This week’s Let’s Talk Bookish prompts is all about “Author Controversies.”
The prompt: For this topic, Jillain wrote that she thought of this topic because of the situation with Cait Corrain, the author who lost her book deal after posting fake negative Goodreads reviews of other books in attempt to sabotage those authors. Did you hear about the Cait Corrain situation? Do you often keep up with or read about author/bookish controversies? Do situations such as this one impact your reading choices?
Let’s Talk Bookish is a bookish meme that was created by Rukky @ Eternity Books where each Friday, bloggers write posts discussing the topic of the week. Since April 2022, it has been hosted by the lovely Aria @ Book Nook Bits.
Did you hear about the Cait Corrain situation?
I did hear about the Cait Corrain situation. I believe the first time I saw the story was on TikTok, and that was only when the story was just breaking. I did follow the story, and I remember being shocked that someone would spend so much time creating multiple accounts to review bomb author’s debut works.
I also remember thinking that the way the author got caught was so silly. Why she decided to leave a bunch of one star reviews but then give five star reviews to her own book and then thought she wouldn’t get caught is laughable to me.
I saw she left an “apology” on the matter, but I didn’t really follow anything after that. It’s already hard enough for authors to navigate the competitive world that is publishing, but having to deal with someone engaging in actions as deceptive as review bombing under fake accounts is just unacceptable. In this case, it was easy to avoid her book since it got pulled from the publisher.
Do you often keep up with or read about author/bookish controversies?
The answer is yes, but in a somewhat casual fashion. I don’t actively seek out drama in the literary world, but if a controversy pops up on my BookTok or Bookstagram, I will likely do a deep dive. I try and find as many viewpoints of the story as possible, so that I can be aware of who I should avoid supporting.
I feel like most of the controversies I see are related to author’s poor behavior after receiving negative reviews. I do not remember the exact author, but I remember that the instance blew up after she was tweeting out at reviewers who gave her book three or less stars.
Do situations such as this one impact your reading choices?
Absolutely. I can think of one very recent example for me. As I have mentioned many times, I am trying to read my Netgalley backlist in 2024. I have books dating back to 2019, so many of the books are old releases. I was about to read one of the books, The Ninth Life by Taylor B. Barton, when I noticed a bunch of 1-star reviews.
After a little bit of research, I found out that the author had been involved in some racist and rude behavior towards other authors and was actually dropped from their publishing house (the book hasn’t even been published anymore). I took that as a sign to not waste my time on the e-ARC because I don’t have time to read a book by someone who has been that disrespectful towards others.
The actual crazy thing about me learning this is the timing! Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the author Jupiter Wyse, a trans, Latinx fantasy author. In a crazy turn of events, Jupiter Wyse ended up being Taylor B. Barton, a white author….AND THEN IT HAPPENED AGAIN!! Watch this TikTok video…it’s insane!!
Another example is JK Rowling. After her transphobic comments (and her continual support of her comments), I can not support anything of hers ever again. I have kept my Harry Potter copies, but I will never buy another Harry Potter book. I haven’t even played the new Hogwarts Legacy game, because Rowling’s actions disgusted me.
Overall thoughts
While I don’t think it is necessary to constantly be on the look out for controversies, I think it is important that we try and educate ourselves whenever we come across a “controversy.” It is the classic argument of “are we able to separate the artist from the art?” and in most cases, I personally am unable to do so.
Okie dokes! That’s a wrap for this week’s discussion!
Let’s chat in the comments! Do you follow author controversies? Has it ever impacted your reading?