One medal, one inbox drowned.
What does not make sense
- Win an award, get buried alive under fifty AI-crafted sales pitches a day.
- Every “specialist” suddenly loves your book — because they love your wallet more.
- Real editors and marketers, the ones with actual skill, cannot compete with emoji-sprinkled bots.
- Same subject line, same empty promise, recycled like supermarket flyers.
The numbers
- Global email spam volume = 45% of all emails sent daily (Statista, 2024).
- Average author gets pitched 3–5 “promotion packages” per week after winning any award (ALLi Watchdog, 2023).
- 70% of “book club invitations” are generic AI-generated templates with zero actual readers behind them (Reedsy scams report, 2024).
The sketch
Scene one: Author opens inbox. Subject lines: “✨ Your book deserves Hollywood! ✨” x 12.
Scene two: AI bot sends another pitch while sipping coffee in the server farm.
Scene three: A real marketer stares at their quiet phone. No emojis. Just skill. Ignored.
A note on the book
Just Love Her by Raz Mihal is a poetic and spiritual reflection on divine love, the soul’s journey, and the presence of “Her” as an eternal guide. It blends mysticism, intimacy, and philosophy in fragments that invite readers to move from head to heart.
The book won the Gold Medal in the 2025 Readers’ Favorite Awards. See the full list of winners here:
https://readersfavorite.com/2025-award-contest-winners.htm
What to watch, not the show
- AI spam outpacing human professionals.
- Publishing scams feeding on awards and vulnerable authors.
- Inbox fatigue that kills genuine opportunities.
- Professional skill being replaced by emoji-glitter templates.
The Hermit take
The medal shines, the spam blinds.
When every bot claps, no one hears the real applause.
Keep or toss
Keep the medal. Toss the spam.
Sources
Statista – Global spam volume 2024: https://www.statista.com/statistics/420391/spam-email-traffic-share/
ALLi Watchdog – Author services scams: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/watchdog/
Reedsy – Common book marketing scams: https://blog.reedsy.com/author-scams/
Readers’ Favorite – 2025 Award Contest Winners: https://readersfavorite.com/2025-award-contest-winners.htm