You may have received unsolicited emails from a vanity publisher apparently disguised as a literary agent.

After the initial excitement of seeing an agent in the inbox, it quickly becomes clear that the offer sounds too good to be true. The latest email pitch begins, "One of our book agents scoured the published writers database for prospective authors and recommended you. As a Literary Agency, we're actually looking for book titles to represent."

Before you pay any money to a shady company and sign away your rights with a seven-year deal, remember, the sales pitch may be misleading or completely false.

The Better Business Bureau is racking up complaints surrounding this particular "agent" and other similar bait and switch companies, none of which we can name.

Suffice to say, please be careful out there, do your due diligence, and follow these rules:

• If they claim to be an agent, check their credentials before you sign anything. You can find most current, working literary agents here: https://jerichowriters.com/us-literary-agents/
• If they ask for any money up front, run!
• If they suggest a book deal before reading the book, run!
• If they promise you incredible results that sound too good to be true, run!