Since Jane Litte announced that she’s a published author under the pseudonym Jen Frederick, I know there’s been a lot of talk and questions and processing and discussion, and to be honest, I haven’t known exactly what to say. Then Dabney emailed me some questions which helped me articulate a lot of things I’ve been thinking about, and helped me organize my brain. So forgive the obvious and kinda pretentious format, but being asked helped me explain logically all the things I want to say.
Did you know that Jane Litte was Jen Frederick?
Yes. I’ve known since March 2013.
Did you know she was keeping her pen name a secret?
Yes. I don’t know when I found out that it was a secret – my email archive searches are not helping me here. I learned that she’d written a book in March 2013, and found out about the pen name and the separation of it from DearAuthor sometime afterward.
Learning that she was writing under a pen name wasn’t a problem. The longer it went on, the more difficult it became for me. It’s been really hard to keep it a secret, and I didn’t know what to say or what to do about it.
Didn’t you mention the Jen Frederick pen name during a podcast?
During an interview, Jessica Clare/Jill Myles mentioned that she was self publishing with Jen Frederick:
Sarah: Why not self publish?
Jess: And that’s one reason why Jen Frederick and I decided to self publish Last Hit was because – we never really entertained the thought of going to a publisher because, you know, it was a hitman hero, and it was also very New Adult, written in, you know, dueling first person point of view, and we were like, you know – this is fairly timely at the moment.
When I was editing, I removed a lot of that conversation. It was originally longer and mentioned more of their joint projects. To have removed all mentions would have been confusing in the larger context of the discussion. I left as little as I could without making the dialogue unclear and disconnected.
Also, a separate mention: Jane Litte/Jen Frederick sponsored the 2nd place prize in the 2013 DABWAHA Second Chance Tournament.
Didn’t you feature their book in a podcast?
Yes – Penguin is the sponsor of the podcast and they sent Last Hit as one of the books to be mentioned during the podcast.
(The way that works, if you’re curious, is that once a month, Penguin’s marketing and publicity folks send me a list of three or four books for that month, and those are the books featured during the different episodes.)
Why didn’t you refuse?
That’s not really something I can do. I can’t tell an advertiser what books they can and cannot advertise, but I made sure that the book was mentioned on an episode that Jane wasn’t in.
Basically, I was trying to keep a confidence for a friend. I was doing what I thought was the right choice.
Why’d you keep it a secret?
Because my friend asked me to, and it wasn’t mine to share, really. When I was part of Simple Progress in 2011 and didn’t talk about it openly, that was bonehead stupid of me. I made a really dumb mistake, one I learned from because, geez, was that dumb. I haven’t been associated with Simple Progress since 2012, when the partnership was dissolved simply (hur) because we didn’t have time to take on new clients. Not talking about that openly was my own dumb mistake.
In this case, I was trying to be a good friend, and trying to keep separation from her business and mine as best I could.
I’m really proud of Jane’s success, and am amazed at what she’s accomplished. It is not easy to write books, and self publish them, and then to hit a bestseller list and keep going from there – that is extraordinary. I also work with Jane on a lot of projects – the podcast, the DABWAHA, the book blogger conference before RT, to name a few. We work closely and because of that, keeping her pseudonym a secret was sometimes difficult and sometimes uncomfortable for me, and, as I said, the longer it went on, the more unsure I was about what what to do. Or say. Hence my not saying anything until now.
The revelation has also created a lot of anger and confusion and hurt and mistrust in the online romance community, and that makes me the most sad. I also know that there are questions about the Legal Fund I ran on Jane’s behalf, and I want to address those as best I can.
The legal fund is not for Jane’s personal benefit. She’s told me she plans to donate any unused portions (if there are any – discovery, as I understand from all those romance-writing lawyers out there, is very expensive, let alone a trial) to the Society of Professional Journalists Legal Defense Fund. If the funds were not needed, she planned to refund them to the donors. When we started working on it, Jane stated that she initially began with $20,000.00 of her own money. This fund was not and is not for Jane’s personal gain.
I understand if feelings or perceptions of Jane have changed, but the legal fund has nothing to do with her writing career. The lawsuit suit is still going on, and it’s still pretty awful.
