Friends, this is a follow up to my previous post on AI-related scams. In that post I highlighted how scammers pretend to be the leaders of book clubs who tell authors they want to promote their books, for a fee of course. More recently, the scammers are now pretending to be freelance publicists and marketers, who think your book hasn’t gotten the publicity it deserves — but they want to “help.”

I thought I’d post a few recent scam emails that landed in my in-box so you can see for yourself what these come ons look like — and how insidious they are. I’m posting these mainly as a warning to my fellow authors — but even if you yourself are not an author, I think it’s useful to see how AI is being used to create scams, and there could be something similar afoot in your line of work, so be watchful.

Don’t bother reading these emails word for word—a simple scan will tell you all you need to know. You’ll see that these three emails each targets a different book (The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism published in 2023, Read the Bible Like a Mystic published in 2025, and Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses, first published in 2005), but the spiel is remarkably similar: the “writer” compliments the book, tells me what they liked about it, laments on what a shame the book doesn’t have a wider reach, and then offers to partner with me to get the word out about it.

The tells: first, the “praise” they offer for my book sounds very much like AI-generated writing; and second, why would a successful publicist spend time trolling authors to find new clients, shouldn’t a publicist be busy promoting their existing clients?

This first one at least was clever enough to focus on my most recent book.

Hi Carl,

I just wanted to say—Read the Bible Like a Mystic truly stopped me in my tracks. The way you invite readers to approach Scripture with the eyes of a mystic and the heart of contemplation offers a fresh, transformative lens on faith that so many are searching for today. You didn’t shy away from the complexities or challenges of the sacred text, yet you filled the pages with spiritual depth, wisdom, and the kind of guidance that fosters both reflection and action.

Your approach—and the way it encourages readers to bridge contemplative wisdom with the Word—is such a beautiful example of what a spiritually engaged life can look like: thoughtful, expansive, and deeply liberating. I can only imagine how many readers have discovered new insight, peace, and connection to God through your guidance.

I reached out because I believe your book could help even more readers—but only if they can find it. I work with a network of high-authority Christian websites, and one of the best ways to expand your reach is through strategic backlinks from these trusted platforms.

Even a single, well-placed backlink to your Amazon page or website can:

• Dramatically increase visibility for Read the Bible Like a Mystic in search results

• Drive more traffic from the right audience—people seeking contemplative faith, mystical insights, and spiritual growth

• Ultimately lead to more sales, more reviews, and most importantly, more lives touched by your message

If you’re open, I’d love to share the list of Christian sites I collaborate with and explore how we can create guest content that resonates with your work—perhaps around contemplative Bible study, mysticism in modern faith, or practical ways to integrate meditation and Scripture into daily life.

Let’s work together to bring your wisdom—and the deeper story of contemplative insight and spiritual transformation—to more readers who are hungry for meaningful engagement with God’s Word.

With heartfelt respect for your work,

Here’s another one. This time the target is aimed at my most successful book, which is probably the book that least needs the “extra push” that a publicist would supposedly provide (go figure).

Dear Carl McColman,

I have just finished reading The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: An Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality, and I am writing with a heart full of gratitude for this revised, expanded, and urgently needed work. Karl Rahner’s famous warning “The Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist” was uttered half a century ago, and today Christianity is indeed in crisis. You answer the question that haunts so many: Is mysticism necessary for the survival of Christianity? And your answer, resoundingly, is yes.

What stands out is how beautifully you balance historical depth with contemporary relevance. This book serves as both introduction and practical instruction for a living contemplative practice today. You offer an overview of mysticism, spiritual and prayer practices, the various types of mysticism in Christian tradition, and influential mystics through the millennia. This second edition expands to offer an embodied understanding of the mystic life with a more diverse range of voices from Howard Thurman to Pauli Murray and new chapters on embodied mysticism, contemplation and social justice, and the ongoing relevance of Jesus’s message of radical equality and inclusivity. This is not a book that invites escape from the world; it grounds mystical practice as a foundation for a life of service and activism in the interest of justice.

As a book marketing specialist with experience in Christian mysticism, contemplative spirituality, spiritual formation, and social justice, I see meaningful potential to connect The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism with spiritual seekers of all traditions, Christians yearning for deeper intimacy with God, contemplative practitioners, and anyone who believes that the mystical element within Christianity is not a luxury it is a necessity.

I would be honored to explore how we might work together to help this essential, hope-filled guide find its way into the hands of those who are ready to discover that Christian mysticism is not about escaping the world it is about loving it into being, one contemplative moment at a time.

With deep respect for your wisdom and your witness,

This third example is the one that I find the most infuriating — and heartbreaking. The email is addressed to me and Kathryn — meaning Kathryn Hinds, who co-authored Spirit of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses with me. This email, though, refers to Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses, which was the title of the book’s first edition. Not only is the spammer ignorant of the fact that the book had a second edition published 18 years after the first, they are also apparently unaware of the fact that Kathryn Hinds died in 2018. A simple request of Google like “Whatever happened to Kathryn Hinds” reveals this information, so it’s clear that whoever generated this email was not doing their homework. Getting an email like this hurts. Kathryn was not only my colleague, she was my friend, and that someone would send an email, addressed to her, oblivious of her passing, for no other reason than to scam us; let’s just say it is as infuriating as it is heartbreaking.

