Author safety

Is this really Pristine? How to verify.

Scammers are using our name, logo, and staff names to contact authors. Here’s how to confirm you’re actually dealing with us — each point below is true of our real team, every time.

How to tell it’s really us

  • Our only email domain is @pristinepressandmedia.com. Not .org, not .net, and not a Gmail or Outlook address with our name in it. Check the part after the @ carefully — lookalike domains are the most common trick.
  • We do not broker film, TV, adaptation, or literary-agent deals. If anyone offers you one of these “deals” in our name — especially for an upfront fee — it is not us. This is the most common impersonation scam.
  • We accept payment only by credit/debit card, bank wire, or check. We never ask for payment by gift card, cryptocurrency, or money-transfer app.
  • We don’t conduct business over WhatsApp, Telegram, or social-media messengers.
  • We put our terms in writing and give you time to read them. We won’t pressure you to pay immediately to “lock in” or “release” an opportunity.

Still unsure? Independently look up our phone number on this website (not a number someone gave you over the phone) and call us, or forward the suspicious message to admin@pristinepressandmedia.com — we’ll confirm whether it really came from us. When in doubt, pause. A real opportunity will survive a phone call.

Contact Pristine directly Avoid Publishing Scams

Real example

What a real impersonation scam looks like

An author we work with forwarded us these two emails. They are not from Simon & Schuster — a major publisher that is itself frequently impersonated this way — and they are not from us, though the sender invoked us to close the deal. Here is the anatomy, with her details removed.

Scam email impersonating Simon and Schuster, sent from a Gmail address, offering a vague book acquisition
First contact. An unsolicited “acquisition” from a Gmail address posing as Simon & Schuster — generic flattery, nothing specific about the actual book (it even cites the wrong month). A major publisher does not pitch acquisitions from Gmail.
Follow-up scam email claiming the author’s publisher approved the deal and requesting payment by wire to a personal bank account
The ask. The follow-up claims “we already talked to your publisher” — invoking us to manufacture trust — then asks the author to pay $1,500–$15,000 and wire it to a personal bank account. A publisher that acquires your book pays you; it never charges you to be “acquired.”

Notice what’s missing: they never email from @pristinepressandmedia.com, and we never ask you to pay to be “acquired.” If you receive something like this, verify it with us at admin@pristinepressandmedia.com before paying anyone.