An author is crying foul after he says a BookTok influencer “scammed” him out of $600 he paid her to promote his books. He says he never received the videos he was promised—and now the influencer’s account is defunct. What happened?
TikTok user Jay Michael Night (@authorjmn) posted a video on Wednesday describing the experience. He starts the video by saying he’s held off on sharing what happened thus far for fear of creating unnecessary drama. “But I’m just done,” he says. “I’ve been robbed.”
Night says his issue is with the TikTok book influencer @CallisReadingg, who has more than 236,000 followers on the social media platform. The account is no longer active, but a Google search reveals an email address associated with the account. The Daily Dot reached out to Calli via that email for comment.
What Night says happened
According to Night, Calli reached out to him about a partnership. “So, I say, ‘Yeah, send me your prices,’” he says. “And her middle option was $600 for two videos, including a review video and a wrap-up video. So, I wasn’t doing very good on my sales and was desperate, and I agreed to it.”
Except, Night says, a month went by, and he didn’t hear back about a video. He says he reached out to Calli, and she asked if he made the payment. Night acknowledges that there was momentary confusion about the name under which he sent the funds. Additionally, he says he sent her a box set of his books worth approximately $100.
“Anywho, she goes, ‘OK, I’ll post the video in a week,’ and three weeks [go] by, and nothing,” Night says. “It goes past my book release, and I thought the video would come with the last book in my series, but two months passed by, and I had no video. Not one.”
Night says that when he asked for his money back, Calli indicated she already spent it on living expenses. “She did say she did an unboxing video,” he acknowledges, “Which she did. But she didn’t say what my box was called; she didn’t say my name. All she said was Jay. I wasn’t tagged, so I had no idea. Not really the purpose of a book promoter to not do any of those things.”
@authorjmn Couldn’t hold it in any longer. 600$ isn’t chump change. It’s a lot of money. 🥲 Don’t want anyone else to be scammed. #booktok #scammed #author #authorsoftiktok ♬ original sound – Jay Michael Night
Where did Calli and Night leave things?
He says he finally heard back from Calli last week, and once again, she told him she would post a video on Sunday. “I still don’t have a video,” he says. “I paid her in April, so I feel like this is robbery. I could’ve used that money for other things. I could’ve given six $100 book boxes to actual other people. I think that would’ve been more beneficial than this, which is nothing.”
He concludes, “Don’t support Calli. If you’re an author, especially. Don’t pay her any money. There’s no guarantee that you’re going to get anything that she says.” In a follow-up slide show, Night posted a series of screenshots from the exchange.
The Daily Dot reached out to Night via email for comment. The video has amassed more than 3.4 million views. In the comments section, many BookTok users rallied to Night’s defense and offered support.
One user said, “In retrospect, she helped you! Now we’re all finding out about you and I doubt we would have if she just reviewed it. Now she gets karma and your books blow up! Totally worth it, thanks calli!”
A second user wrote, “You have all off booktok behind you.”
A third user stated, ‘Oh my gosh people charge this much??? I would do it for free if I got a free book!!”
Night isn’t alone
Several other authors took to TikTok to share their experiences working with Calli, including Krista Swanson Romance (@kristareadsandwrites), Bo Grant (@marriedtoalunatic), and Luke Young (@authorlukeyoung).
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