Moreover, I understand that people are upset, and I understand not knowing what to do or say about it. I do know Jane, though, and that is a privilege on my part. I don’t believe that it was her intention to mock or betray anyone’s trust, or to make anyone feel gullible or stupid. And I think that judging the whole of her website or of her writing or of her activity in the romance community on this one revelation is a mistake. In addition to her fiction writing, she did stand up for authors who stated they weren’t being paid by Ellora’s Cave. She did get sued for that, and is still defending herself. Jane is my friend, and I know that over the years she’s done a lot to change the conversation about romance online, that she’s championed books and authors and difficult issues, and she’s taken stands on controversies that have divided us.
It’s really easy online, I think, to reduce a person to just one thing. That person is evil. This person is mean. All of those people are horrible.
But no one is just one thing. We are all complex humans who are making decisions based on what we know and think is best at the time.
If you’re angry at me, or at Jane, or at bloggers in general, I understand and empathize with your feelings. I’m not going to say that you’re wrong to be angry. I would never say that.
If my actions have caused you to rethink the way you see me, or this site, I understand that, too. If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them.
You know what? I’ve had just about enough of people accusing all those of disagreeing with or feeling betrayed by Jane/Jen Fredericks of being “EC peeps stirring up drama.” Like just get the fuck out with that right now.
I posted probably one of the most shared and retweeted posts on the nightmare at EC. I talked about my 1099 issues, the slow (but not late for me, at least) payments, the way my editor was axed without warning and the way I was left hanging with no editor and the way my attorney’s request to have the last 4 spec contracts cancelled ended in a not so great way*. I walked away from a series that earned six figures at EC. <—-Pretty sure that qualifies me as NOT an EC cheerleader.
And you know what? I seriously have issues with the way this Jane/Jen thing was handled. Does that make me a hater? Does that make me the President of the Jaid Black Fan Club? <—-I mean, really, do y'all see how ridiculous that is?
Dear Author already held other authors to a high standard (the Slave to Sensation review everyone is sharing) so why not Jane/Jen and everyone at DA who knew or beta read her? You can't say, "Yeah, all these rules apply to everyone…except for me. I'm the special snowflake."
For commenter #112: In June 2013, JS Cooper was a "new" author when DA Jane contacted her about being a possible scraper/plagiarist because she was using a pseudonym and stock image as her author photo and readers were doubting her "…author authenticity." (.>)
I’m not going to dig up the links but they’re fairly easy to find with a little Googling. For JS Cooper, the fear of being labeled a plagiarist/scraper by someone with a platform and following as large as DA very obviously scared her. She recovered from that ugliness because she had strong fan support but not all authors would have been that lucky.
Yes, there are authors who feel betrayed by Jane/Jen. In her capacity as a reviewer at DA, Jane eviscerated a certain author’s NA romance. Knowing full-well that author (who became quite popular in the genre and DESERVEDLY so) would never want to associate with her (in fact, there was actual BLOCKING done between these two) Jane morphed into the Jen Frederick persona and joined a specific and closed group for NA romance authors. She had someone (who knew her real identity) vouch for her as Jen Frederick (hiding the DA identity) and joined this group. She used this new connection to gain promo opportunities and more from this author she had hurt.
How the hell do you think that author felt yesterday and today when she found out the truth?! Betrayed? Embarrassed? Humiliated? Do you think she was wondering if Jane/Jen was laughing at her the whole time and chuckling at the way she got one over on this author? How would that make YOU feel?
As far as the EC connection goes… Authors, editors and cover artists stuck their necks out for her. They went public with their REAL and LEGAL NAMES to provide statements and evidence supporting Jane. They painted bullseyes on their backs for retaliation from that Pubnt loon and worse. For Jane/Jen to hide something like this, especially her infiltration of author spaces where EC issues may have been discussed, from people who were trying to HELP her, is beyond the pale for me. People keep saying this Jen F identity has no bearing on the case. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. But I know a lot of people who thought they knew all the FACTS surrounding this case who are now questioning the choices they made with the “facts” they had. <—-This is the reason we are supposed to be honest and transparent in our legal dealings.
I stand by my decision to donate to the fund. I believed then and still believe in the First Amendment issues at play. But I do NOT like feeling like someone held out their hat for money while crossing their fingers behind their back and hoping no one would find out about this shady, shifty two-year-old secret.
FWIW I'm feeling seriously #notchilled that in the romance world we are never allowed to call to task authors or bloggers with large platforms because of the fear of retaliation or blacklisting. Jane Litte made a name for herself as being one of the NOT nice girls but it sure feels like she's banking on the nice girls of romance land to NOT hold her feet to the fire and ask her these uncomfortable questions.
