(NewsInsights.org) – Cait Corrain, a promising writer with fans who appreciated her storylines and characterizations, had an agent, a two-book deal as a debut author with Random House, a subsidiary of one of the Big Five publishing houses, and she was about to release her first book. However, fellow authors on the social media site Goodreads, owned by Amazon, discovered Corrain had made multiple other accounts to “bomb” the ratings of other authors’ books while boosting her own. Now, Corrain faces serious consequences.
On December 5, Xiran Jay Zhao, a 2021 New York Times Best-Selling author who uses they/them pronouns, took to X, formerly Twitter, to accuse Corrain anonymously after several authors contacted them with receipts showing a clear pattern. In the Twitter thread, Zhao also noted the person who created the accounts used names associated with people of color (POC), and the authors receiving downvotes were either POC, members of the LGBTQ+ community, or both.
At first, Corrain claimed the imposter profiles had also downvoted her book. However, her book was consistently the only one receiving five-star reviews from the profiles that one-star bombed other authors’ books. Next, Corrain invented another profile for a friend and fan, Lilly, who said she’d acted in a misguided effort to help Corrain. Corrain relayed the chat confession to Zhao, who asked for more conversations and further proof of Lilly’s existence, which Corrain couldn’t produce.
Finally, on December 11, Corrain wrote a detailed confession on X. She blamed mental health issues and a recent medication change in late November for causing a psychological breakdown during which, as best she could recollect, she created six Goodreads profiles on December 2. She said she made two other profiles during another breakdown in 2022. Using those eight profiles, she boosted her own ratings while bombing other debut authors.
After Zhao’s post, Corrain said she panicked and invented Lilly and the fake chat. She acknowledged that her actions betrayed her agent, her publisher, her readers, her friends, and another author who initially came to her defense. Corrain said she planned to enter an in-house treatment program.
Before Corrain posted her confession, her agent, Becca Podos, posted on X on December 11, saying she wouldn’t continue working with Corrain. Del Rey Books, an imprint of Random House, also notified readers on X that Corrain’s book no longer appeared on their 2024 publishing schedule. Finally, Daphne Press, a UK Random House imprint, also confirmed it wouldn’t publish Corrain’s work.
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