it to the police (I never paid any money to the scammer, so I haven’t done that), and the third hasn’t replied yet.
The most bizarre, yet almost believable request came from a newspaper. This editor was developing a series about people who had changed careers midcourse, and he thought my evolution from physician to author would be a good story. The premise was concise and fit my situation. I was still suspicious. Mainly because the publication was the “Australian Financial News,” a legitimate newspaper, but Australia? I emailed the AFN, and they confirmed they had no one on staff by the name I was given.
Another genre of scams is the direct appeal from an author who wants to befriend me. “Writing is a lonely endeavor. I’d like to create a space for like-minded writers to come together and share their work and encouragement.” The latest one of these came from the 75 year old co-author of the Left Behind series. Um, no thank you.
The book groups and marketing emails go directly to the trash these days, but some part of me longs for the editors to be legitimate, so I research and look them up. I’ve learned the easiest give away is just to hover over the sender’s email address, and if it doesn’t end in “@respected publisher.com” then it probably isn’t who they say they are. The first one of these I got, I responded, saying I thought this was a scam because of the fishy email address. The person wrote back saying it was a private email account they used when they were out of the office and said I should use their official one, then gave me [email protected]. Um, no!
Another dead give away is the way they all liberally steal from the description of Life Hikes’ found on Amazon or my website. Direct quotes are often pulled from there. And they have the nerve to say that they have read the book, noting only the items in the description.
Part of me wants to engage with these editor-scammers to see how far they will take it, how much money they expect me to pay for them to look at my next piece of writing. You see, I know that’s not how the publishing world works, but it would fun be to play them. Alas, I do not have the time. Maybe I’ll forward the next one to a friend I have who would love to interact with these bozos. Are you reading this, Jennifer?