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We all know GR has had it’s share of drama. We’re battle-scarred & throw up our hands saying “we just want to read books”.
So, I, too, got the message from the troll "Kay". But, unlike some, I believe what she posted is true. And IF any of it’s true, it isn’t just drama. It is HUGELY problematic, potentially illegal, and has the power to really hurt people.
Please, just think through a few of these things:
— Mar 05, 2018 01:57PM
So, I, too, got the message from the troll "Kay". But, unlike some, I believe what she posted is true. And IF any of it’s true, it isn’t just drama. It is HUGELY problematic, potentially illegal, and has the power to really hurt people.
Please, just think through a few of these things:
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Jaime wrote: "Alpha Book Club removed all Reviews and content regarding the name Santino Hassell as of Saturday 3/10 - I have removed all of my goodreads reviews. Next I will be removing content from the cliqu..."
I edited my comment. Thank you.
Elsa wrote: "I hope everybody who has a Twitter account ask Riptide what´s going to happen because it´s unacceptable. He was very brave writing that and he deserves people know and listen and ask to the publisher."Yes, I asked Riptide how they can explain the unprofessional and racist language of Sarah Lyons towards Xen X Cole Mccade.
I just subscribed to Xen's Patreon and after the final step the platform promotes similar patreon accounts to support. Santino Hassell's was third from the top and it angered me beyond words. Can somebody please post a how to report to patreon link? I have lousy connection where I am and browsing through the pages here will take aeons. Than you!
arfic (iro) wrote: "Can somebody please post a how to report to patreon link? I have lousy connection where I am and browsing through the pages here will take aeons. Than you! "Here's the link to Sakura's tutorial : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FA...
Zaza wrote: "arfic (iro) wrote: "Can somebody please post a how to report to patreon link...Here's the link to..."
Thank you!
P.s https://twitter.com/RiptideBooks/stat... riptide announced sharah lyons is out
BEST news !! Thanks for the update Sara & Jordan !
arfic (iro) wrote: "I just subscribed to Xen's Patreon and after the final step the platform promotes similar patreon accounts to support. Santino Hassell's was third from the top and it angered me beyond words. Can s..."Follow this thread if you have twitter...
https://twitter.com/santinohustle/sta...
And I'm not trying at all to excuse Sarah's racism in any way, but I don't want KJ Charles' brilliant work to go unnoticed:riptidepublishing.com/titles/wanted-a... features a Black man on this gorgeous cover.
Let's hope Riptide use this as a wake up call.
Marbles wrote: "Sara wrote: "Sarah Lyons resigned. https://twitter.com/RiptideBooks/stat..."
I heard some of their BN authors demanded action or they'd walk. I've been stalking Twitter on my s..."
Do you ’now which authors?
Cadiva wrote: "Let's hope Riptide use this as a wake up call."They seriously need to update their work culture and ethics.
Right, message sent to Patreon regarding Shitweasel...apparently they're experiencing a high volume of requests at the mo. 😉
Jordan wrote: "https://twitter.com/RiptideBooks/stat...Sarah just resigned from Riptide, effective immediately."
Damn, that was fast. And clearly long overdue.
Jordan wrote: "And I'm not trying at all to excuse Sarah's racism in any way, but I don't want KJ Charles' brilliant work to go unnoticed:riptidepublishing.com/titles/wanted-a... features a Black man on ..."
Yes! So much yes to that cover.
I can’t believe how low and purely racist it was from SL to assume covers with POC would not sell? Just horrible, horrible.
Marbles wrote: "I heard some of their BN authors demanded action or they'd walk. I've been stalking Twitter on my son's iPad all day, lol."No doubt, but don't for a second think that the fact that customers were also obviously taking an interest in this didn't have an impact. Likely more so than the authors. ;)
YOU guys are their customers, and together YOU guys have power. Never forget that.
Marbles wrote: "Yes, definitely. People power has been huge in this. I wasn't suggesting the authors had tipped the sword. Just that I think they may have stood with us. "Yes, I'm sure that also helped :D Given the messages to RT yesterday about returns, etc. though you can bet they are well aware their customers are paying close attention. ;)
20 mins ago...https://twitter.com/RiptideBooks/stat...
We have accepted the resignation of Sarah Lyons, effectively immediately. A statement is forthcoming.
I am stunned. I had an incredibly frustrating time with Sarah over a book Riptide accepted and then ignored for a year until I told them I was taking it off the table, but I counted her as a friend in a mild way. She has a quotation from one of my books tattooed on her, ffs.
