In yet another Goodreads controversy, debut novelist Cait Corrain admitted last week to creating numerous Goodreads accounts for the purposes of giving one-star reviews to forthcoming debut novels while giving her own novel five stars. She also stands accused of intentionally targeting BIPOC authors with her one-star reviews. On Dec. 12, she posted an apology on Twitter/X that was met with overwhelming criticism. Her agent has dropped her, and her publisher Del Rey (an imprint of Penguin Random House) said her book is no longer on its publishing schedule. Here is a play-by-play of how the situation unfolded. Author Courtney Maum suggests that publishers have a greater responsibility to educate and support authors who are inevitably unprepared for their own book launches, either business-wise or psychologically.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
