Malicious Sockpuppetry, Racism, And Plagiarism

The latest Goodreads drama over author Cait Corrain's setting up sockpuppet accounts to downvote books by several authors and upvote their upcoming romantasy debut came to a head when their agent and publisher cut ties with them when the whole thing blew up.

At least one observer expressed puzzlement over Corrain's actions: why would a debut author set to make a huge splash self-sabotage like this? Just how much of an emotional stake did they have on the debut that they would resort to gaming the system in their favour?

Corrain has issued a statement, claiming that a medication-induced mental breakdown over her novel's performance compelled her to review-bomb the books. Considering that her targets were mostly writers of colour, some don't buy that, including The Mary Sue: "Starting a new medication doesn't turn someone into a racist."

Goodreads has always been in the spotlight for shenanigans such as review-bombing, the practice of inundating titles on the site with one-star reviews to make it less popular. This strategy is egregious, especially when it targets authors from minority groups and upcoming titles that have yet to be released. While Goodreads has pledged to do something about it, cracking down on review-bombers and and such is tough. Any engagement on the platform is seen as valid, regardless of intent.


Pathologically self-destructive?
Corrain isn't the only author behaving badly of late. Barely a week after her scandal another Twitter (no way I'm calling it X) dust-up involving authors has one accuse another of plagiarism because their POC protagonist has solar-related powers, "just like mine!" The claim has been met with derision, because who has a monopoly on the sun? Some commenters have helpfully provided a list of fictional characters and mythological figures associated with the sun, just to rub it in.

Another author charged some parties with plagiarising his fan fiction: a sequel to the JRR Tolkien classic The Lord of the Rings. And who did he try to sue? Amazon, for "infringing" his work's copyright with the Rings of Power TV series, and the Tolkien estate. Predictably, the move backfired. The estate has since sued the fanfic author for copyright violation, and obtained an injuction to prevent him from distributing the book and to destroy all physical and digital copies. He was also ordered to pay legal costs.

An earlier case was about books that non-fiction ghostwriter Kristin Loberg worked on, which were found to contain plagiarised material. Publishers of some affected works reissued updated versions of the books without the borrowed parts and mentions of Loberg.

The LA Times noted the publishers' silence over the Loberg issue and suggested that Lobergs' workload – 46 books in about 17 years – was one reason behind her corner-cutting. "In addition to outside sources, Loberg frequently borrowed sections from her projects with other clients," goes the report. "The result was a sort of ouroboros of wellness content across multiple books."

The imagery of a snake devouring itself from the tail onwards aptly describes the self-destructive behaviour of these authors. Some of them can't seem to help themselves. Are they deluded or creating outrage to farm for attention or clout? At least one person believes it could be the latter in the case of They Who Tried to Copyright the Sun™ because no one can get their head that far up their ass. These days though, it's hard to tell. Could be both for all we know.


Tougher than swimming upriver
Several authors targeted by Corrain say this sort of attack and how the publishers involved handled it is "illustrative of racism deeply rooted within the literary industry." "Black people, we got to work twice as hard to get half as far," author RM Virtues told The Daily Beast. "In the publishing industry: twice as hard to get a quarter as far. And she had time to do all of this? To us?"

Publishing in the anglophone world remains overwhelmingly white, despite the growing inclusion of Black, Indigenous or people of color (BIPOC) in the sector. Which is perhaps why businesses like those of Dhonielle Clayton, who's aiming to make books more diverse by pitching ideas for fiction with characters from various backgrounds, play a vital role.

"In an industry that's long had a diversity problem, Ms. Clayton has sometimes struggled to get publishers on board," The New York Times reported. "She's received countless rejections, and has heard many variations of the argument that books centered on people of color don't sell. But in the past decade, her packaging business has sold 57 books; 41 of which have been sold since 2020."


Expanding and deepening the pool
Diverse books appear to be on the up and up, an encouraging trend that makes opinion pieces like this one in The Telegraph glaring. While I'm against censorship and retroactive editing of previously published works, to say that sensitivity reading and "woke books" have destroyed publishing is a bit much.

