Today's interesting story from the world of publishing:
A fantasy debut author who had a two-book deal with Penguin Random House on Tuesday admitted to creating fake accounts on the website Goodreads to sabotage other novelists by leaving negative reviews.
The novelist, Cait Corrain, posted an admission and an apology on the social media platform X, citing a struggle with depression and substance abuse. In the note, Corrain said that this month, she had suffered a “psychological breakdown” and created around half a dozen fake accounts that left positive ratings on her upcoming novel and “bombed the ratings of several fellow debut authors.”
For this she was dropped by her agent, and her novel was withdrawn by the publisher.
Which led me to contemplate my own situation. I have, after all, posted several terrible reviews here, including some of recent fantasy fiction. But not to promote myself! I swear! I had no such intention!
Sometimes I just dislike books, and want to vent about them. Please, please don't ban me for it.
I am a good person! I would never tear town others to raise up myself! I swear!
3 comments:
You left out the crucial detail that Corrain specifically targeted only non-white authors for harassment, and tried to conceal her racial motivations by using blatantly non-white screen-names for her sock-puppet accounts, to give the impression of criticism coming from people of color.
excusatio non petita accusatio manifesta
dum excusare credis, accusas
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