I mentioned this earlier – a book on the NYT best-seller list had the hallmarks of a massive book-selling scam. The amateur sleuthes of the Internet uncovered her story and now the truth comes tumbling out. ‘Handbook for Mortals’ gamed its way onto the NYT best-seller list for 23 hours.
Now that the book is falling back into obscurity, its rise to fame is a tale that could fill twelve episodes of a Netflix series entitled “How to Be a Scumbag Bestselling Author.” Lurid details are now out, but the author remains unrepentant. “There’s good and bad in what occurred,” Sarem says.
You can read the details for yourself in the Vulture article. I’m not talking about this because I have any interest in shaming Sarem. She wanted to be a best-selling author. This is the path she took to get there. Was it right? Was it wrong? I’m not sure yet. Still figuring everything out myself.
I do think that there’s a larger point to be made about the dynamics of the writing game and when the time is write, I’ll talk about it. In the meantime, continuing to crank on Mesh. Much work remains to be done.