(*FULL DISCLOSURE: Recently (as in just this week,) Patty Marks at EC did an honorable and generous thing. She gave me back and canceled those spec contracts and set those unwritten books free.)
For the record, I’m not lying. I’m also not sure that I have a career. My most recent release tanked where I’m not even close to breaking even on what I spent on it. But Jane/Jen was there for me when I started. She’s been there for me every step of the way. She was there for me when this most recent book tanked and when I seriously wondered if I even had a career or would ever get where I would like to be.
As any author can tell you, it’s hard as hell to build a career. There are no guarantees. Ever. And it’s awesome that Jen has been able to build this career. Am I jealous? Um, yeah, but I can admit to that. I’m jealous of a lot of people but it makes me want to work harder, even when I’m in the pits of despair.
I can’t speak for anyone else. I can only speak for myself. But Jen has been there for me. The only thing I was scared about was posting my comment and getting backlash from the community. I understand where everyone is coming from, and I’m only trying to bring my perspective and what I know about Jen to the table. Not everyone is going to believe me or listen, and that’s their choice. They don’t owe me anything. They don’t owe Jen or Sarah anything.
But I don’t know . . . I guess I do hope that we get past this and that mistakes can be forgiven.
I’m not an author. I’m a reader (occasional) and purchaser (binge-y) of romances, but I don’t know that I necessarily went to DA for recommendations of how to spend my reading time or money.
In the last few years I’ve mostly visited the site as a source for analysis, reporting and criticism about romance as part of a larger cultural landscape. DA has had interesting things to say about the increasing interaction between consumers and creators (e.g. the impacts of “fan-fic”),and the changing economics of content production and distribution. I looked to DA/Jane for a thorough, detailed, no-holds-barred analysis of these issues, always with attention to a certain ethical standard. How Jane/DA handled this (IMO) is not detailed, thorough, or ethical. What the DA “brand” represented to me is tarnished, and it’s not as trusted a source to me. I’m not sure that there’s a replacement or a financial incentive for someone to create one.
(I also think when Jane made the choice to pursue writing under the pseudonym that she must have known that it could mean the end of DA as it is.)
I value ethics in friendships and work relationships, and hearing about the small ways that Jane put Sarah and others in positions where they were not truthful bugs me a lot.
@Elyssa can you honestly say that if this didn’t pertain to your “friend” whom you “just plain like” and have personal knowledge of her actions under both her persona, that you would just think this was all hunky-dory because she “just wanted to write”? Really?
You don’t find her actions of demanding everyone else be transparent and then using the exact methods she condemned as hypocrisy?
“She’s not malicious.” Maybe not to you, but go talk to the people who’ve been on the other side of her forked tongue, I doubt they would say she isn’t malicious.
“Lots of people take pen names.” Yep, and how many of those did she out? How many of them just wanted their work to stand on its own?
It’s not that she took a pen name. It’s that she didn’t disclose the fact. She polluted the waters all the while lobbying to clean them up.
I’m glad you see her as a great friend, but you need to take off your rose-colored glasses and see that what she did was dishonest and wrong. It’s not that there is proof she used her Jen persona to do anything nefarious, it’s that the possibility on impropriety that she has cast upon herself by her actions. There is proof that she has shouted from her pulpit of a blog for transparency and honesty, yet she turns out to be a liar perpetuating on a lie for years.
I honestly think you won’t be able to put yourself into the position of those who didn’t know because YOU knew from the beginning and you encouraged her to join these groups and lie to your “friends.” You aren’t equal. And if I was any of the “friends” you mentioned, you would find yourself with one less friend.
My disclosure: I am a reader and a (very lazy) blogger and a reader of both Smart Bitches and DA. I have no personal investment in the whole Jane/Jen/DA shambles. However, I hate that authors and readers I like and interact with are being hurt by all this. I hate that authors and readers I DON’T know are being hurt by all this. I hate that I now need to question the motives of sites that I viewed as upstanding and important in Romanceland.
Yes, book reviews are biased due to whomever reviews them. But these aren’t small, “unofficial” blogs like mine is. If I receive a book from an author for review, I disclose that fact to my readers (all 6 of them, lol.) I also let the author know that my review will be honest, free book or no free book. These are the ethical things to do. Jane, as a watchdog of this community (and as a lawyer who I assume should have taken a few ethics courses) has therefore skirted her own mighty principles IMO.