Publishers pushing for diverse books is not "shallow", though I believe it has more to do with the bottom line rather than altruism. So what if the titles cited in The Telegraph tanked even though publishers paid a bomb for them? Maybe work out more realistic publishing deals and stop shelling out so much for books?

And the "independent publishers" the article mentions who are stepping in with good stories "while major publishing houses are busy maximising their ideological purity and preventing themselves from making money"? A publisher that "has published books including former Levi's executive Jennifer Sey's "Levi's Unbuttoned: The Woke Mob Took My Job But Gave Me My Voice" and journalist Chadwick Moore's biography of Tucker Carlson, a New York Times bestseller."

Jennifer Sey, a former Levi's executive, is part of a think tank that is against COVID-19 measures such as masking and vaccine mandates. She also opposed school closures during the COVID pandemic and is a critic of the "woke mob" and cancel culture. Besides the Tucker Carlson biography, Chadwick Moore also wrote a book that decries "forced" diversity, equity, and inclusion training in the US as part of "a corrupt political ideology".

Stellar examples of free speech. Genre-bending queer feminist Westerns sound more palatable and less toxic than what amounts to right-wing figures making bank by peddling their outrage and victimhood. Voices worth uplifting might include those represented by indie publisher Whiskey Tit in Hancock, Vermont:

Take Charlotte and the Chickenman by Aina Hunter, about a futuristic society in which a group of animal rights activists proposes consuming white people as the most ethical form of eating. Or Postal Child by Granville author Joey Truman, about a boy who grows up in an abusive environment in Brooklyn and finds solace in befriending pigeons.

Just because diverse books aren't minting millions doesn't mean they're not being read. How much of it has to do with the gatekeeping that happens in the industry post-publication? How hard are publishers marketing diverse works? If anything, more effort is needed to diversify the publishing industry as more and more minority writers find their voices and hone their craft.

If publishers aren't keen on works by or about people of colour because "they don't sell", readers can make sure they do by broadening their horizons and reading more of such works. When the numbers go up, perhaps publishers will listen, and not because of the need for diversity for its own sake.

Book Marks: BookTok on BBC, Salled Ben Joned

All right, let's get to it, shall we?

• A self-published author and a bookshop owner tell the BBC how #BookTok is changing lives and publishing. But is the hashtag "pushing other book review sites to the side"? A clutch of one-minute videos may feel more genuine than text reviews, but in the age of AI, who can say? Different formats can complement or compete with each other. It doesn't have to be a zero-sum game.
• "For most of my life, I was never really aware of the impact of his work. But in my 40s, I became aware that he had contributed something quite unique and important to Malaysian culture." Sydney-based journalist, singer and guitarist Anna Salleh, eldest daughter of poet-writer Salleh Ben Joned, launched a new book that chronicles her father's life and literary journey.
• "Geungsi is my first local creation and graphic novel after settling back down in Singapore. I wanted to produce more local works for my own country. I was hopeful and until today, I think I'm still hopeful, but I realised that it's not as easy as I thought." Singaporean author Sean Lam hopes to make the jiangshi (reanimated corpse in Chinese folklore) trendy again through his work.
• In an edited extract from author Monica Ali’s 2023 PEN HG Wells lecture, she talks about experimenting with AI and comes off not worrying too much about AI taking over from human writers. What concerns Ali more is that "the bookpocalypse, when or if it comes, will mean an increasing homogenisation, driven by a 'dataset' that is simultaneously massive and narrow in its worldview, supported by a 'more like this' algorithm that crowds out diverse voices or those that challenge the status quo."
• Does jacket copy say too much sometimes? Tajja Isen at The Walrus seems to think so. She seems to feel that jacket or back-cover copy in some books sets up what readers should expect from and feel about them in a way that's "controlling, even demeaning" when all she wants is "a premise and some vibes, a taste of tone, a flicker of the voice the book contains. I don't want to be told what's about to happen, even in the vaguest sense. And I definitely don't want to be told what it's 'about.'"
• The spate of book bannings in the United States have people across the Atlantic a little bothered. Some attempts to stealth-ban books seem to have been made, but for now, the kind of fever engulfing the States is not likely to cross over to the United Kingdom ... yet. Back in the States, public libraries are fighting back against book banning. The San Diego Public Library is participating in the Books Unbanned programme that provides access to scores of books pulled from shelves at public and school libraries.
• Books by and about Palestinians have been censored or kept out of the limelight for decades, but since 7 October, Palestinian authors, and other figures seen to be supporting the Palestinian cause, have been facing discrimination, including the cancellation of their appearances at events.

