Debut author Cait Corrain caught review-bombing other authors' debut books on Goodreads
If you as a debut author are going to make a bunch of fake Goodreads accounts one-star-bombing fellow debuts you're threatened by can you at least not make it so obvious by upvoting your own book on a bajillion different lists with those same accounts
- 𝕏iran * PREORDER HEAVENLY TYRANT (@XiranJayZhao) December 6, 2023
Never a dull day on book twitter, as debut author Cait Corrain was apparently exposed by fellow authors for review-bombing 2024 book debuts. People noticed some blatantly fake Goodreads accounts (using POC usernames) giving 1 star ratings to upcoming book debuts (by BIPOC authors), while upvoting and giving high ratings to Cait Corrain's upcoming book. Said book is a Reylo self insert greek mythology sci-fi retelling featuring Ariadne and Dionysus (with dubious research behind it considering the heroine's name translates to "Dome" and the author somehow missed the fact that greek women's surnames are in genitive case).
When confronted about the burner accounts and review bombing, Cait claimed it was all done by a friend of hers from the Reylo fandom and provided some screenshots from her chat with said "friend". Considering the timestamps on the screenshots are obviously wrong, it's safe to assume the images were doctored and it's also doubtful the "friend" even exists.
Feel free to read this thread explaining things a bit more in depth:
HOKAY, for anyone else on Writer Twitter who just woke up to a bunch of weird memes and posts about Goodreads and Reylo and reviews, here's a recap thread, as best I can manage. Buckle up as this is gonna be a long one: 🧵
- Leif Leif Leif (@Natalie_Leif) December 6, 2023
Some of the books and authors targeted if you want to support them:
Kamilah Cole - So Let Them Burn
Bethany Baptiste - The Poisons We Drink
Molly X Chang - To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods
Frances White - Voyage of the Damned
KM Enright - Mistress of Lies
RM Virtues - Gods of Hunger series
Author Xiran Jay Zhao has also posted a link to extensive evidence of the review bombing after a friend of Cait's tried to turn people against one of the authors affected by the review bombing, Bethany Baptiste, for being rightfully upset:
OK I've had enough. How fucking dare anyone spread lies about Bethany, one of the victims of the review bombing, to deflect from the allegations
Here are 31 pages of receipts of the review bombing. Everyone, judge for yourself.https://t.co/mYCsacgMOU https://t.co/GG3B18WoJl
- 𝕏iran * PREORDER HEAVENLY TYRANT (@XiranJayZhao) December 6, 2023
Cait Corrain has since locked all social media accounts. It should also be noted, as another BIPOC author affected by the review bombing observed, that the burners gave 1-star ratings to his greek mythology inspired books while giving 5 star ratings to the greek mythology inspired books of a white author. It wouldn't be a reach to assume that this entire debacle might be less about competition and more about racism.
source: 1, 2, 3, 4