đź“š The Literary Heist of the Century
The great literary heist of the century is not to be attributed to AI!
From the NYT Books newsletter:
Why on Earth would anyone steal unpublished books?
It was a head-scratcher back in 2022, when the F.B.I. arrested Filippo Bernardini, who was charged with wire fraud and identity theft and accused of stealing more than 1,000 manuscripts. There wasn’t a clear incentive, financial or otherwise.
Bernardini, who worked in publishing as a rights coordinator, pleaded guilty and said at the time that he was motivated by a love of literature. By stealing manuscripts, he said, he could “be one of the fewest to cherish them before anyone else, before they ended up in bookshops.”
He was deported, and ordered to pay $88,000 in restitution to Penguin Random House. And he seemed contrite. “I know that I will not do it again,” he wrote in a letter filed to the judge overseeing his case, “and I have learned my lesson.”
But is he back?
Miguel Salazar interviewed over a dozen authors, agents and literary scouts, who described emails from impostor accounts seeking manuscripts. And for at least three years, authors and agents have received emails from an account that riffs on Bernardini’s name — spelling it “Bemardini,” with an “m” in place of the “rn,” a signature of Bernardini’s old tricks — often punctuated by jeering emojis.
What’s new is a small blog called Literary Scout, which contains reviews of forthcoming novels. In several cases, the reviews were posted just days after a book deal was announced.
Of course, the landscape has changed since Bernardini’s sentencing. A.I. has become an existential threat, and many of the targeted authors are concerned that their work may be fed into A.I. models.
It’s unclear who’s behind these recent phishing schemes; Bernardini didn’t respond to requests for comment. But the story is a great yarn, and the result of deep reporting. It’s worth your time.
From the actual article, He Scammed the Book Business for Years. Is He Back?:
Then Latronico searched for his novel online and found his manuscript free to download online. He also came across a negative review on a small blog called Literary Scout.
At first glance, the website appears to be a run-of-the-mill books blog with reviews of books ranging from debut literary fiction to thrillers, translated works and Zadie Smith’s latest novel. Many of the most recent reviews are of books that have yet to be published.
This alone isn’t a red flag — publishers often share early copies of books with potential reviewers months ahead of a book’s release date. But in several cases, the reviews were posted just days following the announcement of a book deal, before publishers shared the manuscripts widely.
Some of the reviews refer to plot details and character names that have since changed from previous drafts. One review, of Eli Rallo’s debut novel, “I Hope Eden Reads This,” explicitly refers to sample chapters from a book proposal.
None of the books reviewed received a higher rating than one out of five stars. (Some of the latest reviews feature poop and vomit emojis near the rating.) “Cash Out,” by Nick Hornby, forthcoming in January, is described as “an overextended anecdote narrated in the same lightly ironic voice for far too long.” Louise Erdrich’s novel “I’m Hungry,” publishing in April, is called “overlong, overstuffed and structurally hungry.” And “Peculiar Stars,” by Rebecca Yarros, due out in November, is dismissed as “an overblown trope machine.”
The website’s recent activity and the scornful phishing scheme may be related. A review of “Gemma” was posted on July 24, the same day Lacey sent her manuscript to the account impersonating her agent — and only two days after the book industry website Publishers Marketplace announced that Farrar, Straus & Giroux had acquired the book.
Perhaps most alarmingly, some manuscripts of unpublished books reviewed on Literary Scout, including “Cash Out” and “I’m Hungry,” have also appeared on Z-Library, a so-called shadow library storing millions of titles, in many cases without permission. Several authors confirmed that the reviews contained details exclusive to the manuscripts stored on the website.
A personal comment: The NYT “geniuses” missed the most relevant red flag: reviews for books that don’t have a cover yet! Advance Reader Copies can do that, of course, but still. Check out Literary Scout!