Book Marks: Genres, Singapore Libraries, Ian Fleming's Productivity Hack

"Genre is a confining madness; it says nothing about how writers write or readers read, and everything about how publishers, retailers and commentators would like them to," writes Alex Clark in The Guardian. "This is not to criticise the many talented personnel in those areas, who valiantly swim against the labels their industry has alighted on to shift units as quickly and smoothly as possible."

The title of the article asks whether literary genres should be abolished, but I don't think it's necessary. And Clark's example of "a boiled egg" for lunch and something "complicated" and "unfamiliar" at dinner time strikes a chord with those whose lunchtime go-to on some days might be a kopitiam breakfast set of half-boiled eggs with kaya toast. "These are not perceived as contradictions, but as perfectly reasonable options available to those of us lucky enough to have them," he writes.

Let genres stay. If publishers or agents can't find a suitable pigeonhole for the next possible hit, be certain that new ones will be invented.

Okay, moving on...

• Libraries across the United States and the United Kingdom are closing down, but those in Singapore seem to be adapting to changes in the reading and literary landscape. In Channel News Asia, Singapore's National Library Board reported that "as of August, 78 per cent of Singapore residents visited NLB’s libraries and archives and accessed its content in the preceding year, up from 61.7 per cent in 2022, and 72.5 per cent in 2019 pre-COVID-19.
• "Innovators and business professionals are constantly bombarded with stimuli that fragment their attention. The proliferation of digital devices and social media means that distractions are not just external but also reside in our pockets, making concentrated work a significant challenge." A solution? Ian Fleming's "Rule of Forced Boredom": putting himself in a distraction-free environment where he could either write or do zilch. But to write a book in two weeks?
• "While many people know the city for its military base, Paju [in South Korea] is also home to the nation’s elaborate book publishing hub — officially known as Paju Publishing Culture, Information and National Industrial Park but commonly referred to as Paju Book City. Around 900 book-related businesses, including printing presses, distribution companies and design studios, line the streets, and signs reading 'Paju Book City' are everywhere." Not sure why this idea isn't as widespread as it should be, but one supposes that political will and leadership play a role.
• "If Prophet Song is a dystopia, then, like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale, it's one whose events are already happening around the world. ... The recent rioting in Dublin, and the shock and disbelief that greeted it, give the novel an uncomfortable extra timeliness." In The Guardian, Justine Jordan believes the winner of the 2023 Booker Prize is – or should be – waking western societies up to the forces threatening their sociopolitical fabric.
• In the wake of a shark attack, Mike Coots took up photography and shark conservation. His book, Shark: Portraits, is part of those efforts. "His book is a way to hopefully get the masses to look at sharks in a different light; not as murderous creatures stalking humans, but as an incredibly beautiful example of evolution. The book is years in the making. Thousands of photos taken over nearly a decade culled down to 200."
• "...Reylo fanfiction is no longer something you can just find on sites like AO3. In fact, several Reylo authors have made the jump from fanfiction to traditional publishing in recent years, transforming their fics into original works you can find at your local bookstore." The romantical shipping of Star Wars characters Rey and Kylo Ren goes mainstream with Reylo-inspired fiction and audiences are lovin' it.
• "Every generation decries the fall of civilization and the lack of young kids reading," Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan tells Rolling Stone. "You can find quotes from the ancient Greeks talking about how the world is doomed because of ’these kids today.’ Personally, I think kids are our best reason to be hopeful, and I think they will keep reading as long as we give them stories they love." YA authors including Riordan defend the genre as movie adaptations of YA works flounder.