Cheating

"People don't cheat by chance, they cheat by choice."

Tony Gaskins

A new author was recently accused of creating nine different Goodreads accounts and using those accounts to give critical reviews to other authors who wrote in the same genre as theirs. Simultaneously, they used those accounts to give themself rave reviews. Another author figured it out and called them out. The guilty author blamed a friend, supposedly using another fake account, and disowned any responsibility.

Ultimately, the author lost their agent, their book deal with a Big Five publisher, and all respect in the writing community. They tried to cheat, (by choice) and they were caught.

If they had boosted the other authors' books and their own, would they have been caught? Probably not. No one would have questioned the five-star reviews like they questioned the (nine) one-star reviews. But it is still cheating and unethical.

The writers have a pretty tight-knit social media community and support each other and promote each other's work. This author was clearly not part of that community and never would have been.

It is difficult to cheat life, but some people try to be lazy and take shortcuts. Put in the work and results and the rewards will come.

Happy Writing,
Tony