Is Bobby Kim Legit?

I see his name all the time on FB and from what I've heard I've been suspicious for a while. I've also heard some call him a KU scammer but never see his name much when others mention scammers so wasn't sure. Apparently he has some new promotional service and everyone has glowing results so it just seems incredibly shady to me. A friend was boasting about how much his classes, tips and FB group helped her and I see others saying the same thing but it seems sleazy to me.

Here is the FB group she linked to: www.facebook.com/groups/indieauthoracademy/

And this is supposed to be a promo service he runs:

Once again, I am not accusing him of being a scammer but just saying what I have heard and the feeling I get when I read these "testimonials" from people. I have no interest in these types of gimmicky, short term things and I do think most of these "promoters" cater to KU authors because it's so easy to gain the KU system. Sure is funny you never see any of these people with tips on helping wide authors. It's easy to use click farms and game borrows but you can't do that with sales.

This dude's FB pages and stuff just drip of sleaziness to me but I could be wrong that's why I was wondering what others might think.

I realize he claims he made a mistake but I don't buy it. All those scammers said that. It's one thing to add a bonus book to maybe one of your releases and then realize you were wrong but apparently he was a big stuffer because he'd done it more than once and a bunch of folks in Marie's group didn't buy his excuses either.

Also, I don't get why people think saying stuffing is a mistake is an excuse. If you are in KU you should now the TOS and Amazon might not be clear on a lot but they've always been pretty clear on the stuffing thing. They just didn't enforce it like they should've.

Exactly.

And most Amazon indies appear to spend heavily on advertising (there seems to be a common belief that it is essential) without any knowledge of how to calculate advertising spends or manage campaigns or any awareness of the existence of an extensive business literature on the subject. Many seem to spend very heavily (relative to sales) and have no idea of their own production costs (they value their time at nil). And it doesn't take much of this type of thinking and practice to make them vulnerable to black hat systems.

$3500 per BOOK??? I don't spend that in a year for covers, editing, and formatting (I do my own formatting). And that special formatting software only cost him a couple hundred dollars, which you only pay once.

I remember his posts from Indie Author Network. I left not long after, since the gang up mentality was starting with authors there. I don't do drama, not when it comes to the business side. Only drama in my books. I did check out his FB page, and I felt like I needed to take a shower after a few minutes. I got a peek behind the curtain with RH, and ran far away. He gives me exactly the same vibe.

My career is too important to take shady shortcuts, just for a short term gain. People like Bobby are all about the shady, even while they claim their innocence, or their "mistakes." *insert multiple eyerolls*

From the beginning, I have taken my cue from trad pub books, and I model mine after them in looks and content. All those authors had to ask was "Would Nora Roberts stuff 10 badly written books into her "book" and charge 99 cents?"

I believe the answer is, um, NO.

Exactly, Cate and Possibly Deranged. You can tell this man is a scammer by the company he keeps. He hangs around a bunch of the same people in RH's circles and he uses RH's blueprint for his services it seems.

I felt a little bad because I know some folks who are praising this guy up and down but then again if they don't have the sense to research or check things out that's on them. By this time people should know all about these scammers and shady services. And these author I know are not newbies. They've been in KU a while so they know what's been happening and Bobby sounds just like every other KU scammer I've seen.

Also, I need to stop acting like people need to be helped. A lot of times these people KNOW things are shady but they sign up for it anyway. They might not be bad people themselves but so desperate to sell books or get page reads they will cross the line to do it. That's what the scammers prey on. They prey on people who are desperate enough to break rules even if they normally wouldn't.

Yeah, I know an author who got in with Bobby and was trying to tell some of us to try him out. The second I looked at his page I knew he was a joke. As I said, I remembered him from that FB group. I didn't even try to warn her. Her head is so in the clouds with him I doubt she'd cared what I had to say but if she gets her account blocked because of this dude, then she'll know.

That's the dangerous part of it right there. You can dance with the scammers all you want and think you're just an innocent person using their services until you get that termination letter from KDP. It's no joke. You have to be extra careful who you work with these days or your publishing career could be gone in an instant.  

Just google Bobby Kim Scam. He has apparently been involved in lots of bigger scams, if it's the same guy.

Interestingly, there's also a singer named bobby Kim, but probably not the same guy.

Wow, this was an old thread. I didn't notice the date when viewing it on my phone. I suppose it's nice we've been around long enough to have old threads.

100% scam.

You are all speaking badly about Bobby Kim like you know him or have direct experience with him.

I've paid for Kim's services and I'm in his FB group and also paid full price for his self-publishing marketing program.

I spent my hard saved money on Bobby Kim's program, I spend my hard saved money on marketing, and I pay top dollar for professional editing services to make sure I turn out a good product.

Here's the bottom line on Bobby Kim. He knows what he's doing, he has probably a hundred success stories, he has published dozens of books under Pen names, he had three books in the Kindle Top 100 in the last couple of months. Last week I think it was he had at least one book at or near Top 30.

