Full post and apology
This post is challenging to write because so many other people are involved, so many people have been dragged in, and a lot of this took place before I was published.
First and foremost, I’m not going to launch into a huge defense of myself and pick and choose what it’s true and what’s not, what’s been twisted and what hasn’t. The purpose of this post is for me to apologize to readers who feel hurt by me and for my friends and colleagues who have now been damaged because of their associati...
date
newest »
newest »
message 51:
by
Nicole
(new)
Mar 15, 2018 02:01PM
You're a liar and a thief. Karma has a way of coming back like a motherfucker, I hope you have fun with that.
reply
|
flag
@ZizzySnappy, aren't we? Then by all means, post your reply in Susan's thread.
And you're welcome for the link.
Just another case of #churchofHassell and sheeple
Tell that to Noah... you stole his life, his pain, his trust and you turned his life into a book that puts profit in your pocket without his permission or knowledge. You're despicable.
@SezginIt's not about SH's gender.
It's about stealing a life story and displaying it for everyone to see without permission.
It's about defamation and spreading hurtful lies.
It's about defrauding.
It's about pretending to be someone else to boost up sales and "donations" and covering their lies for them. People met "Santino" in person. Multiple times. Guess what, that person was not the writer.
I have not kept up with this as much as I probably should but I'll just add that if defraud someone- be it online or otherwise- then you may very well have committed a felony. Which goes way beyond 'shit happens, meh' territory and straight into 'this may be passable of being prosecuted in an actual court of law'.Incidentally, and this may surprise someone, there is precedent of people who were charged and convicted over their felonious online activity. Namely, a certain youtuber did basically this- arranged for funds to be sent to be, under the pretense of running a charity for kids suffering from cancer- and was brought to court and convicted.
So while I, personally, would not donate to anyone online- I only give my money to organizations, it comes from being brought up by a district attorney- that does not mean that more trusting people should be allowed to be abused by being lied in order to get their money.
The moment money is exchanged under false pretense you are walking into very dubious territory and opening yourself to be sued.
Bottom line - all that any authors owes the public is good books they can purchase and read. All of the rest is neither here nor there.
Liz wrote: "all that any authors owes the public is good books they can purchase and read."Nope. Bottom line - Authors who sell their books as retail products are operating a business, and as such they owe the public ethical business practices and professional interaction, as well as the respectful treatment due customers and potential customers.
They also owe their customers a professional quality product.
Authors are no different than businesses that make and sell toasters, or TVs, or stereo equipment. What authors owe the public, and what customers and potential customers have the right to expect, is exactly the same as any other business selling consumer items to the public.
Certainly all you might care about is if a book is "good" (in your opinion) and you can purchase it, but that doesn't mean that's all authors owe the public, nor does it obligate anyone else to think it is.
All readers owe authors is to obtain their books, if they choose to obtain their books, via legal means.
@Alexandra indeed.@Liz couldn't disagree more. An author owes their reader honesty when producing the books they want them to purchase.
Cadiva wrote: "@Alexandra indeed.@Liz couldn't disagree more. An author owes their reader honesty when producing the books they want them to purchase."
I really have no idea why some people think authors are exempt from ethical and legal business practices, or even professional attitudes and behaviors when interacting on behalf of their business, that apply to any other business selling a product or service.
And I certainly do not understand people trying to insist others think so.
According to Liz it'd be perfectly fine for an author to sell a book full of plagiarism, as long as it was "good" and people were able to buy it. And the public doesn't have the right to expect anything more. SMH.
If authors don't want to be held to professional and ethical business standards then they shouldn't put their writing up for retail sale. Once they do, they are.
Ari wrote: "I do believe that your life is rough because even though I don't know you at all, your last books were pretty defined by a sense of pain and anger the way I see it. ..."That's because they stole other people's life experiences and wrote about them.
Ari wrote: " (Santino Hassell means a lot to me, whoever it is, I love his characters), I wish for peace and more stories by you, dear author..."Turns out some of them are not fictional characters, but real people whose real life and real pain was displayed for everyone to "enjoy" and then analyze in their reviews.
I really hope dear author grows conscience, but I am not holding my breath.
Alexandra wrote: "I really have no idea why some people think authors are exempt from ethical and legal business practices, or even professional attitudes and behaviors when interacting on behalf of their business, that apply to any other business selling a product or service."This really is the crux of the matter. The moment one is receiving money for services rendered, whatever these may be, one is legally obliged to adhere to certain rules.
