Truth Matters: Debunking the Myths, Reclaiming the Story

By Robert Stanek

The fact that some are still trying to tear me down—twenty-four years after the books first debuted—says everything. It shows the books mattered then, and they still matter now. Stories that leave no mark are forgotten. Stories that mean something linger—and clearly, mine have.

For over two decades, I remained mostly silent as misinformation and smear campaigns targeted me and my work. But silence has limits. And today, I speak not with anger, but with truth.

What’s at stake is more than my name—it’s the right of creators to build something meaningful without being shouted down, and the right of readers to decide for themselves what’s worth reading.

They Say I Never Succeeded. Here’s the Truth:

In 2002, Keeper Martin’s Tale and Elf Queen’s Quest debuted as instant bestsellers, spending 26 weeks on Amazon's Sci-Fi & Fantasy Top 50. In 2005, the Ruin Mist books reached #1 on Audible for 14 consecutive weeks and remained in the Kids & YA Top 10 for three years. Today, nearly five million readers have experienced the Ruin Mist world across Amazon, Audible, Playaway, OverDrive, and more.

My works have hit #1 on Audible in Fiction, Kids & YA, and Mystery/Thriller categories. They’ve held Top 10 spots on multiple bestseller lists, including Amazon and Audible, and even topped Amazon’s Free Bestseller charts in Dystopian, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, and Mystery/Thriller.

And yes, those claims are verifiable at the time—that was the point of all the noise in 2002, in 2005, etc: to knock the books off those lists, and they tried to do so by review bombing not just tens of reviews, but hundreds. Real data. Real rankings. Real readers.

They Say I Was Never Featured. Here’s the Truth:

My books and work have been featured in VOYA Magazine (a professional journal for YA librarians), Foreword Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, The New York Times, Parenting Magazine, Library Journal, School Library Journal, and OverDrive’s “ContentWire for Libraries”. Not to mention citations in respected reference books like The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Elves & Fairies and Popular Series Fiction for Middle School and Teen Readers.

The Journal of Electronic Defense recommended my nonfiction military memoir Stormjammers, and Bugville Critters was praised by Follett Early Learning and Foreword Magazine, even earning recommendation from Parenting Magazine and The Audio Book Store.

These aren’t exaggerations. They’re published facts, many still accessible online and in print.

They Say I Was Never in Libraries. Here’s the Truth:

My books are distributed globally through trusted partners including OverDrive, Findaway World, Playaway, Epic!, Google Play, Apple Books, Kobo, Emusic, Spotify, Ingram Digital, EBSCO, Walmart, ThriftBooks, eLibrary and more.

If you’ve visited a school or public library in the past two decades, there’s a good chance my books have been there. But here's what detractors conveniently ignore: books don’t remain on every shelf forever. Libraries rotate collections. Older titles are cycled out to make room for new ones, especially in children’s and YA sections. This isn’t censorship or conspiracy—it’s basic library science.

So when someone claims “I couldn’t find his book at my local library in 2017,” ask yourself: is that meaningful? Or is it just another talking point designed to erase history?

My books were in libraries when they mattered most—when they were new, relevant, and requested. They were recommended by teachers, librarians, review journals. They were purchased in bulk by school districts and library systems. They were available through OverDrive, Playaway, eLibrary, Findaway, EBSCO and more—platforms built specifically to serve institutions.

And yet the same voices that say, “I checked one library once and didn’t see it,” ignore the receipts. They ignore the letters from educators, the distribution records, the reading guides that list the books as recommended. They ignore the truth—because they’re not looking for it. They’re looking for something they can twist.

What Else the Misinformation Leaves Out

The smears don’t just distort facts—they erase context and strip away the journey. They mock what they don’t understand and attack what they can’t control.

They don’t mention that I wrote over 150 books. That I’m a veteran who served in real-world combat missions. That I’ve helped millions learn and lead through stories, platforms, and persistence.

Instead, they post videos that impersonate journalism while quoting from a known smear blog that’s been debunked for over a decade.

The trolls don’t fear me. They fear the story.

Stories that broke through without gatekeepers. Stories that reached classrooms and libraries without big PR machines. Stories that readers loved and passed along.

Here’s What You Can Do

• Read the books. See for yourself what all the noise tries to drown out.
• Look up the original reviews—from VOYA, from Foreword, from readers who cared.
• Support indie authors who dare to write outside the lines.
• Speak up when you see disinformation weaponized to silence creative voices.

Because what they really want is for you to scroll past, to doubt, to forget. But you don’t have to. You can read. You can remember. You can choose truth.

The story still stands. And so do I.

Lifetime Achievement Award – 30+ Years of Books

Huge THANK YOU to readers and others who submitted me for an award for distinguished contributions in writing & American Letters. As a past recipient of awards for excellence in writing, merit and distinguished accomplishments, I'm honored to be nominated. I’ve written nearly 200 full-length works since I completed my first novel in 1986, but it wasn’t until 1995 that I had a breakout hit that established me as a bestselling author.

I wrote those early books for Macmillan and have since had books published and/or distributed by Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Microsoft, O’Reilly, McGraw Hill, Pearson and others. My books have sold nearly 10 million copies worldwide and been translated into 34 languages, with well over $150 million in sales.

That type of success is the stuff of Willy Wonka’s wildest dreams. Still, as I wrote about in “How I Made This Crazy Thing Called Writinga Career”, wild success doesn’t always mean riches for the writer. Although bookstores, publishers, agents, Uncle Sam and others got the Lion’s share of the wealth, I remain tremendously grateful to my publishers and everyone else in the business who made the dream possible.

In my career one of the things I’m most proud of is my work to give back and to support my fellow writers. Giving back to communities across America and the world is something I’ve written about in “It’s GivingTuesday!”. It took 20 years but my goal to give away $1 million in books to libraries and schools was finally achieved in 2015.

In the early days, I gave back to writers through Writer’s Gallery and other outlets I maintained online, including Internet Daily News (one of the earliest online dailies). In 2007, I launched Go Indie to support independents (writers and bookstores). Other resources include #AmBlogging #FreeToday and the Read Indies blog.

As I look back at my career, I’m also very glad that from the beginning I did something for myself by starting a publishing company. That company began operations in 1995 and I used it to learn about the publishing side of the industry, which is very different from the writing side. By 2004, I knew enough about the industry and was ready to spread my wings and go into self-publishing. I hired a great team and put them to work running my business.

In the beginning, we had quite a large team, that team has whittled down to a few core members, but remains in the business of bringing my works, and the works of a select group of other writers, to the world. They've helped get dozens of translations for my fiction works, which are now available in nearly 100 countries around the globe.

I couldn’t even begin to tell you how much my traditional publishers and those I worked with in the industry hated (loathed, really) my self-publishing efforts. But my efforts were wildly successful from the start with Keeper Martin's Tale quickly becoming a bestseller at Amazon.com (2002) and The Kingdoms & the Elves of the Reaches rocketing to #1 in Fiction at Audible.com (2005) where it remained a Top 10 Kids & YA bestseller for over 180 weeks (2005 - 2008). 

Today, the industry has changed so much that without self-publishing I don’t know where I’d be. Strange how things can turn around so dramatically. What was once forbidden fruit has now become one of the best ways for writers to earn a living.

Thanks for reading,

Robert Stanek