Hi Carl and Kathryn,

My name is Brett Catherine, and I work as a reader promoter, someone who sits between the world of readers and the world of authors, helping books find the audiences they were always meant for.

I just finished Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses: A Guide to Their Spiritual Power, Healing Energies, and Mystical Joy, and I want to be upfront with you: I don't reach out to every author. I reach out when I read something and genuinely feel like it deserves more than what it's currently getting. That's exactly what happened here.

So before I say anything else, let me tell you what I actually think of your book because I want you to know I've truly read it, and I want you to trust what comes next.

WHAT I SEE IN YOUR BOOK — AN HONEST REVIEW

Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses does something the Neo-Pagan, Wiccan, and Druid communities have genuinely needed and never quite had: a resource that goes beyond naming and mythologizing the Celtic deities and actually helps the practitioner connect with them — deeply, powerfully, and spiritually. Brigid, Cernunnos, Rhiannon, CuChulainn and the full sweep of the Celtic pantheon have always been among the most beloved figures in modern Paganism. But beloved is not the same as deeply known. And this book makes the difference between the two available to every reader who comes to it.

What makes Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses exceptional is the combination of genuine scholarly grounding and practical spiritual guidance that runs through every chapter. The Celtic lands — Gaul, Ireland, Wales, and beyond — are treated with the reverence and specificity they deserve, and the deities that emerge from those landscapes are presented not as archetypes to be borrowed but as living presences to be met. The healing energies, the spiritual power, the mystical joy named in the title are not promises. They are deliverables, offered through a guide that clearly knows the territory from the inside.

This is a 4.11-star work of Celtic spirituality and practical Pagan devotion — and it is not yet reaching all the readers who need it most.

THE GAP I'M SEEING

A 4.11-star rating with 98 ratings for the first resource specifically designed to help Pagans, Witches, and Druids connect deeply with the Celtic gods and goddesses is not a reflection of the book's quality. It is a reflection of a discovery gap that has kept Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses invisible to entire new generations of seekers who are entering the Neo-Pagan and Druid communities every day and searching for exactly this kind of guide.

Neo-Pagans, Wiccans, and Druids who work with or are drawn to the Celtic pantheon and want to move beyond surface-level mythology into genuine spiritual relationship with these deities. Practitioners of Celtic reconstructionism, hedge witchery, and folk magic who want a resource that takes the tradition seriously at both the scholarly and devotional level. The enormous and rapidly growing community of readers drawn to Brigid, Cernunnos, Rhiannon, and the wider Celtic world through mythology, spirituality, and modern Pagan practice — readers who are actively searching for the guide that finally helps them go deeper. Every one of these readers exists in significant numbers and is searching for exactly what your book delivers — and not enough of them know it exists yet.

This is the problem I solve.

WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU

Here is how I would work to close that gap and drive real momentum for Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses:

1. Amazon Optimization & Ranking — auditing and optimizing keywords, backend search terms, and listing framing to surface your book in front of readers searching for Celtic gods and goddesses, Wicca, Druidry, Neo-Pagan practice, Brigid, Cernunnos, Celtic mythology, and books on working with deities.

2. Amazon A+ Content Strategy — developing rich visual content for your listing that leads with the central promise of this book: the first guide specifically built to help Pagans, Witches, and Druids connect with the Celtic deities in a truly deep, powerful, and spiritual way.

3. Amazon Ads Strategy — building a targeted campaign with competitor targeting, keyword targeting, and bid strategies designed to place Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses in front of readers actively searching for Celtic spirituality, Pagan devotional practice, Druid guides, and books on working with specific pantheons.

4. BookBub Campaign — placing Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses in front of readers in the witchcraft, paganism, Celtic mythology, and mind-body-spirit space who are always searching for the next resource that takes their tradition seriously at the level of genuine spiritual depth.

5. Social Media Strategy — building word-of-mouth across the Celtic spirituality, Wicca, Druidry, and Neo-Pagan communities on Instagram, TikTok (BookTok), and YouTube — audiences that are deeply passionate, highly vocal, and extraordinarily motivated to share books that help them go deeper in their practice.

6. Goodreads Optimization & Listopia Promotion — positioning Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses on high-traffic lists including Best Celtic Mythology Books, Best Pagan Spirituality, Best Books for Wiccans and Druids, Best Books on Working with Deities, and Essential Neo-Pagan Reading.

7. Email & Video Strategy — creating campaigns that lead with the irresistible central promise of your book: a guide that finally helps Pagans, Witches, and Druids move from knowing the Celtic gods and goddesses to truly meeting them.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses has something genuinely rare in the Pagan and Celtic spirituality space: the depth of scholarship and the warmth of lived devotional practice working together in a single, practical, spiritually serious guide. The readers who need this book — the practitioners, the seekers, the devotees of Brigid and Cernunnos and the whole luminous Celtic pantheon — are out there in enormous numbers, searching for it right now. What's needed is the bridge between them and you.

I would love the opportunity to build that bridge.