This goes well beyond how much one appreciates the author's output and straight into 'possible illegal activitiy'. I would not at all be surprised if this author found themselves taken to court and gone bankrupt once they lose.
My big take away from this is that quite obviously the person or people writing under the pen name of Santino Hassell are in serious legal jeopardy. I know this because multiple publishers as well as the agency representing the author dropped him with in days of this story breaking. They didn't severe business relations because they feel bad or fear for sales. In fact they are all taking a serious financial hit and the only reason a business would do that is so they have plausible deniability when the attorneys come looking for money out of their pockets.
Deb wrote: "My big take away from this is that quite obviously the person or people writing under the pen name of Santino Hassell are in serious legal jeopardy. I know this because multiple publishers as well ..."I won't deny that's a possibility or a factor. However, it isn't the only reason.
Consumer opinion matters, because these businesses depend upon consumer business. Therefore the reaction by their customers is a significant and important factor. They certainly would want to do whatever they could to not have, or to limit, a consumer boycott on their company.
Company image to the public is a very important thing. When a company makes it's money by selling products to the public, what the public thinks of those products, and the business practices of the company, matters and is significant.
The fact that customers noticed, complained, spread the word, etc., was a factor.
Alexandra wrote: "Deb wrote: "My big take away from this is that quite obviously the person or people writing under the pen name of Santino Hassell are in serious legal jeopardy. I know this because multiple publish..."Alexandra wrote: "Deb wrote: "My big take away from this is that quite obviously the person or people writing under the pen name of Santino Hassell are in serious legal jeopardy. I know this because multiple publish..."
Generally that's true but in this case relatively few people know what's going on. If you google the author's name you won't learn anything about this scandal. Only people who follow the social media accounts of a handful of authors and victims who have commented on the situation would know about it. Most of the author's readers will just be puzzled why most of his books are no longer available and then perhaps stumble on the publisher's statements.
While I read a ton of M/M, I wasn't a fan of the author and don't participate in discussions. The only reason I know is that I stumbled on the links from downgraded reviews when I went to post a review of a book by Megan Erickson who had co-written another series with him. I ended up getting sucked into the labyrinth of posts and spent quite a bit of time reading it all. I expect many people simply won't have enough interest to invest a great deal in time of fully exploring what happened. My guess is if legal council didn't warn them away they could quite simply have waited it out.
Deb wrote: "Generally that's true but in this case relatively few people know what's going on.."The publishers were made very aware that many people were taking this very seriously, and were spreading the word. And one of the reasons the publishers knew that is because many people contacted them directly to say just that.
How many people "know" in general isn't that relevant. The fact is, people that do know where loud, proactive, and made it extremely clear how they felt about the situation to the publishers.
Given that, and the actual facts - meaning they obviously weren't complaining about little to nothing - it's no surprise that the publishers took action.
Sure, potential legal ramifications is a factor, but we should not forget that we consumers do have power.
"My guess is if legal council didn't warn them away they could quite simply have waited it out."
I do not at all think that's a safe bet. Dumping one author, who, no matter how popular in this niche is really small potatoes in the scheme of things, is a small price to pay in light of the growing complaints of their customers.
A company loses their customer base, and they lose everything.
Sure, they probably got legal advice, and likely it was along those lines, but I don't for one second believe even if they felt they had no legal implications they wouldn't have done exactly the same thing.
I don't think it's fair to think the people standing up and speaking out, and contacting the publisher had, or would have had, no impact or made any difference. And thinking that could cause people to remain silent, when really they do control the purse strings of the businesses whose products they purchase.
Alexandra wrote: "Deb wrote: "Generally that's true but in this case relatively few people know what's going on.."The publishers were made very aware that many people were taking this very seriously, and were spre..."
I hope your right. I'm just disappointed that the story so far has no legs beyond a small vocal group.
Deb wrote: "I hope your right. I'm just disappointed that the story so far has no legs beyond a small vocal group. "Understandable.
Zee wrote: "I dont get the people that are commenting here to try and stop others from buying Santinos books. Guys, by now we all know whats happened and have decided to continue being fans. And even the ones..."
I agree. Haters gonna hate. I read all the BS posts and such and ya know what? Don't care. I'm here to read books and to have patience and I'm all out of ...patience? Sounded better in my head. >.>
