Scandal Rocks Publishing as Debut Author Is Linked To Fake Goodreads Accounts That Review Bombed Peers
Over a half-dozen fake Goodreads accounts review bombed upcoming authors and books with similar themes, while also giving 5 stars to someone in their cohort. When confronted with this information, fellow debut author Cait Corrain claimed it was a friend taking action on their behalf, which left many unconvinced, and then privated most of their social media. Welcome to the latest scandal that has taken publishing by storm, going viral across X (Twitter), TikTok, Reddit, and other platforms.
For months, several authors noticed something weird on Goodreads and congregated to discuss it. They found the same nine+ Goodreads accounts 1-starring some of the same upcoming SFF debuts. These accounts also “liked” each other’s reviews. Comments left include things like “I can’t believe Del Rey spent half a million dollars on this when they could have spent half a million dollars on anything else. Sorry not sorry.” This review was left on Molly X. Chang’s book coming April 2024, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods.
These suspicious accounts giving one stars to books not out yet—and in many cases, books where the advanced reader copies haven’t been shipped—had other commonalities. All of the unreleased books come out in the first half of 2024. Also, these reviewers all gave the upcoming debut author Cait Corrain’s book, Greek mythology-in-space romantasy Crown of Starlight (another Del Rey title), a lot of positive attention. Every account gave Corrain’s book 5 stars and “liked” each other’s reviews. These fake accounts also added Crown of Starlight to Goodreads lists and upvoted the book across 37 lists.
This activity goes back as far as February 2023, with all the accounts active around the same days the last ten months. After affected authors and their peers began sub-tweeting about this in early December, these Goodreads profiles disappeared. According to accounts from those involved, they attempted to resolve the matter privately for some time. Frustrated by Corrain’s apparent deflections, on December 6 best-selling author Xiran Jay Zhao shared a public 31-page Google document to Twitter (“X”). This document contains screenshot/video evidence connecting those accounts to Corrain.
Authors speak up
Alongside Chang, the authors targeted include Kamilah Cole (So Let Them Burn), Bethany Baptiste (The Poisons We Drink), Frances White (Voyage of the Damned), and K.M. Enright (Mistress of Lies). Some books in the screenshots include reviews of Zhao’s The Iron Widow and Rebecca Yarros’ (who is in a number of her own controversies right now) Fourth Wing. While I’m only naming a handful of names, many of these accounts rated eight to two dozen books. Each account would dump a bunch of (mostly 1 or 5) star reviews at once.
In case you’re not seeing a pattern, all except one of the upcoming books review bombed are by people of color. Not that this would be okay to anyone of any background, but publishing—from staff to book selection—is overwhelmingly white. And these now-deleted reviewers didn’t “just” go after traditionally published authors, or books in the upcoming debut cohort. These accounts left several 1-star reviews on Black indie author R.M. Virtues‘ books. Yes, books plural.
After the tweets went viral, Zhao took to TikTok to explain their reasoning for sharing and to give a timeline of events. Zhao alleges that they were aware of these fake accounts for a while but never went public because the authors involved hoped to resolve the matter privately. According to Zhao, these authors were essentially told to “let it go.” When Zhao and others contacted Corrain’s agent, the Goodreads accounts disappeared. On December 5th, 2023, Corrain tweeted about the review bombers. However, Corrain’s tweets loosely imply that their book was among the several that got 1 stars, when they actually received many 5-star ratings. While Corrain didn’t say they received 5 stars, the omission implies 1 star because that’s how review-bombing generally works.
Scene: Slack, Enter: “Lilly”
Later that night and a day before dropping the Google Doc on Twitter, Zhao subtweeted about the situation and Cait Corrain’s name began to float around online. This time, publicly. In a Slack made up of 2024 debut authors, Corrain came forward that night and said they know that people think they’re behind the accounts. Leaked messages from the debut author Slack show that Corrain denied it. They stated they were trying to find the source of the review bombs.
The next morning, Corrain pointed to a former friend (“Lilly”) as the culprit and provided Discord screenshots of their conversation with “Lilly.” The timestamps of Discord interaction between “Lilly” and Corrain seem to be Photoshopped, and the conversation did little to convince anyone that there was truly a “Lilly” involved. The dialogue between Corrain and “Lilly” is highly dramatic, with a villainous twist for “Lilly” in the end. Many who saw the screenshot “proof” became even more convinced of Corrain’s involvement.
The images show “Lilly” admitting to the review manipulation. “Lilly” stated the targets were chosen based on titles Corrain previously mentioned she feared would take attention away from her novel, or those she was upset about the “desparity” [sic] in their advances. “Lilly” also chose books with better advances and/or deals from publishers. The images show the conversation going sour before “Lilly” dramatically turns on Corrain. It’s unclear if “Lilly” is a real person or fake like the Goodreads users. Skeptical of Corrain’s story, the victims (like Zhao) demanded more info and ways to reach out to “Lilly,” including asking that Corrain provide screenshots of previous conversations with Lilly. Apparently “Lilly” also disappeared. Corrain allegedly stopped responding in the Slack save claims that she was in communication with those impacted.
