By Per Henningsgaard
Publication Date: 2025-11-18 04:30:00
Aspiring authors in Australia are among those who have been scammed by a global network of publishers using cloned websites and AI tools. Some boast pictures and names of real authors in their testimonials, or cite real books they didn’t publish as their own. Several target the Australian market and operate under names such as Melbourne Book Publisher, Sydney Book Publishing, Aussie Book Publisher and Oz Book Publishers.
I’m a publishing professional, and when I look at what happened, I can see red flags in the way these publishers have operated and targeted aspiring authors who are vulnerable to exploitation in their pursuit of success.
David Tenenbaum, owner of the trusted publisher Melbourne Books, founded in 2000 (and specializing in non-fiction), was the first to sound the alarm. He’d been getting calls from authors who thought they were dealing with his business – but were actually speaking to the similar-sounding Melbourne Book Publisher (who even published his…).