My blog, as I said, is small and has a small readership. DA and SBTB are not. They have sponsors and take money in exchange for advertising space on their blogs. They make money off of people clicking their Amazon links. I am not saying anyone is raking in bags of cash or swimming around in a Scrooge McDuck safe full of gold coins but facts are facts.
Whether or not Jane/Jen meant to be unethical or deceive people, the fact is she did. People were hurt by her dishonesty. Snide comments regarding “super secret author loops” are nonsensical. Authors have every right to have a safe place where they can discuss business, feelings, and whatever they please amongst their peers. As does anyone else in a private loop. That Jane was involved in these loops as newbie author Jen with people she had previous tempestuous dealings as Jane of DA is dishonest.
For the people saying “you can’t trust the internet, nothing is ever private,” DUH. Care must always be taken, etc. But these authors were not just throwing info out onto public forums like Twitter or FB, they were within private author communities that, if I’m not mistaken, the owner/author/creator of the loop would have to add them to. On the other hand, I have befriended many other readers, authors, and bloggers through Twitter, blogs, and message boards. I have met a lot of them in person and found them to be as genuine and lovely in person as they are online.
As for the people commenting that they have no problem/interest in the whole thing and it is NBD, to quote Capt. Jack Rackham, “Go with God.” Bully for you, that is great and all but you don’t get to call people who feel genuinely hurt, confused, or betrayed by Jane/Jen’s actions “jealous, EC-loving haters.” That’s pure horseshit.
I donated to Jane’s EC fund because what EC did was wrong and unethical. I felt donating was the right thing to do. I still think so. So do many others. I hope Jane is successful in the EC lawsuit and in her future writing career. As many others do. All of this does not change the fact that Jane/Jen and by some extension, Sarah, were in the wrong. Amends should be made. The likelihood that all of this will further divide authors, readers, and bloggers in the romance community is something that breaks my heart. I hope that everyone can heal and move forward with clarity and openness.
@Elyssa If it was anyone but Jane, how much forgiveness would Jane have offered?
@Elyssa When I pick my friends, I don’t just look at how they treat me, but how they treat others. Most people wouldn’t date someone who was wonderful to you, but threw his food at and screamed at a waiter. Great, Jane has been nice to you. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that you beta read for her or she for you, whatever it was. And I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that you’re constantly on her site being her cheerleader.
@anon There is no such thing as transparency, and if anyone actually thinks that exists they’re fooling themselves otherwise. Authors help out friends all the time whether it be blurbs, highlighting books in articles or podcasts, tweets, Facebook. Recommended read articles have authors recommending their publisher’s books on there.
I don’t think I have rose-colored glasses on. I think those were wiped off my face when I was a kid and friends turned bullies and made fun of me for my speech impediment. I don’t trust people, and I perfectly know where everyone stands. But my choice at the end of the day is to stand by a friend who has been there for me far longer than other people have–one who has never betrayed me or broken my confidences. So yeah, if that’s rose-colored glasses to you, then I guess I’m wearing them.
ok… I’ve read *every* comment at almost all the major blogs that are spotlight this and I truly don’t see where all this drama is coming from. I’m a bit disappointed that several authors that I have enjoyed and I know have benefited from mentions/reviews on DA and this site, are now pearl clutching and tut-tutting.
I’ve been following this “situation” and I guess, I can’t see what all the brouhaha is about. It seems like every one is “hurt and angry” b/c Jane didn’t disclose every minute detail of her life to the internet world at large? They are demanding “transparency”. THIS IS THE INTERNET… THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TRANSPARENCY and one would be a fool to offer it. Haven’t we had enough examples that people are not real on the internet? and the blog world does not transition well over to real life?
The few examples that people are touting as the “smoking guns”… the berkley book, the mentions of her books by other people and not herself and who didn’t know it was her… all on a *free* reader blog, it’s a stretch. This isn’t a business, there wasn’t any “insider trading”, it’s a free service to an online community about books. As someone completely outside the blogging and writing world, I’m feeling… so what? She is known to the blog world under a pseudonym, she wrote a book under another. She kept them completely separate. To me, all of the finger pointing and accusations are petty. The gasping b/c she dared… what?… act like an author? a blogger? have an opinion? The horror! And now Sarah and Elyssa are being vilified because… they are supporting their friend? This is playing out more like people are gleefully finding reasons to finally say all of the spiteful things they were saying behind her back. Very high school dramatics to me. @Ann Sommerville had it perfectly right. So many people eager to participate in the age old Romanlandia tradition of getting their kicks in while someone else is down…
And full “disclosure”, I have absolutely no connection, loyalty, second cousin or interest in this drama. Just an outsider observing and thinking that absolutely none of you are safe from the online dramatics. Just make sure that none of you do anything questionable since the self righteous soap boxes are so quickly whippd out nowadays.
