A Debut-Author Debacle Broke the Internet through Becoming Its Own Goodreads Page-Turning Scandal
By Jamie LernerDec. 12 2023, Updated 11:Fifty two a.m. ET
The Gist:
- Debut creator Cait Corrain encountered a Goodreads controversy involving pretend 1-star evaluations and evaluate bombs on different authors' books.
- Cait attempted to deal with the issue on Slack, and claimed that a rabid fan used to be responsible for the review-bombing.
- The situation got worse, and some authors left the Slack channel amid allegations of ableism and racism.
- Cait sooner or later posted a remark admitting that she had indeed accomplished the review-bombing amid a psychological breakdown.
Some people think books are boring, but they’re anything but! And now, the authors in the back of them are proving to be much more dramatic than the books themselves. After many mysterious review bombs and Goodreads lists, the drama got here to the forefront of a debut creator Slack channel, which made its approach onto Twitter.
As the new authors quibbled amongst themselves, readers watched the drama unfold from afar and attempted to grasp what was happening. So we’re breaking down the tea on the Goodreads drama with Cait Corrain.
If you as a debut author are going to make a number of faux Goodreads accounts one-star-bombing fellow debuts you might be threatened via are you able to at least no longer make it so glaring by upvoting your individual book on a bajillion different lists with those same accounts
— 𝕏iran * PREORDER HEAVENLY TYRANT (@XiranJayZhao) December 6, 2023The Goodreads drama started with evaluation bombs and pretend just right opinions on Cait Corrain’s books.
Basically, in early to mid-November 2023, any person made a slew of faux Goodreads accounts to “review-bomb” a few 2024 debut books, consistent with Twitter user Natalie Lief, in a now-deleted thread. The accounts gave a bunch of 1-star reviews to books via new authors Danielle Jensen and Molly Chang, amongst others.
In addition, an account called Tasty Spam put other debut novels beneath lists with titles like, “Fake Reviews Bad Writing.” Once the authors figured out what used to be going on, they took the drama to Slack to check out to figure out who used to be causing all the chaos. The one e book that were given several 5-star opinions from the identical accounts that have been review-bombing different books was once Cait Corrain’s expected debut, Crown of Starlight.
On Dec. 6, 2023, debut author Xiran Jay Zhao tweeted: “If you as a debut author are going to make a bunch of pretend Goodreads accounts one-star-bombing fellow debuts you're threatened by means of are you able to no less than now not make it so obvious by upvoting your personal guide on a bajillion other lists with those self same accounts.”
This tweet were given people talking again.
OK this is the last I'll talk on this however there's something further despicable about using clearly POC names in the fake accounts to upvote each unfavorable evaluate on POC books so the most sensible ones are all 1 star and a couple of megastar. Like what in the yellow face
— 𝕏iran * PREORDER HEAVENLY TYRANT (@XiranJayZhao) December 6, 2023Cait ultimately came forward with screenshots to turn that her “friend” Lilly used to be the one who review-bombed, now not her in my opinion. In the screenshots, Cait will get extremely mad at Lilly, who apologizes for looking to lend a hand. Cait shared the screenshots along side Lilly’s Discord title while throwing her underneath the bus.
Notably, the screenshots of Cait's alleged conversation with Lilly gave the impression to have suspicious time stamps and language. Some time stamps on Cait's conversations with Lilly mentioned “these days,” whilst others said “the day past,” and Lilly’s Discord account were deleted. All this led many to imagine Cait could have fabricated the dialog altogether.
Authors started to come back for Cait Corrain.
Among others, author Bethany Baptiste took to Twitter to name out the sketchy conduct. Bethany said, “Debuts have to maintain an albino snake in the rooster area,” which one of Cait’s friends and defenders in the debut Slack channel took offense to and referred to as Bethany ableist and racist.
strangers wanna know so yall don't improve THAT author while simultaneously now not supporting the debuts affected anyway. that is why nobody announcing anything else rn. that is scorching tea for yall. meanwhile, debuts need to handle an albino snake in the rooster space. let us procedure this. pic.twitter.com/pJ7VH4cBfr
— susan c. sheffield🕊 (@StorySorcery) December 6, 2023This led to the Slack moderators to fasten the #BIPOC and #incapacity channels as contributors anxious about their non-public data being shared. After this, Bethany and a number of other different authors left the Slack channel, and Xiran endured to submit make stronger for Bethany, announcing that these accusations in opposition to Bethany are getting used to "deflect from the allegations" towards Cait.
Xiran also noted that there is something insidious about the evaluation bomber "using clearly POC names in the fake accounts to upvote every negative review on POC books."
Cait Corrain was dropped by her publisher and literary agent, and he or she in the end admitted to the review-bombing.
On Dec. 11, 2023, Cait's publisher Del Rey posted a statement saying it will now not be publishing Crown of Starlight. Earlier that day, Cait's agent had tweeted a remark announcing that her partnership with Cait was once over.
Then, on Dec. 12, 2023, Cait posted a message to social media during which she got here clean about everything. She explained that she'd been struggling with depression, alcoholism, and substance abuse since June 2022, and that after trying a brand new medicine in November 2023, she proceeded to experience a "complete psychological breakdown" in December 2023.
She said she "created roughly six profiles on Goodreads and, along with two profiles I made during a similar but shorter breakdown in 2022, I boosted the rating of my book, bombed the rating of several fellow debut authors, and left reviews that ranged from kind of mean to downright abusive."
"Two of those authors — Molly X. Chang and Danille Jensen — are fellow Del Rey authors. Kamilah Cole and Bethany Baptiste just happened to be on the wrong Goodreads lists at the wrong time," she wrote. "I felt no ill will towards any of them, it was just my fear about how my book would be received running out of control."
She mentioned her reminiscences of this time are "extremely fuzzy" but that she takes "full ownership" of what she did. She additionally admitted to making up her buddy "Lilly" as well.
Cait said she was once going to an "intensive psychiatric care and rehab facility" but deliberate to achieve out in my view to those she affected.
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