An author is suing a BookTok influencer, claiming that she was “scammed” out of $600 she paid to promote her book. The author claims she never received the promised video, and now the influencer’s account is not operational. What happened?
TikTok user Jay Michael Knight (@authorjmn) posted a video on Wednesday recounting his experience. He begins the video by saying that he’s refrained from talking about what happened until now for fear of causing unnecessary trouble. “But I’ve had enough,” he says. “I got robbed.”
Knight said he is taking issue with @CallisReadingg, a TikTok book influencer who has more than 236,000 followers on the social media platform. The account is no longer active, but a Google search turns up an email address associated with it. The Daily Dot has reached out to Calli via that email for comment.
What Knight said
Knight said Kali contacted him about partnering up, “and I said, ‘Yes, let me know the price,'” he said, “and her middle option was $600 for two videos, including a review video and a recap video, so I agreed to it because my sales weren’t doing so well and I was desperate.”
But a month passed and Knight said he hadn’t heard back about the video. Knight said he contacted Cali and she asked if he’d made the payment. Knight acknowledges there was momentary confusion about the name to whom he sent the funds. He also sent Knight a box set of his books, valued at about $100.
“Anyway, she said, ‘OK, I’ll post the video in a week,’ and then three weeks later [go] “Two months passed and there was no video,” Knight said. “The book was out and I assumed there would be a video with the last book in the series, but two months passed and there was no video. Not one.”
When he asked for his money back, Knight said, Cali suggested she’d already spent it on living expenses. “She said she’d done an unboxing video,” Knight confirmed. “But she didn’t say the name of my box, she didn’t say my name, she just said Jay. I wasn’t tagged, so I didn’t know. It’s not your purpose as a book promoter to not do any of that.”
author: I just couldn’t take it anymore. $600 isn’t pocket change. It’s a lot of money. 🥲 I don’t want anyone else to get scammed. #BookTock #I got scammed #author #AuthorSoftTickTok ♬ Original Sound – Jay Michael Knight
Where did Cali and Knight leave their things?
He said he finally heard from Kari last week, and that she again told him she would post a video on Sunday. “I still haven’t received the video,” he said. “I paid her in April, so this feels like a robbery. I could have spent that money on something else. I could have actually given six bookcases for $100 to someone, which would have been more beneficial than this.”
He concludes: “Don’t support Kali, especially if you’re a writer. Don’t pay her. There’s no guarantee you’ll listen to anything she says.” SlideshowKnight posted a series of screenshots of the exchange.
The Daily Dot reached out to Knight via email for comment. The video has been viewed more than 3.4 million times, and many BookTok users have defended Knight in the comments section, voicing their support.
One user said, “Looking back, she helped you out! Now we all know about you. If she had only reviewed, we would never have known. Now she gets her karma and your book is a big hit! It was totally worth it. Thank you, Kari!”
A second user wrote: “Everyone from Booktalk is behind you.”
A third user said: “Oh my gosh, people charge this much? I’d do it for free if it meant I could get a free book!”
The night is not lonely
Other writers have also taken to TikTok to share their experiences working with Calli. Krista Swanson Romance (@kristareadsandwrites), Beau Grant (@marriedtoalunatic), and Luke Young (@authorlukeyoung).
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