[…] wrote this last night, and since then Sarah has posted about this topic on Smart Bitches. I’m so glad she did, and I can see it was a really tough call for her to make on how to […]
” It seems like every one is “hurt and angry” b/c Jane didn’t disclose every minute detail of her life to the internet world at large?”
What the hell? No one wants, needs, or has expressed any interest in minute details of Jane’s life. The fact that she’s an author and that her work as an author intersects her works as a blogger and she didn’t disclose that while demanding high ethical standards from others is not minute. So again, what the hell?
Also, no one is vilifying anyone for standing by a friend. People are taking issue with some ethically questionable behavior carried out in the name of supporting a friend, but that’s not the same thing. “I did it for a friend” is not a universal pass for poor decisions. At least not once you’re out of junior high.
As for there being no transparency on the internet, that’s pretty much true. Someone should maybe have mentioned that to Jane at some point in the time that she’s been criticizing others for the same thing that she did.
@Elyssa you can stand by your friend without acting as if what she has done is okay. And please stop with the poor me I’ve been buLlied. You helped open the gate to let the wolf in sheeps clothing into the pen. Stop acting like you have a better idea of friendship than the rest of us. You chose to speak up and draw attention to yourself with your “I just don’t understand” post.
I find it funny that you want to bring up bullies, yet befriended one of the biggest in the community, but since she was nice to you, it’s okay and she should be forgiven. Well, this isn’t a confessional and she doesn’t get to say so many Hail Marys and be forgiven, or in her case offer promotion on her blog.
You want to support your friend, do so, but don’t do it under the guise of I just don’t understand why people don’t like her. That would be like me asking why people don’t like me, it’s because I call it like a see it and some take that as me being bichty, but I’m certainly not a bully, nor I have I done what Jane has.
@Lorelie Brown said, “I can’t remember how far back I was on SBTB & DA. Long enough to have cred, if I could remember the year, and I do know that I met Carrie Lofty on SBTB. She’s my co-writer, and my best friend, and the woman who saved me from an awful marriage by being the best support I could ever find. And she’s only one of the relationships that I formed in the comment threads of these communities focused on feminism and romance novels and *smart* women.
Eventually, I got pushed out of those areas by a timber of conversation that Jane encouraged. That was fine. It was her space. But Jane/Jen got to straddle the divide, and that’s bullshit.”
I was on SBTB starting in the mid-00s. The pseudonym I used back then got her Smart Bitch title in late 2005. I didn’t post quite as much on DA, but for a while, I commented fairly regularly over there, too. I know what you mean about the community we had.
In some ways, I still miss it, but like you said, things moved on. And so did a number of us, and I suspect for similar reasons. For me, a major factor (but not the only one) was the scandal-of-the-month pattern that seemed to have become the norm. Nothing drives web site traffic and ad revenue like a good scandal, hmm? (It’s not lost on me that yet another scandal has me commenting here for the first time in years.)
I’m appalled that Jane put her friends and business partners in the difficult position of keeping her secret. Anyone who’s been around in Romancelandia as long as they have would’ve had some inkling just how big a shitstorm there’d be if it ever came out that the community’s megaphone-wielding crusader for transparency and ethics was holding herself to a lower standard.
And I’m very sad for people who befriended her as Jane or Jen (or in some cases, both) and feel used and betrayed, or even unsafe. I’ve been there, and it’s one reason I left the online romance community altogether. I hope the support I’m seeing for Bree and others keeps you guys together and still writing and reading and shooting the shit on Twitter and blogs and wherever else. Don’t let this bullshit fuck up something you love and separate you from people whose company you enjoy.
I’m an author, too. I’ve been hurting for Bree and wanting to speak, but it wasn’t my story to add to this discussion. All I can say is I’m proud of her for sharing here. And I so agree with what Lorelie said, too.
I’m friends with Lorelie and many of the other writers who’ve posted. I’m friends with Bree. I’ve confided a lot of things to Bree over the years. We cheer each other on. We listen to each other’s troubles. And I’ve never met her in person. If I found out that she was actually someone else I knew in real life and had spent time with, and “Bree” was a manufactured online identity designed to interact with me in a different way? I can’t imagine how I’d feel. That’s not about a pseudonym.
