A debut young adult novelist has been dropped by her publisher and forced to apologize after she was caught creating a fake Goodreads account for “one star” bombarding her non-white rivals while lavishing praise on her own book.
Cait Corrain, whose book “Crown of Starlight” is set to be released in May, admitted in a social media post that she was behind the eight fake accounts – and not a well-meaning friend as she originally claimed.
The author blames his actions on alcohol and drug abuse, as well as a “complete psychological breakdown” that occurred earlier this month.
“Since June 2022, I have been fighting a losing battle against depression, alcoholism and substance abuse, the full scope of which I have hidden from everyone in my life due to shame and the misguided belief that with the right medication or enough. therapy, I can get over it,” Corrain wrote in an apology she shared to Instagram.
The novelist explained that the account was created shortly after he “had a complete psychological breakdown” earlier this month.
“I created about six profiles on Goodreads and, along with two profiles I created during a similar but shorter breakdown in 2022,” he said.
“I improved my book rating…” and “bombed the ratings of some debut author friends.”
Several authors have been “one-star bombed,” including Molly X. Chang, Danielle Jensen, Kamilah Cole and Bethany Baptiste. However, Corrain admits that “his recollection of this is very hazy, so there may have been some other authors.”
Debut author Cait Corrain has apologized for creating a fake Goodreads account to bomb her competitors. Instagram/Cait Corrain
Screenshots of several posts Corrain reportedly made, available in public Google Docs, show him writing a novel, “This is absolutely horrible and everyone who likes it should be ashamed of themselves.”
In another instance, he commented: “This is so bad, I’m actually writing a review about it. It’s terrible, everyone who says otherwise will live [drugs].”
Corrain also admitted in his apology that he consisted of “non-existent friends who should be blamed.”
“I betrayed the trust of my agent, my pub team, my readers and my friends, and I betrayed my deeply held values,” Corrain wrote.
He went on to say that while he “may not be conscious or in his right mind at the moment,” he accepts “responsibility for the pain and suffering I’ve caused, and my delay in posting this is due to spending the last few days offline while going through withdrawal because I aware enough to be honest with you and myself.”
In an apology posted to Instagram, Corrain blamed his actions on alcohol and drug abuse, as well as a “complete psychological breakdown” earlier this month. Instagram/Cait Corrain She said she is now checking herself into “intensive psychiatric care and a rehabilitation facility” because she denies that the authors were targeted because of their race. Instagram/Cait Corrain
“I know some of you will never forgive me, and I realize you don’t have to,” Corrain wrote. “Nobody wants to be judged by their worst actions, but that’s not always up to us.”
He added that he would contact the author he bombed directly, and would “check intensive psychiatric treatment and rehabilitation facilities.”
But Corrain apparently denied that any of the authors were targeted because of their race, writing that he felt “no malice toward any of them” and that at least two of the authors “happened to be on the wrong Goodreads list in the wrong way. .”
Several authors did not accept the explanation, with Bethany Baptiste, author of the forthcoming book “The Poisons We Drink” writing: “I’ll wait for that apology.”
Baptiste added that Corrain “gaslits,” “lies in public and in private” and “pins it all on fictional people who have fans.
“It was intentional. On purpose. He was asked many times to act when no one knew his name. He continued to lie after everyone knew his name,” Baptiste posted on X.
The fake account left comments praising Corrain’s upcoming book, while saying others were “terrible.” X/@XiranJayZhao
Corrain’s actions first came to light when New York Times bestselling author Xiran Jay Zhao — who uses the pronouns they/them — released what they called “31 pages of receipts” in publicly available Google Docs, revealing the fake accounts Corrain had created long ago again as April.
The author of the hit novel “Iron Widow” said Corrain “puts out what should be a ton of effort to make themselves look legitimate by reviewing dozens of books.”
“But what gave the game away was that they would always rate one particular book, ‘Crown of Starlight’ by Cait Corrain on a bunch of different lists,” Xiran said. in a video posted to X.
“I’ve known about this for a while, but I’m holding my tongue because the victims want me to,” they said.
“They wanted to try and solve it privately at first, and this didn’t work. They were told to let it go… I’m not going to let it go.”
Corrain’s actions first came to light when New York Times bestselling author Xiray Jay Zhao released what they called “31 pages of receipts in publicly available Google Docs. X/@XiranJayZhao
Xiran stated that when they first realized what was happening, they instructed Corrain to come forward, post on X: “I’m not going to divulge a lot of receipts so I don’t ruin this person’s career before it starts, but if they do anything in the same vein… action will be taken.”
Xiran said they were then contacted by “an associate of Cait who claimed that the account was created by a friend who ‘thought they were helping.'”
Xiran later shared a screenshot of an alleged conversation between Corrain and a friend named “Lilly,” which Xiran said felt “stiff.”
They also claim the timestamps between messages keep jumping between “today” and “yesterday.”
“What is this quantum dynamical time travel conversation?” they asked in their video, adding, “I don’t believe that explanation.”
Xiran said they then demanded more screenshots of the conversation between “Lilly” and Corrain – which were never provided.
Xiran said they were contacted by “an associate of Cait who claimed that the account was created by a friend who ‘thought they were helping'” – which Corrain later admitted he made up. X/@XiranJayZhao
Meanwhile, Xiran said, Corrain led to X trying to paint himself as one of the victims of the review bombing.
Xiran didn’t say what he said in the video, but a screenshot of a post made from Corrain’s X account included in a Google Doc reads: “Unpleasant surprise today to find out there’s a fake account messing with my GR rating recently.
“If you have REALLY read my book and want to rate and review it, that’s great, because pre-release reader interest tells my publisher that my book is worth the investment!” Corrain reportedly aired on December 5.
“I think this explains why my ratings fluctuate so much,” he wrote. “If you like my book, please rate and review it.
“If you hate it, you have the right to share your opinion too, but creating a fake account to manipulate the rating of my book is something else.”
Corrain reportedly took over X to try to paint himself as one of the victims of the review bombing. X/@XiranJayZhao
Finally, in a private Slack channel for the 2024 debut author, Xiran said, Corrain “admitted” to being the subject of the post and “continued the friend’s explanation” but “the group didn’t buy it” and also demanded further proof “Lilly” existed because all her social media accounts had been deleted .
When Xiran finally published the evidence, they said it was like they “dropped a nuke on Twitter Books.”
Publisher Corrain Del Rey Books has now dropped her upcoming novel, described as a “reimagining of the story of Ariadne and Dionysus—the first book in a snarky, whimsical, lush romantic duology set in a galaxy of hideous, bloodthirsty humans. gods, and enough love violent to destroy the cosmos.”
“We are aware of the ongoing discussion around author Cait Corrain,” Del Rey sent to X. “‘Crown of Starlight’ is no longer on our 2024 release schedule.”
Corrain’s agent, Rebecca Podos, also cut ties with the author, writing: “Cait and I will not be continuing our partnership going forward.
Corrain has since been dropped by her producer and agent. Instagram/Cait Corrain
“I really appreciate the patience of those who were directly affected by the events of last week when I went through a difficult situation,” Podos writes.
Meanwhile, UK publisher Daphne Press also take X to say: “We are aware of the conversation around Cait Corrain, one of our 2024 authors.
“We are looking into the allegations, talking to the relevant parties and determining the best way to move forward once we have all the information. We will make an announcement as soon as this can be done.”
In their video, Xiran says he honestly doesn’t “know why Cait is trying to do all this when they have a traditional publishing deal.”
They noted that Corrain’s book “got really great reviews from advanced readers.
“You ever see someone destroy their own life?” asked Xiran. “Jealousy is your disease.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
