A first-time author has issued an apology after she was dropped by her literary team following the revelation that she had been writing scathing fake book reviews by authors of color.
Cait Corrain, whose debut novel Crown of Starlight was set to be published next year, was dumped by her literary agent, publishing company, and distributor during the fiasco.
Last week, Xiran Jay Zhao, the writer of Iron Widow, claimed an author on the book review site Goodreads had been—for several months—dishing out one-star reviews on debut books from authors of color, according to Gizmodo. The Mary Sue reported that at least nine fake Goodreads accounts one-star-bombed multiple sci-fi and fantasy releases. Zhao never named the specific writer who she felt was leaving the nasty reviews, but her TikTok followers deduced that it must’ve been Corrain.
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“A white author debuting in 2024 has been caught using fake Goodreads accounts to one-star bomb other debuts, who are mostly [people of color],” Zhao said. “There are 31 pages of receipts in a Google doc… but they go back to April of this year.
“What gave away the game was that they always ranked one particular book—Crown of Starlight by Cait Corrain—on a bunch of different lists,” Zhao added. “When Cait was finally alerted that people were catching on to these accounts, they went on Twitter to paint themself as one of the victims to further promote their book.”
Zhao said that someone within Corrain’s circle told her that it was one of Corrain’s friends “who thought they were helping Cait out.”
But Zhao wasn’t buying the explanation.
@xiranjayzhao A full explanation of #reviewbombgate. #booktok #caitcorrain #crownofstarlight ♬ original sound - Xiran Jay Zhao
Now, Corrain issued an apology on social media after being exposed.
“A sincere apology. I know this is long, but that’s because I’m trying to own and openly address every aspect of what I did,” she captioned a post she uploaded to Instagram.
“Since June 2022 I’ve been fighting a losing battle against depression, alcoholism and substance abuse, the full scope of which I’ve hidden from everyone in my life out of shame and a misguided belief that with the right medicine or enough therapy, I could beat it,” she said in the apology.
Then, Corrain seemingly attributed her questionable behavior to a “new medication” she started in November and a “complete psychological breakdown.”
“During this time, I created roughly 6 profiles on Goodreads,” Corrain said, without acknowledging how the behavior spurred racial review discrimination.
“Let me be extremely clear: while I might not have been sober or of sound mind during this time, I accept responsibility for the pain and suffering I caused, and my delay in posting this is due to spending the last few days offline while going through withdrawal as I sobered up enough to be brutally honest with you and myself.”
Corrain’s literary agent was the first to ditch her after the scandal came to light.
“Cait and I will not be continuing our partnership moving forward,” Becca Podos posted. “I deeply appreciate the patience of those directly impacted by last week’s events as I worked through a difficult situation.”
@xiranjayzhao It really wouldn't have gotten this big if it was resolved privately like the victims first wanted #booktok #caitcorrain #crownofstarlight ♬ original sound - Xiran Jay Zhao
Corrain’s book, Crown of Starlight, was also dropped by her publisher.
“We are aware of the ongoing discussion around author Cait Corrain. CROWN OF STARLIGHT is no longer on our 2024 publishing schedule,” Del Rey Books wrote.
Then, the book’s distributor dropped out of Corrain’s literary crew.
“In light of the situation regarding the author Cait Corrain, Crown of Starlight has been removed from Daphne Press’ 2024 publishing schedule,” Daphne Press wrote on X. “We are in contact with the US publisher to discuss the extent of our contractual obligations.”