To see this side of her is disturbing and distressing. My experience was annoying, frustrating and left me feeling second-class, not really welcome there, but it wasn't a big deal as it was for others whose accounts I've read with dismay and sympathy.
Oddly, another story I did with them had a PoC as a MC and one the first covers they gave me had him light-skinned when he was anything but.
To see this side of her is disturbing and distressing. My experience was annoying, frustrating and left me feeling second-class, not really welcome there, but it wasn't a big deal as it was for others whose accounts I've read with dismay and sympathy.
Oddly, another story I did with them had a PoC as a MC and one the first covers they gave me had him light-skinned when he was anything but.
Marlobo wrote: "I'm only requested (and obtained) refunds on pre-order; It's absolutely my personal POV, but I would feel an abuser if I claim a refund for a product that I received and about which I had no claim ..."
You could just delete the books instead, as I did with my kindle book but Audible offered a refund and as I've said before, I just used this to buy books from other authors from Riptide and the narrator so no one should miss out.
You could just delete the books instead, as I did with my kindle book but Audible offered a refund and as I've said before, I just used this to buy books from other authors from Riptide and the narrator so no one should miss out.
Marbles wrote: "Yeah, money talks. It's horrifying that Santino Hassell and Sarah Lyon wielded so much power between them. The destruction they've left behind is criminal. "I'm old, so I hope I'll be forgiven if this sounds rude or anything else negative, but I truly hope everyone involved takes from this experience one of the positive things - that while one, or a few, customers doesn't make much impact, a bunch speaking out sure does. And it's you customers that hold the purse strings. YOU are the ones that should be treated with appreciation and respect. YOU.
Authors need to earn your respect. So do publishers. And they need to work to keep it.
And you are the ones that can vote with your dollars when disrespected, or authors act unprofessionally, or companies have business practices you don't approve of, etc.
Customers deserve to be treated with respect. Expect it. Demand it. And when you don't get it - walk.
When I see an author attacking a reader, or expressing anti-reader attitudes, or having a hissy fit over someone having the *nerve* to post a negative review, or campaigning to have reviews upvoted or downvoted, or anything else that reflects anti-consumer attitudes, actions, etc. I put them automatically on my Do Not Read list. That's my line.
Think you guys should read this:https://twitter.com/MatthewJMetzger/s...
You all should be very proud, everyone who spoke out (yup, authors who spoke out too).
You done good.
Linda ~ chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny ~ wrote: "Josy wrote: "Paula wrote: "The likelihood of future readers finding out and understanding why they should not seek out SH's work will be practically nill if all the big blogs just erase him and his..."I think your solution is perfect, @Linda. Your review IS exclusively about the content, so I don't think that GR would have much of a case for taking it down.
gonna put this in bold so it'll stand out...sorry!Hey everyone,
Though I know the Riptide/Sarah Lyons news is crazy, and I've been watching like a hawk (don't get me wrong!), I kept this thread open to continue to talk about Santino Hassell, not necessarily for it to be about spilling tea about all goings on in the romance world.
If it would be ok, can we keep this focused on what still needs to happen to get Santino Hassell's books pulled from publishers, what we need to do to get his Patreon shut down, what we have to do to get the reviews updated on GR, etc?
It's just that this link has been shared a lot and it's where some people are still coming to find out what happened with SH. I don't want everything to get convoluted and ultimately lumped together and confuse people. Though Sarah Lyons and SH clearly had a working relationship, what's happening with SL is separate from SH, from what I can tell.
That being said, THANK YOU Xen/Cole for being amazingly BRAVE to put your story out there and for all that you had to endure for years. It sucks, but I'm so thankful that you spoke up.
And yes, everyone, if you're so inclined, BUY HIS BOOKS, support his Patreon. Most especially because we need books by POC authors! THEY DO SELL.
Ok, that's it...
Jordan wrote: "And I'm not trying at all to excuse Sarah's racism in any way, but I don't want KJ Charles' brilliant work to go unnoticed:riptidepublishing.com/titles/wanted-a... features a Black man on ..."
I thought the same thing, Jordan.
If I'm not mistaken, though, KJ Charles' book was published more than a year after the matter with Cole McCade's book happened.
So maybe they did try to change their "policy" about POC on covers later?
Not that it would excuse that horrible reply by Sarah Lyons in any way.
Elena wrote: "Jordan wrote: "And I'm not trying at all to excuse Sarah's racism in any way, but I don't want KJ Charles' brilliant work to go unnoticed:riptidepublishing.com/titles/wanted-a... features ..."
