A First-Time Author Lost A Book Deal After She Was Accused Of Trying To Sabotage Reviews Of Other Authors
NBC NEWS
A first-time author has been dropped by her U.S. publisher and her agent after readers and fellow authors accused her of posting fake negative reviews to a popular book recommendation website.
Many within the book community last week appeared to publicly turn against Cait Corrain, the author of the coming sci-fi fantasy novel "Crown of Starlight," after allegations surfaced that she made fake accounts on the Amazon-owned book review platform Goodreads to post negative user reviews online about fellow authors — a practice known as review-bombing.
Del Rey Books, owned by Penguin Random House, said Monday on X that it was "aware of the ongoing discussion" around Corrain, who goes by she/they pronouns, and that her book, originally scheduled for publication on May 14, is no longer on its 2024 publishing schedule.
Corrain's book agent, Rebecca Podos, also said she has cut ties with Corrain.
"Cait and I will not be continuing our partnership moving forward," Podos wrote on X. "I deeply appreciate the patience of those directly impacted by last week's events as I worked through a difficult situation."
The controversy, which has been discussed by book lovers across platforms, has put a fresh spotlight on the book industry’s ongoing challenges with Goodreads, which has taken on outsize importance in the publishing world for its ability to make or break new authors. Its importance has been complicated by the prevalence of review-bombing, a problem the website has struggled to contain, even going as far as to ask its users in October to report the "authenticity of ratings and reviews" on the platform.
Suspicion around Corrain's alleged anonymous review-bombing first emerged when writers noticed several of the same accounts leaving scathing one-star reviews on unreleased books from other authors. Many of them were also debut titles to be released in the first half of next year. Internet users also noted that the vast majority of targeted books were written by people of color.
Those accounts, which appeared to "like" one another’s reviews, seemed to be further connected when people discovered they all rated “Crown of Starlight” five stars and upvoted it across dozens of Goodreads book lists.
Corrain has made many of her social media accounts private, including those on Instagram and X. On TikTok, just one video from Nov. 30, featuring the U.K. cover art for the book, was up Monday.
Before she made her X account private, Corrain had written a post addressing the rumors. She reportedly claimed a friend had been behind the review-bombing and shared screenshots of Discord conversations between her and the alleged culprit, “Lilly.” But observers were not convinced — many pointed out disparities in the timestamps that make the screenshot conversations appear edited.
NBC News was unable to reach Corrain directly for comment through message requests on Tumblr and Instagram, which her website lists as among the platforms to reach her.
Podos did not immediately respond to requests for comment by email. A spokesperson for Penguin Random House also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for Goodreads, which has not issued a public statement on the matter, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment by email.
The platform, which launched in January 2007 as a website for readers to post their book recommendations, said in a blog post that it “welcomes a wide variety of reviews—whether positive or negative—but prohibits reviews that are not relevant to the book, harass readers or authors, or attempt to artificially deflate or inflate the overall rating of the book.”
Though the activity stretches back months, the allegations did not go viral until last week, when Canadian author and internet personality Xiran Jay Zhao blasted the situation on X, later sharing a 31-page Google Doc of screenshots capturing the alleged fake reviews and a now-deleted X post from Corrain.
Bethany Baptiste was among the authors who appeared to be targets of the review-bombing. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a lengthy post on X about Podos' dropping Corrain, she said that "it’s good to see Cait face the consequences of her own actions."
However, she added: "There was plenty of time for a private apology to be issued before a public announcement. I’ve spent days defending my name & reputation while Cait had the privilege to hide. Dropping her doesn’t absolve you."
Corrain continues to face professional repercussions.
Illumicrate, a subscription box for books, announced Monday that “Crown of Starlight” will no longer be included in its May box. Its specialty small press arm, Daphne Press, has also said it is investigating how best to proceed in light of the allegations.
Corrain's Goodreads author page is still public, and some people have already started review-bombing her title. “Crown of Starlight” currently has a 3.94 rating. A Goodreads user updated an existing review, writing: "Yeah, no. I definitely can’t support an author who review-bombs their fellow (mostly BIPOC) 2024 debuts. This is just embarrassing."