Now, there’s an infinitesimally small chance that none of this was Corrain and “Lilly” is real. Considering the inconsistencies in their chat and Corrain’s seeming inability to produce other conversations between themself and Lilly, that chance is vanishingly small. Generally, however, saying nothing publicly and locking down your accounts in hopes that you can survive the storm is the worst option. Especially as people begin to attack the victims of controversy. Misunderstanding AAVE, some have accused one of the targeted authors, Baptiste, of ableism, reframing her as the center of the controversy, and some articles on the Corrain scandal have focused as much on Baptiste as on Corrain’s alleged review bombing, which targeted a majority of writers of color.
While waiting for Corrain’s evidence, Baptiste tweeted that “debuts have to deal with an albino snake in a hen house.” This refers to an untrustworthy white person (Corrain) in their midst (Slack). Meredith Mooring, an author with Albinism and a friend of Corrain, and others accused Baptiste of referring to her. Mooring was one of the few people pushing back on Corrain’s account in Slack before they peace’d out. So, she saw the Baptiste tweets and assumed she was the “albino snake.” However “albino snake” tweet came before Corrain came forward and Mooring defended her. Then, some right-wing indie author watching #reviewbombgate unfold sicced his minions on Baptiste. Meanwhile, Baptiste is grieving the death of someone close to her and is one of the victims of the review bombing campaign. To center Baptiste in the coverage of Corrain’s alleged actions is wildly off the mark.
The Reylos and lack of accountability
Making matters worse, Thea Guanzon’s recently published book, The Hurricane Wars, was targeted by some of the reviewers. Guanzon had provided Corrain with a book blurb for her upcoming novel. Many of the authors targeted by “Lilly” say they have yet to be personally reached out to by Corrain.
Amid this discourse, the Reylos came out swinging. For those that don’t already know, Reylos are fans who ship Rey and Kylo Ren from Star Wars. There has been a surge in Reylo fanfic content going mainstream into traditional publishing, as the success of Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis and others have evidenced. Corrain had been part of the Reylo fandom, and those fake Goodreads accounts put Crown of Starlight on Reylo-related Goodreads lists.
Corrain appears to have tried to use the excuse that “Lilly” was mostly a random hanger-on that they picked up when they were in fandom, playing up a sort of unhinged fangirl stereotype. In short, Corrain threw Reylo fandom under the bus, which is never a smart thing to do—especially considering that many Reylos are close-knit and keep receipts. Essentially, a group primed to support Corrain’s debut turned on the author when an apparent sockpuppet “scheming Reylo” became the fall guy.
As the Corrain scandal and the “Lilly” excuse surfaced, many Reylos have spoken out against Corrain’s alleged behavior. According to Zhao, some Reylo fans claim the (obviously digitally edited) images showing Corrain confronting “Lilly” on Discord mirror Corrain’s writing style. Another Reylo fan said that they searched through millions of indexed tweets and could not find evidence for Lilly’s prior existence. I can’t speak much on the Reylo element except to confirm they are not pleased with Corrain.
Zhao cited Corrain’s silence on everything from the reviews to people dogpiling Baptiste as the final straw. That afternoon Zhao dropped the Google Doc. When cross-referencing tweets and dates between all others involved who haven’t privated their socials, Zhao’s timeline adds up. What’s particularly baffling and infuriating here is that Corrain seemed set up for a successful debut prior to the review bombing and deflection coming to light. Crown of Starlight had a strong marketing push behind it and a lot of buzz and positive reviews for early ARCs. Corrain has a two-book deal, the May Illumicrate pick, and by all accounts was headed toward success. Instead they appear to have blown up their career before it even began. If only Corrain understood the leg up they have and how one’s insecurity can result in material harm to others.
As of the time of writing, Corrain has yet to make a public statement. Nor has their publisher or agent. Nearly every social media Corrain holds has been made private. Public facing accounts are very important and basically requirements if you want a chance at success with your upcoming debut sci-fi novel. (Well, if you’re not already a celebrity or famous.) It’s possible that Corrain could stay quiet, evade accountability, and still be fine. Rather than take accountability, it may be that author and publisher are gambling on the scandal having died down by the time of the book’s release in May 2024. But those in publishing and dedicated readers have a long memory, and they aren’t liable to let this fade from view.
UPDATED 12/11/2023 3:30 P.M. CST: At 11:01 A.M., Corrain’s representative, Rebecca Podos, announced the end of their partnership with the author via Twitter. Twenty minutes later, Illumicrate shared Crown of Starlight would no longer be in the May 2024 Illumicrate Box pick. By 1:02 P.M., Del Rey took the book off its 2024 publishing schedule.
UPDATED 12/12/2023 9:58 A.M. CST: Yesterday, right before midnight, Corrain shared a two-page letter on Twitter admitting to being behind the Goodreads account and faking the conversation as “Lilly.”
Today at 8:84AM, the U.K. publisher Daphne Press also removed her title from its publishing schedule. Daphne Press also stated they reached out to Del Rey to “discuss extent of our contract obligations.”
(featured image: Del Rey, edited by Alyssa Shotwell)
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