I'm not sure how much of a "policy" it was. Sarah was the chief editor for some of their books, and I think she had free rein over decisions, while Rachel (who actually owns the company) had a whole different set of books she oversaw.
The horrible email from Sarah was dated in 2014, and Wanted: A Gentleman came out in 2017, which means the Cover Art Request (CAR) came from KJ Charles most likely some time in 2016. So that's two years for Sarah to have either changed her mind or given in to KJ Charles' request. Given KJ Charles' publishing successes, I'm not surprised.
For what it's worth, I had virtually ALL my cover art requests denied at my first publisher and am to this day very unhappy with both covers, right down to when they told me it didn't matter that my first hero was blond -- the pic of a brown-haired hero had better "pop." Of course, they weren't the ones who dealt with the emails from readers asking why there was a brunet on the cover when the hero was blond.
In contrast, Riptide was super-considerate about my cover art requests. When their first proposed cover had both heroes sitting on the grass, I was terrified to push back (my book has a disabled hero and he'd never sit on the grass because of how hard it would be for him to stand back up). They immediately changed it to one that accurately reflected the characters, including adding a service dog and making adding weight to the second character.
So maybe things did change? Not that it excuses past behavior. Please don't think I *at all* condone or am trying to excuse it. I'm only relaying my own experience.
Cadiva wrote: "Cordelia's Tweet:https://twitter.com/c_kingsbridge/sta..."
Sorry for derailing! The SH/SL thing is definitely all tangled up on Twitter. Do you want me to delete my previous posts?
Alexandra wrote: "I'm old, so I hope I'll be forgiven if this sounds rude or anything else negative... "This was neither rude, nor negative. It was on point in my estimation.
Riptide announced that they have accepted Sarah Lyons' resignationhttps://twitter.com/RiptideBooks/stat...
Jordan wrote: "Sorry for derailing! The SH/SL thing is definitely all tangled up on Twitter. Do you want me to delete..."No need to delete anything. :)
I posted as a reply before, but here are...Instructions To Report SH To Patreon
https://twitter.com/SantinoHustle/sta...
Paula wrote: "Linda ~ chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny ~ wrote: "Josy wrote: "Paula wrote: "The likelihood of future readers finding out and understanding why they should not seek out SH's work wil..."
My 1* review with link to the Riptide statement hasn't been removed yet either so I don't know that they will remove them.
My 1* review with link to the Riptide statement hasn't been removed yet either so I don't know that they will remove them.
Jordan wrote: "So that's two years for Sarah to have either changed her mind or given in to KJ Charles' request. Given KJ Charles' publishing successes, I'm not surprised."KJ Charles is one of my favorite authors and despite that I was reluctant to read Wanted: a Gentleman, because going by the blurb I wasn't sure it would be my thing.
Ironically, apart from the author's name, it was actually the cover that tipped the balance and convinced me to buy the book and I loved it. (Well, it's KJ Charles, what else is new?)
So much for the mighty ex-chief editor's theory on readers.
Sorry for the SH-unrelated comment, Susan, I just wanted to share this and from now on I'll be quiet or on-theme. :)
Tho I didn't like Shatterproof and gave it 2 stars for the dark theme, the blurb and the unusual cover definitely drew me in. I don't know if I should change my mind and ask Riptide for those 5 bucks after all :/ No way to treat a person like that!
"During development of the book blurb, Rachel Haimowitz questioned if it would turn readers off to include mention of my Haitian American hero’s ethnicity in the blurb, while also insulting readers’ intelligence levels. This made me immensely uncomfortable."
Is there Rachel's apology out there somewhere? If there is, I didn't see it.
Does anyone know what the repercussions for SH could be for all of this?Is there any way that he could be held responisble or liable in any way, or are the pulled contracts the only thing that might happen?
Alexandra wrote: "Think you guys should read this:
https://twitter.com/MatthewJMetzger/s...
You all should be very proud, everyone who spoke out (yup, authors who spoke out too).
You done good."
I completely agree. :)
https://twitter.com/MatthewJMetzger/s...
You all should be very proud, everyone who spoke out (yup, authors who spoke out too).
You done good."
I completely agree. :)
Jordan wrote: "And I'm not trying at all to excuse Sarah's racism in any way, but I don't want KJ Charles' brilliant work to go unnoticed:
riptidepublishing.com/titles/wanted-a... features a Black man on ..."
I love that book :) The audio is amazing too.
riptidepublishing.com/titles/wanted-a... features a Black man on ..."
I love that book :) The audio is amazing too.
Annika wrote: "Does anyone know what the repercussions for SH could be for all of this?Is there any way that he could be held responisble or liable in any way, or are the pulled contracts the only thing that mig..."