In reply to Hapax comment #119 who says:
So I am truly saddened and angry that people felt that their expectations of privacy, personal relationships, and even friendships were abused…But I can’t help but feeling amazed and jealous that they even HAD such expectations of their professional spaces.
That may be why some commenters don’t see the “big deal”. The writing community is an amazing, and to me, a precious place like no other. It’s a place where I’ve formed lasting friendships, that yes, started online. It’s a place where when I hurt, I can say so without fear of being attacked. If I’m joyful, I can celebrate without feeling others will resent me. The writing community in general and the romance writing community in particular is like a second family to many, and the only family some people have. So when someone comes in and deceives, it’s a violation. It’s a big deal. Maybe it’s crazy to trust to such a degree, but so much good has come out of writers supporting one another both online and off that I doubt we’ll become sane anytime soon.
@Elyssa said – “But I don’t know . . . I guess I do hope that we get past this and that mistakes can be forgiven.”
Should we forgive in the same way that Jane and Sarah have been so forgiving and compassionate toward authors that they felt were behaving badly? I’m very happy to follow their example and treat them accordingly when they make the same sort of mistake.
Jane has repeatedly said authors should not be in reader spaces. She has said, “Bias matters.” She should have disclosed and she should have been transparent, which is what she DEMANDS from every other authors. I can’t stand people who say, “Do as I say, not as I do.”
I don’t think there will be forgiveness for someone who is such a bleeding hypocrite.
so what’s the end goal here? to force Jane out of DA? To force JF to stop writing? To silence yet another blogger because feelings were hurt? To force Jane and everyone associated with her to bend over backwards to appease strangers? To emphasize that the great writer/reader/blogger divide is only perpetuated and created by overblown and unsubstantiated drama?
It seems that there is absolutely no wiggle room in this “community’ for people to make missteps and to make basic human interaction mistakes because certain ideas are so sacrosanct that no one is willing to move on. I know that I’m in the minority of this lynch mob but come on… if this is the worst thing to happen to any of you, than life has truly been kind.
I wasn’t going to say anything, as I’ve just been reading this for the popcorn value, but a couple of points that just keep getting raised just drive me nuts.
Jane was nice to you — great. She was less kind to others. The two are not mutually exclusive. It became clear to me pretty quickly once I started reading DA that Jane like to play queenmaker. If she like you, her and her little tribe of twitter people would rain good things upon you. If she didn’t, well there would still be a rain but it was darker and didn’t smell as good. She can be both a good friend to some while being a pretty vicious—well I’ll just skip the next word—to others.
Secondly it is possible to thing what Jane did was wrong, while at the same time thinking what EC did was wrong. You don’t have to pick sides. Just to be clear, I don’t think what Jane did with her article was wrong, it’s all the other stuff.
@131, 132 is vilifying her for standing by her friend. Shame on both of you for attacking someone who is simply stating that she supports someone who had been good to her.
As for the rest, I couldn’t care less if Jane writes books and didn’t tell us at the time you all think would have been best. It’s a book review blog for me, not some holy site where I expect people to be perfect. All I know is that Jane was damned if she did and dammed if she didn’t tell people about it. Because there is never this level of rancor unless people are just looking for an excuse to attack. Whatever. The people complaining can go find their promised land where everyone is perfect and special someplace else. And I’ll visit DA on occasion to get ideas on books to read because they’ve always helped me find some in the past, and that hasn’t changed.
The shitty thing is the more I think about this the worse it becomes. I was online when Jane posted about being Jen. I commented and said WOW Congratulations etc. then I went away and things began to percolate in my brain. As the PV post came out, then a whole load of others the various issues came up and I began to see Jane’s behaviour as more and more problematic.
The two big issues for me:
1. Jane has spoken FOR YEARS about good author behaviour. Authors not intruding reader spaces. The problem with authors reviewing books (the Nalini Singh review), and full disclosure. It turns out, she’s a massive hypocrite.
2. Jane intruding on private author loops as Jen when Jane would never have been allowed- pseudonym or not they are the same person.
I don’t know, when you unpack how huge the trust violation is, whether Jen/Jane can recover from this. She is certainly blemished. This is from a former fan.
