In the old West, the new gunfighter would call out the old
gunfighter and one or the other would end in a pine box. In the new West of the
Internet, a guy like Patrick Rothfuss does much the same except he uses friends
and family to do the dirty deed. In 2007 when Patrick Rothfuss got up on his
soapbox and ranted to stir up a mob, I had 100 published books to my
credit, translations in over 20 countries and over 5 million books sold -- something
Patrick Rothfuss likely knew when he came out swinging after his first book was
published and publicly enlisted friends and family to do his dirty work.
And do his dirty work they did. My books were flooded with
spiteful reviews. Hateful discussions were started in forums. Hateful posts
were made on blogs. My fiction readers, who are mostly children, were harassed
and intimidated. I received threatening emails, phone calls, letters. Who knew
writing children’s fiction could be so fraught? I sure didn’t
and I’d been a professionally published author since 1995.
Apparently, Patrick Rothfuss hadn’t done enough damage
because he came out swinging again in 2009. Stirring to action, not only
friends and family this time, but also his expanding fan base. Hateful
discussions and blog posts became darker. Harassment of my readers turned to
stalking. If the threats I had been received weren’t already bad enough, they
became even worse.
Patrick Rothfuss’s motivation was likely the same as those
who had gone before him: $$$$. Big franchises are big business, just ask Susan Collins,
Rick Riordan, or J K Rowling.
But big franchises also are few and far between. There can
only be so many big franchises. Something I’m sure Patrick Rothfuss absolutely
knows. After all, he’s a guy who believes he has a major franchise and he may,
but I also think he wasn’t about to let someone he believed he could quietly take out
behind the barn, dig a hole, and put in the ground get there before
him.
But Patrick Rothfuss was by no means the first who thought
he could quietly take me out behind the barn, dig a hole, and put me in the ground. Why?
Because the Internet makes it all too easy for unethical competitors to do and
say just about anything they want to. They can do it anonymously, with pen
names, with sock puppet accounts. They can do it through friends and family.
They can do it through fans, others.
It doesn’t take much really. Just ask Patrick Rothfuss. A
few public rants. A few quiet whispers. A few anonymous posts.
Dare to defend yourself? They howl even louder. Isn’t that
right Patrick Rothfuss, David Louis Edelman, Jim C. Hines, Stephen Leigh,
Victoria Strauss, Maureen Johnson, Tim Spalding?
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