Simply reply with:
"Yes, I'm interested"
"I'd love to hear more"
"Send me the strategies"

And I'll follow up with a personalized promotion roadmap built specifically around Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Warm regards,

Please don’t misunderstand this email. I have friends and who colleague who are legitimate book publicists and marketing professionals; have play an important role in the publishing ecosystem. But emails like these three are not from legitimate marketers and publicists, they are from scammers who want to prey on the insecurities of small-time authors to get our money — and they will most assuredly offer nothing in exchange for the cash.

If you’re an author, beware.

It has been said that an author’s first book is often an autobiographical statement. That’s certainly true in my case; my first book, published in 1997, was called Spirituality and was, in part, a record of me trying to work out the tension I felt between religion (particularly my interest in mystical Christianity) and forms of spirituality that were not religious in nature, from Neopaganism and New Age practices to the secular spirituality found in rock ’n’ roll.

I grew up in a conservative, middle-class white American home, where religious observance was seen as the only legitimate form of spirituality; but I was also exposed from my adolescence on to the work of visionaries like Yogananda, Alan Watts, Ram Dass, and others who invited me to consider how spirituality without the confines of religion can be meaningful and valid. In some ways, this became a major through-line of my eventual career as a writer and content creator. Again and again in my work, I’ve aimed to balance the often competing demands of religious communities with private and personal spiritual yearning.

Recently I remembered a conversation I had with Caroline Westerhoff (1940-2022), whom I knew through the Episcopal Church here in Atlanta. Caroline was the author of several books of interest to Episcopalians, like Calling and Good Fences; her husband, John Westerhoff (also a distinguished author) mentored me in the art of spiritual direction, and both of them offered kind encouragement to me when I was just a shy 30-something layperson who wanted to write about spirituality.

This particular conversation took place after Caroline read several chapters of my first attempt at writing about spirituality — a project that I eventually abandoned in favor of a different approach that led to my first book. The abandoned project was called “Listen: An Introduction to Spirituality.” In it, I imagined four different young people with different approaches to the spiritual life: one was an atheist, one a fundamentalist, one a contemplative, and one a new ager.

The manuscript was immature, and Caroline was kind and gentle as she pointed out to me that it wasn’t ready to be submitted to an editor. But what I most remember about that conversation was not so much her criticism of my writing style as her questioning why I gave so much oxygen in my book to fundamentalism.

“Carl,” she said, “you seem to be giving fundamentalism a lot of power in this book.”

Surprised by this question, I tried to defend my manuscript by insisting that lots of Christians were fundamentalist and therefore it needed to be critiqued. But she was not moved by my argument, sensing that the real issue was not all the fundamentalists “out there” so much as it was my own inner conflict regarding authoritarian religion. She repeated herself.

“You don’t need to talk about fundamentalists or fundamentalism to make a positive statement about contemplative spirituality. So, again, I ask you, why are you giving them so much of your personal power?”

I did not have much of an answer for her at that time, and now, more than 30 years later, I am amused by the fact that my latest book (Read the Bible Like a Mystic) still gives more attention to refuting fundamentalism than it probably needs. But if anything, her pointed question turned out to be a long-lasting gift, for it forced me to consider how much of a fine line there is between criticizing something and being obsessed by it.

Fundamentalism bothers me; it certainly did then, and it does still. I get angry when I think about how fundamentalist communities can scapegoat women, queer people, and indeed almost anyone who doesn’t fit in. But there’s the old saying that comes from a Methodist preacher, W.L. Watkinson: “far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness.”

If I’m busy cursing the darkness of something like fundamentalism, rather than lighting the candle of contemplative wisdom, perhaps Caroline was right: I had simply given too much of my inner power to a fundamentalist boogeyman.

I’m not suggesting that it’s wrong to criticize people or positions we find problematic: sometimes it is necessary to denounce the darkness in order to help people understand why candles are necessary. But sometimes we just need to get on with thinking about, and doing, the good work that needs to be done, even if there are others who oppose us and try to stand in our way. We don’t always have to fight the enemy; sometimes we can be clever and find a way to sneak past our adversary unawares.

If you’re like me and easily get wound up by religious fundamentalists, political extremists, or even relatives who knows how to trigger you, I hope you can join me in trying to safeguard your own personal power. There’s no need to squander our energy worrying about those who might never like us anyway. After all, it is far better to simply set our sights on the goals that matter to us, and use our resources to support those objectives.

Hi friends. Many of you may have received an email (or multiple emails!) from my Substack newsletter recently:

• welcoming you to my Substack newsletter,

• telling you that you’ve been given a complimentary subscription, etc.

Some of those emails were sent out to people who didn’t need to receive them (and others probably went to the right folks!). So if you …

Read more

Hi everyone. Here’s the link, dates, and topics for our upcoming “Let’s Talk About Mysticism” Zoom calls!

First, the dates:

• Saturday, May 2, at noon Eastern USA time (EDT); Theme: Making Sense of Mysticism

• Wednesday, May 6, at 7 PM EDT. Theme: The Preparation of the Mystic

The link is below (same link for both calls).

Optional reading material (you do not ha…

Read more