There are no anonymous EC fans or STGRB people writing here, there is a list of authors, some of whom have been very supportive of Jane, and there are fellow bloggers and readers. We’re all a bit bemused and a bit hurt, but I don’t think Jane/Jen can go back to begin Jane Litte from Dear Author For Readers, By Readers, because we all know that’s not who she is. If she steps down that’s sad, if she doesn’t then Dear Author needs to be seen in its context- as a blog owned by NA Author Jen Frederick who writes in partnership with Jessica Claire and has contracts with publishers.
@LO
Ugh. In googling JS Cooper, it takes me to that awful STGRB site. Thankfully, I was able to find information elsewhere because I will not ever visit a site known for lying, doxing, and being all around hateful.
So, Jane sent a private message to Cooper asking for clarification regarding an email she received, stating Cooper was a plagiarist and using a stock photo. Jane simply asked her if it was true. There were no threats. Would you rather Jane simply ran with the story without verifying the information? She received a tip and went straight to the person being accused, which is exactly what any blogger should do in those circumstances. If Cooper chose to read that brief email as a threat, then that is on her.
I also know the NA author you are talking about (not hard to figure it out) and I would hardly say she “eviscerated” the book. She actually even said some positive things about it. However, the NA author you are referring to has been known to fly off the handle (to put it mildly) when receiving negative reviews, so thanks for pretty much proving my point.
I don’t have a problem with authors and readers feeling betrayed, angry, or hurt by Jane’s actions. Not at all. Mixed in with these very reasonable voices, however, seem to be a small but vocal crowd that is obviously using Jane’s reveal as a means of settling a score.
@Erica 139 I did not villify Elyssa for defending her friend. She chose to post her post of how she couldn’t understand why people were mad at her friend and then admitted her part in the duplicity. When I commented back that she should look at it from the perspective of those who didn’t help perptuate the lie, she chose to ignore the points about how wrong what she was complicit in wad and bring up the poor pitiful me I was bullied as a kid because I had a speech impediment, and I didn’t fall for it and called her out on her bad behavior.
Personally, I think there is a lot of wiggle room in the book world, but I’m not the one who has been yelling from a rooftop for years about disclosure. The biggest and most vocal person who caused the upset is Jane herself. She fostered the “transparent” party line all the way to her own end. And I’d like nothing more than to see Jane eat crow and choke on it. Jane was only damned if she did and damned if she didn’t because she damned herself.
Oh what a tangled web we weave…
and the more that I think about this.. you all say that you should have been told, there should have been disclosure. In context, you all didn’t *need* to know anything, you feel entitled to know. Which are completely different things if you can think rationally about it…
@ Diane
I’m not sure what NA author you’re talking about…but if her initials are JM? We are NOT talking about the same person. The author I’m speaking about has never interacted with readers or reviewers in that way. In fact, she’s incredibly well-liked and enjoyed by many, many reader/author groups on Facebook and Goodreads. So…I think you’re way off base there.
As far as settling a score? I have zero ties to Jane/Jen other than the EC thing. That’s it. None of my books (under either pen name) have ever been reviewed or discussed at DA. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t even on the DA radar until the EC thing blew up.
So. Again. No score to settle here. I’m just an author who knows other authors who were deeply, deeply hurt by this revelation. I’m just an author who knows people who feel duped and upset by the circumstances surrounding the fundraiser and the calls for support.
I will also say that though I don’t agree with Sarah’s actions in regards to Jane/Jen, I do give her huge credit for saying something and opening herself up for the picking. As far as I’ve seen, she has let the comments stand as posted. I’m sure she is getting some of the negative feelings that some posters feel toward Jane, but Sarah has handled the fallout on here with a lot of professionalism. Credit to Sarah on that point.
@erinfl How many times did Jane “need to know” the information she sought And argued for?
She’s fallen victim to her own campaign.
@anon 142 In no way, shape, or form was I trying to create sympathy. I was merely saying I don’t trust easily. As to not addressing your points…what do I owe you honestly? A friend told me a secret that I chose to keep. I told her about a group that another mod let her in. This group is mainly know to show off covers and ask about formatting tips or hey, should I do this for Bookbub. Do I have control who befriends Jen? No. It’s a risk we all take in who we trust and let in our circles.
This is a really ugly situation and poorly reflects on Jane, Dear Author, Sarah, and SBTB.
Jane acted wholly unethical for years. Sarah was complicit in her deception and aided her.
I’m a long time reader of both and I’m done with both sites. Both Jane and Sarah act like they only care for readers and protecting readers and promoting responsible authorship, yet behind the scenes do things like this? What else don’t we know?
Jane’s a BBA and Sarah’s a BBR.