What I spent with Kim I consider to be irreplaceable marketing knowledge. I am a business person. I own and Amazon store, a Walmart store, sell coffee we import from all over the world, and have our own apiary from which we harvest and sell honey, while taking care of the health and survival of millions of bees.

I was a screenwriter but it did not pay the bills. You can only write so many spec scripts before you get a bad taste in your business mouth. A couple of years ago I switched to novella's, then novels.

The work was fair to good, sometimes very good. But though I know how to market my honey and coffee and run my storefronts, I realized I knew nothing about marketing my books.

Bobby's program filled in the gaps. I risked the cost of the program, for sure, but I spent more than five times that amount in the last few years with no return. It was not much of a leap of faith to give Bobby a try.

Kim's program works, but there are two BIG caveats.

Firstly, you need to be able to execute the program. It's not magic or automatic, you have to lay the groundwork and do the tasks and execute the program. This is where most people fail.

Secondly, you have to have good content. If you have a poorly written book you can mortgage your house and spend your last dimes on any kind of marketing you can imagine, and it will work - for a while. But sooner or later readers will figure out you did not write a good book and you'll lose what you spent on marketing.

BUT - if you can execute the Kim marketing program, do all the groundwork and follow the process, AND, if you have a good book, it will sell. And likely very well.

I don't know how much money you all make with your books, but I was earning less than $200 per month net, which is unacceptable. With Kim I can say that has gone up significantly.

People who fail to execute the program or who write poor content will think Kim is a scammer. Those with good content and resources to execute the program will mostly remain silent as complainers always make more noise than those doing well.

It's hard work and it takes money to market. You can sit in your home office, den or garage and write your but off without spending a dime. But when it comes time to market, you need to get the checkbook out.

As great as your book may be, if you can't market no one will ever know.

Kim's not for everyone, he's an aggressive marketer that takes advantage of those processes that work best. If you're not comfortable with that then find another way. But just because you think he is doing things you would not do that does not make him a scammer.

Some people have this romantic idea about being an author that readers will somehow just "know" your book is great and entertaining and worth their time and money and that butterflies and hummingbirds will spread the word for you and your Kindle Publishing account will ring up sales like a pinwheel in the wind.

If that is what you're looking for stay away from Bobby Kim. Kim is a hands on, in the trenches, do the work, spend the time and money, every detail matters guy. If you understand it takes work to sell your book then give Kim a look.

Good luck.

Excellent post writeway!

If it's not Bobby, it's likely a shill paid to go around and post positive reviews, and dispute any criticisms. I have no proof, and am not stating either opinion as fact. It is possible for someone to honestly stumble across a person or program, spend way more money than is prudent, and then be forced into convincing themselves they didn't make a mistake and that it was all worth it, so they don't have to admit making a mistake. Or maybe, I suppose, someone could sign up, and for whatever reason, actually be satisfied with what they received. The 4th option seems unlikely, but it takes all kinds to move the merry-go-round-of-life.

Yep! That's one of the major reasons this forum exists, to serve as a lighthouse for the newbie and unsuspecting author community. Too many other places are afraid to sound the alarm and to call out bad behavior and actors when the rock they're hiding under is uncovered.

One bad apples spoils the whole bunch, and unfortunately, the indie author community is more like a world-wide-web of apple orchards with bad trees everywhere, trying their best to spread their toxic mold everywhere they go.

It's comical how someone so accomplished and super-busy as "Giovanni" feels like he has to come on this (with apologies) tiny forum to defend a shady character.

And it's someone who claims to be a professional writer. (Incidentally, why bother trying to make a living with "novella's" (sic) if he has so many successful businesses?)

Yet, his post is riddled with awkward phrasing, misused punctuation, incorrect grammar, and outright bad writing.

If there's a modicum of truth in the post, it's that he's a failed scriptwriter--but not failed because of how difficult it is (note how these folks always blame others for their failures)--rather, because he's simply bad at it.

There is no magical "secret" to success that one can buy from anyone's fancy course. There's talent, skill, knowledge, persistence, hard work, and luck. Anyone marketing "secrets" is automatically shady. Sometimes this shadiness is simply slickly repackaging well-known techniques into overpriced courses. Is that a scam? In one sense not--charge what the market will bear to suckers, which applies to many boutique products--but in the ordinary sense, it's scammy.

Anyone reading this thread needs to judge for themselves, with all the information and with open eyes. What's most likely to be true? How does this guy's products compare to others who teach similar things, including the price and information provided. Do any of the techniques violate law or policy? Are they based on "weird tricks" that if they ever worked will only work until some loophole is plugged, and so on.

Bottom line, if it's too good to be true--it is.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us, Romance Author. The next author who misses out on their own disaster, thanks you, too!

I come across this thread as his courses are now free on teachable - google indie author academy

I am watching his course & it is actually pretty good - but yeah its free now

So I dunno as any marketer gets flack & complaints, personally I wouldn't want to own a digital agency

But I do have 300+ books on Amazon