Biggest Scandals I’ve Seen in the Online Bookish Community

Or at least my circles of the online book world which is pretty much exclusively in the world of Young Adult books.

I’ve been involved in the online book world for years now (I started blogging in 2011). The community is largely a fun place to be. Unfortunately, it can also be drama filled and sometimes terrifying place to be.

Here’s a round up of some of the biggest scandals/issues in the community that I watched unfold in real time.

The Story Siren & Plagiarism (2012)

Kristi @ The Story Siren was one of the biggest book bloggers in the Young Adult world. She had access to ARCs & publishers when that was still a new and awe-inspiring thing. She hosted weekly link up/meme things where other book bloggers could share links & discover new bloggers. She shared blogging advice. All in all, she was super helpful to me as a newer blogger & was a blogging inspiration to many book bloggers.

The bombshell: Kristi was caught & called out for plagiarizing another blogger’s content.

Links to read:

• I Think We’ve Been Plagiarized… Sort of: The Story of the Content Thief! [Post from blog that was plagiarized]
  • A Tale of Plagiarism Continued: Clarification of The Story Siren’s Clarification
• B*tch stole my content! Plagiarism: How to Deal with a Thief
• Plagiarism and The Story Siren

Stop the Goodreads Bullies (2012)

Relations between authors and reviewers has never been great. In this age of easy access to technology, reviewers can easily put their thoughts on a book online for others to read. Goodreads has long been a favorite site to share reviews.

Some authors felt ‘wronged’ by Goodreads & the reviewers there. There’s no way to ‘regulate’ reviews, have proof if someone actually read a book, & authors felt some reviewers had too much power (if a popular reviewer gave a book a bad review, it was difficult for an author to turn things around).

The bombshell: It got to a point where some authors banned together to form a website called ‘Stop the Goodreads Bullies’ and doxxed information about reviewers in an effort to stop…the bullying?

Links to read:

• Bullying & Goodreads
• The GoodReads Bullying Drama
• STGrB: Keeping The Public Informed
• Revealed: Behind STGRB

Kathleen Hale Stalking a Reviewer (2014)

The reviewer & author drama didn’t stop in 2012. YA author, Kathleen Hale, stalked a reviewer, figured out the reviewer’s name & address, rented a car & SHOWED UP AT THE REVIWER’S HOUSE.

As if that wasn’t creepy & terrifying enough, Hale willing admitted in The Guardian what she did. She attempts to paint the situation in a different light but it’s quite easy to see through.

Links to read:

• When An Author Stalks You…
• The Choices of Kathleen Hale
• Why I’m Still Uncomfortable with Kathleen Hale

#Soapgate (2018)

Soapgate really is a misnomer. This is just the name that everyone knows the situation is known by.

A book merchandise company, Bookish and Stuff, sold a ‘Book Boyfriend Box’ based on the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J Maas. The box contained a phallic shaped soap (hence the name #soapgate) which is in very poor taste since wasn’t marketed/sold a 18+ box (information was added to posts after the fact in an attempt to cover themselves).

The bombshell: The box included printed & bound fan fiction for the series.

Book merchandise & book boxes are a gray area. Merchandise (candles, pins, etc) are inspired by books but publishers and authors will look the other way since they promote a book/series & aren’t a direct competition with the book. Fan fiction sold for profit is a direct competition and is obviously stepping on an author’s work.

The result of the actions of Bookish and Stuff is a much tighter watch on Book Boxes and book merchandise by authors & publishers. Starting in 2018, Maas’ books are no longer featured as featured book in book boxes. Maas & Holly Black (or rather their teams) cracked down on unauthorized merchandise for their series.

Links to read:

• Soapgate: A joke or something to be concerned about?
• #SoapGate [Warning – contains NSFW images]
• The YA Drama Llama’s soapgate coverage

Mackenzi Lee Signing Other Author’s Books (2020)

Mackenzi Lee works as bookseller as a day job. She offered to sign books bought from the store she works. Nice idea, right?

The bombshell: Mazkenzi Lee wrote, doodled, & signed on the TITLE page of various books (including many books written by authors of color).

Signing something that you didn’t write? Really not great. Signing over the title page in a way that the author would not be able to sign it in the future? Really, really not great.

Links to read:

• One of the authors (Rin Chupeco) writes about it here.
• YIKES – Mackenzi Lee & Book Signings
• Dear White Authors, Don’t Sign Books You Didn’t Write: How One Person Failed Unspoken Etiquette

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I know there have been more kerfuffles in the book world. These are just the ones I could remember off the top of my head.

I think it’s a ‘fun’ way to date how long you’ve been in this community.

What are some of the scandals you’ve seen in this/your online book community?

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