A first-time author has been dropped by her U.S. publisher and her agent after readers and fellow authors accused her of posting fake negative reviews to a popular book recommendation website.
Many within the book community last week appeared to publicly turn against Cait Corrain, the author of the coming sci-fi fantasy novel "Crown of Starlight," after allegations surfaced that she made fake accounts on the Amazon-owned book review platform Goodreads to post negative user reviews online about fellow authors — a practice known as review-bombing.
Del Rey Books, owned by Penguin Random House, said Monday on X that it was "aware of the ongoing discussion" around Corrain, who goes by she/they pronouns, and that her book, originally scheduled for publication on May 14, is no longer on its 2024 publishing schedule.
Corrain's book agent, Rebecca Podos, also said she has cut ties with Corrain.
"Cait and I will not be continuing our partnership moving forward," Podos wrote on X. "I deeply appreciate the patience of those directly impacted by last week's events as I worked through a difficult situation."
The controversy, which has been discussed by book lovers across platforms, has put a fresh spotlight on the book industry’s ongoing challenges with Goodreads, which has taken on outsize importance in the publishing world for its ability to make or break new authors. Its importance has been complicated by the prevalence of review-bombing, a problem the website has struggled to contain, even going as far as to ask its users in October to report the "authenticity of ratings and reviews" on the platform.
Suspicion around Corrain's alleged anonymous review-bombing first emerged when writers noticed several of the same accounts leaving scathing one-star reviews on unreleased books from other authors. Many of them were also debut titles to be released in the first half of next year. Internet users also noted that the vast majority of targeted books were written by people of color.
Those accounts, which appeared to "like" one another’s reviews, seemed to be further connected when people discovered they all rated “Crown of Starlight” five stars and upvoted it across dozens of Goodreads book lists.
Corrain has made many of her social media accounts private, including those on Instagram and X. On TikTok, just one video from Nov. 30, featuring the U.K. cover art for the book, was up Monday.
Before she made her X account private, Corrain had written a post addressing the rumors. She reportedly claimed a friend had been behind the review-bombing and shared screenshots of Discord conversations between her and the alleged culprit, “Lilly.” But observers were not convinced — many pointed out disparities in the timestamps that make the screenshot conversations appear edited.
NBC News was unable to reach Corrain directly for comment through message requests on Tumblr and Instagram, which her website lists as among the platforms to reach her.
Podos did not immediately respond to requests for comment by email. A spokesperson for Penguin Random House also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for Goodreads, which has not issued a public statement on the matter, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment by email.
The platform, which launched in January 2007 as a website for readers to post their book recommendations, said in a blog post that it “welcomes a wide variety of reviews—whether positive or negative—but prohibits reviews that are not relevant to the book, harass readers or authors, or attempt to artificially deflate or inflate the overall rating of the book.”
Though the activity stretches back months, the allegations did not go viral until last week, when Canadian author and internet personality Xiran Jay Zhao blasted the situation on X, later sharing a 31-page Google Doc of screenshots capturing the alleged fake reviews and a now-deleted X post from Corrain.
Bethany Baptiste was among the authors who appeared to be targets of the review-bombing. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a lengthy post on X about Podos' dropping Corrain, she said that "it’s good to see Cait face the consequences of her own actions."
However, she added: "There was plenty of time for a private apology to be issued before a public announcement. I’ve spent days defending my name & reputation while Cait had the privilege to hide. Dropping her doesn’t absolve you."
Corrain continues to face professional repercussions.
Illumicrate, a subscription box for books, announced Monday that “Crown of Starlight” will no longer be included in its May box. Its specialty small press arm, Daphne Press, has also said it is investigating how best to proceed in light of the allegations.
Corrain's Goodreads author page is still public, and some people have already started review-bombing her title. “Crown of Starlight” currently has a 3.94 rating. A Goodreads user updated an existing review, writing: "Yeah, no. I definitely can’t support an author who review-bombs their fellow (mostly BIPOC) 2024 debuts. This is just embarrassing."
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