Yet more literary furor over fake book reviews
British crime writer R.J. Ellory is the latest author to be caught out writing glowing online reviews of his own work.
Writers R.J. Ellory and Orlando Figes were both accused of fabricating positive reviews about their books.
You may not have heard of him, but British crime writer R.J. Ellory鈥檚 鈥渁bility to craft the English language is breathtaking.鈥� One of his crime novels has been called 鈥渁 modern masterpiece鈥� that 鈥渨ill touch your soul.鈥� He is, in fact, 鈥渙ne of the most talented authors of today.鈥�
That is, at least, according to R.J. Ellory.
Over the Labor Day weekend, the bestselling British author was caught praising his own books on Amazon using a number of pseudonyms while slamming the books of his competitors. Ellory used at least two pseudonyms, including "Nicodemus Jones" and "Jelly Bean," to heap praise on his works, including 鈥淎 Quiet Belief in Angels,鈥� an award-winning 2008 book which the author himself called 鈥渁 modern masterpiece,鈥� and 鈥渃hilling,鈥� saying, 鈥淲hatever else it might do, it will touch your soul,鈥� according to industry newsletter .
Astonishingly, this practice went on for the past 10 years before fellow British thriller writer Jeremy Duns pieced together a case against Ellory and shared his suspicions via . Confronted, Ellory admitted to using pseudonymous handles to write his own glowing reviews on Amazon, a practice known as "sock puppeting."
鈥淭he recent reviews 鈥� both positive and negative 鈥� that have been posted on my Amazon accounts are my responsibility and my responsibility alone,鈥� Ellory said in a statement. 鈥淚 wholeheartedly regret the lapse of judgment that allowed personal opinions to be disseminated in this way and I would like to apologise to my readers and the writing community.鈥�
Since then, writes the , 鈥渁 furor has erupted in England over sock puppet Amazon reviews鈥� and quickly spread to American shores. A group of 49 British authors wrote an open letter to the condemning sock puppeting.
鈥淭hese days more and more books are bought, sold, and recommended online, and the health of this exciting new ecosystem depends entirely on free and honest conversation among readers,鈥� the authors, who included Ian Rankin, Lee Child, Val McDermid,聽Susan Hill and Helen FitzGerald, wrote. 鈥淏ut some writers are misusing these new channels in ways that are fraudulent and damaging to publishing at large.... We unreservedly condemn this behaviour, and commit never to use such tactics.鈥� They added, 鈥淭he only lasting solution is for readers to take possession of the process.... Your honest and heartfelt reviews, good or bad, enthusiastic or disapproving, can drown out the phoney voices, and the underhanded tactics will be marginalised to the point of irrelevance.鈥�
Ellory is just the latest subject in a string of review scandals to hit the literary world. Two years ago, historian and writer Orlando Figes was similarly accused of vaunting his own books and skewering rivals鈥� works on Amazon. More recently, another bestselling thriller writer, Stephen Leather, has admitted to using pseudonyms online, even holding online conversations with himself, to build excitement about his novels. And hardly a week has passed since ran 鈥淭he Best Book Reviews Money Can Buy,鈥� which told the tale of literary entrepreneur Todd Rutherford, who raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars selling fake reviews through his business, GettingBookReviews.com, which we blogged on last week.
Cast the net a little wider and we find Jonah Lehrer and , two more literary stars accused of making up quotes and plagiarizing, respectively.
The incessant spate of literary lying has us wondering, is 2012 the year of deceit?
One thing鈥檚 for sure, the anonymity of the Internet and social media, combined with the publishing industry鈥檚 ravenous pursuit for buzz, has helped to create this monster of a problem, an iceberg of deception of which we suspect, we鈥檝e only seen the tip. (How many more fake reviews are out there? University of Illinois, Chicago data mining expert Bing Liu estimates one-third of online reviews are fake, according to this piece.)
And yet, it turns out, literary lying, sock-puppeting, and blatant self-promotion are nothing new. Lest you think our ethics have warped and waned with the times, consider this: Walt Whitman was 鈥渙ne of history鈥檚 most unrepentant self-promoters," according to the . 鈥淗e anonymously submitted glowing reviews of his own poetry collection 鈥楲eaves of Grass鈥� to newspapers across New York,鈥� writes the Atlantic鈥檚 David Wagner, including this :
鈥淎n American bard at last! One of the roughs, large, proud, affectionate, eating, drinking, and breeding, his costume manly and free, his face sunburnt and bearded, his posture strong and erect, his voice bringing hope and prophecy to the generous races of young and old. We shall cease shamming and be what we really are. We shall start an athletic and defiant literature. We realize now how it is, and what was most lacking. The interior American republic shall also be declared free and independent."
And, well, look where it got him.
Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.