I was wondering about this myself. SH did use a false identity to defraud his fans.
I am a total outsider here, but interested and intensely sympathetic. I just want to note something I think is really important since names are being named and messages sent to various publishing entities with names and links. I have seen several places in this thread where the ScamSham's agent has been identified as Courtney Milan, with a link to Courtney Milan's twitter thread where she made a statement about the SH situation. I don't think that Courtney Milan is anyone's agent (but I could totally be wrong). I think that the ScamSham's (now former) agent was Courtney Miller-Callihan at Handspun Literary Agency http://handspunlit.com/about/. She is agent for a whole bunch of familiar sounding names. Misinformation spreads, so I thought this was important to mention.
Annika wrote: "Does anyone know what the repercussions for SH could be for all of this?Is there any way that he could be held responisble or liable in any way, or are the pulled contracts the only thing that mig..."
I questioned about this on twitter yesterday,i'm @EscapeTBomb
https://twitter.com/DecentFellows/sta...
No joke, though. KJ Charles is quality people. She made an outstanding thread on twitter regarding the SH situation (a couple of them, actually). And she just did so in regard to the Sarah Lyons issue as well. If we're talking authors to support, I have yet to see one reason why people shouldn't be giving money to KJ (and I don't typically even LIKE historicals! But hers, I do!)
Annika wrote: "Does anyone know what the repercussions for SH could be for all of this?Is there any way that he could be held responisble or liable in any way, or are the pulled contracts the only thing that mig..."
from the beginning I felt like there's legal ground for lawsuits. dunno if anybody agrees.
they should NOT be still able to profit
Nicki wrote: "...You could just delete the books instead, as I did with my kindle book but Audible offered a refund and as I've said before, I just used this to buy books from other authors from Riptide and the narrator so no one should miss out."In Riptide case, I requested a credit and I used it for next books by KJ Charles & Alexis Hall (I won with the change, indeed).
With the refund from Amazon over Exposed Anthology I plan to buy the subsequent book by Annabeth Albert -I have already pre-ordered Squared Away-, the co-author for which I'm sorry.
Referring the past releases of SH and some of their cohort, read or not, are already deleted from my devices.
I know this is no laughing matter, but have you seen SH's $100 tier notes? Those made me laugh..."Critique
$100 or more per month
-Send me the first 100 pages of a manuscript to get one round of feedback on pacing, character development, plot structure, and any other specific questions you have
-Will also give one round of feedback on your synopsis and query letter
-Available for one round of questions via email after I send in initial feedback"
I'm guessing it's because people have stopped talking to him (=stopped providing him with stories) and this is the new plan for 'writing' new stories...
JenMcJ wrote: "As sad as it is, this from Ann Sommerville has stuck with me and succinctly explains something we readers should never forget:"Readers, protect yourselves. Authors are selling you something - eve..."
I think it was Anne Barwell who said that. She definitely said something similar in her very thoughtful post.
Line wrote: "I know this is no laughing matter, but have you seen SH's $100 tier notes? Those made me laugh..."Critique
$100 or more per month
-Send me the first 100 pages of a manuscript to get one round of ..."
it is laughable.
basically pay me and give me a story and do all the work.
smh, they never learn, and they're not going to stop unless someone or something BIG puts a stop, but honestly they should feel ashamed and that should be enough reason to stop , that's why I was talking Legal, I feel like Noah and Xen/Cole and Nikki, and so many others, have lawsuit grounds with them, I'm not a lawyer, but what else is gonna stop them conning people?
Alexandra wrote: "*~*~*Kael*~*~* wrote: "I do believe Christopher Rice himself starred an SH book at some point and I think they were "friends" on GR! So he might just have a vested interest in fighting for what's r..."Holy shit, seriously o___O??? I had absolutely NO idea about Ann Rice *horrified and disgusted all over again*! That's despicable >:-o!!!! Granted I never read her books [I never planned on reading them; I was completely disinterested] and only saw the one movie when I was a kid. Regardless, I sure as hell will [very intentionally] be staying far away from her books now >:-o! Shame on her!!!
Yikes, Heather mentioned that she thinks someone DID contact Christopher Rice already. So the person may or may not have. Hopefully not :-/!
Wow, I don't even know what else to say except to say that I'm appalled :-/!!
https://www.goodreads...."
Weird when I click on the links the only covers I can't see are anything from book #6 and on from the Five Boroughs, book #4 of The Barons and the new new series 'Drifting' and only the covers for the audio books from The Community seem to be visible. But yeah, his covers are definitely disappearing.