Author Loses Book Deal After Blaming Star Wars Fans for Bizarre Review-Bombing Scheme [Update]
gizmodo.com
Cait Corrain's behavior has lead to her debut novel A Crown of Starlight getting removed from Del Rey's 2024 slate.

Article by Gizmodo: It reports on the recently uncovered scheme of a debut novelist who attempted to tank the reviews of fellow writers on Goodreads. When the manipulation came to light, the novelist attempted to wiggle out of the ensuing kerfuffle with even more bizarre claims.

  • glimse@lemmy.world
    9·
    11 months ago

    Update: Late Monday evening, Corrain confirmed that she’d been review bombing POC authors, attributing it to past struggles with mental health. As she explained on Twitter, she had a mental breakdown earlier this month, which resulted in her creating the Goodreads accounts to boost A Crown of Starlight’s rating and negatively review the books of other debut fantasy/sci-fi novels.

    “Two of those authors—Molly X. Chang and Danielle Jensen—are fellow Del Rey authors,” Corrain said. “Kamilah Cole and Bethany Baptiste just happened to be on the wrong Goodreads list at the wrong time. I felt no ill will towards them, it was just my fear of how my book would be received running out of control. […] I’m sorrier than you’ll ever know, and there’s nothing I can say to erase what I did to you.”

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    Corrain further confirmed that her alleged friend “Lilly” was non-existent, acknowledging that it only further exacerbated the issue. In taking “full responsibility” to what happened, she said she’ll be reaching out to the affected authors and going into an intensive psychiatric care and rehab facility. “All I can do going forward is to try to live my life in a way that shows you there aren’t empty words.”

    While Del Rey has removed A Crown of Starlight from its 2024 schedule, Amazon currently lists the book’s release as May 11, 2027.

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