(and for the authors speaking out, I support your decision and appreciate your honesty.)
@Elyssa Patrick: Do I have control who befriends Jen? No. It’s a risk we all take in who we trust and let in our circles.
It’s the victim’s fault they were catfished?
I acknowledge everyone’s feelings about this matter. I have done my best to write this remark carefully because I realize there are strong feelings on both sides of the issue(s).
My question is to those who feel hurt/betrayed/violated by Jane’s compartmentalizing of her author/blogger identities…and Sarah’s decision not to betray a friend’s confidence…what do you (I use ‘you’ in this post as in the general ‘you’, not any specific individual) want to happen?
I’m asking because I honestly don’t understand what outcome you’re hoping for.
Is your goal to force Jane to give up DA? To stop writing? To write another blog full of apologies and promises to do better?
Many of the discussions of the books reviewed here @ SBTB talk about what the Hero (and to a lesser extent, the Heroine) must do to deserve the forgiveness and love of their other. The usual response is “massive grovelling”. Is that what you are waiting for?
I’ve read every comment (as of 1:26AM CST)both here and at DA. There are many heartfelt posts on every side of this issue–but not one post about what more Jane (and to a lesser extent, Sarah) can do, if anything, to make amends. They have both apologized publicly and promised to do better. Yet they are both still being castigated by many commentators. (That is an observation, not a criticism.)
What penance should she (they) make? What will satisfy those who feel betrayed? I’m asking in all sincerity.
But the most important question to me is: Can there be forgiveness?
@Elyssa I didn’t say owed me anything. I merely pointed out your actions and how they come across. What you want a medal for being dishonest and sticking up for your dishonest friend? You opened and door and when someone walked though it who wasn’t going to pat your hand and tell you what a good girl you are, you got upset. And when I was called out for “villifying” you, I defended my observations.
So because you don’t trust easy, everyone should trust your good opinion of your friend? No, that’s not how it works. And just because you were in one group with her is not what I referred to with you helping perptuate her deception. It applies to the entire situation. By your acceptance of her, you, in essence, vouched for her.
And if you don’t feel like you “owe” me anything, don’t respond.
@rayvun2k I don’t think there will be anything they can do to right their wrong, but that is the environment they fostered with great effort. So the bigger question is what would they accpet as “proper” penace?
Will this have a lasting affect on them, probably not. This too shall pass and they will continue on as they have. Only time will show they’ve changed their behavior.
@rayvyn2k#150: Thanks for this. After reading the comments here, this is what I wanted to know. For the people who feel strongly that Jane, Sarah, and others acted unethically and/or hurt them personally, what do they feel needs to happen next? (Like you, I’d genuinely like their perspective.)
Jane/Jen’s participation in author forums doesn’t immediately affect me or my opinion of DA, but I do see how other authors could feel hurt and violated. It sounds as if this might be something that can’t be overlooked or forgiven by many of them.
And, finally, I’m still vague on whose careers were ruined by Jane and Sarah? I wasn’t much enlightened by the JS Cooper info. Have I totally missed this stuff on DA/SBTB? Is it just bad reviews or more? Unless something more vindictive or nefarious is going on, I can’t see that a bad review equals ruin.
If you try to help out someone you believe is less fortunate than you, that says a lot about you.
If that person was only pretending to be less fortunate to see what they could get out of you, that says a lot about them.
Which person do you want to be? Which person do you think Jen was being in those groups?
I don’t think a lot of people understand the “private author groups” that have been mentioned. These aren’t places to go to bitch. They’re not snotty exclusive places. They’re just places where authors who have been approved/vouched for by someone in the group, can go to discuss their successes, their failures and can ask for opinions on questions you really can’t ask in the public eye. Which blog tour companies are worth the money? Is advertising at that blog site worth it? Have you tried xyz and did it work? Personal things get discussed because members are trying to learn from one another. On the two sites I was on where “Jen” was a member, bashing of anyone was not allowed.
People on those sites friended “Jen” thinking she was in the same boat they were. New to the business. Looking for tips. Seeking promo. The thing is, she wasn’t really new to the business. She knew publishing inside and out. She was taking the valuable time of helpful authors who were trying to help the new girl. She used whatever they were willing to give. Did she pimp them in return? Certainly not on her biggest site. Did she help them at all in return? Or was she there to get what she wanted with no concern whatsoever for how people would feel when they realized who she was?
There were undoubtedly members of both groups who never would have been friendly to Jane if she’d tried to join the group. These groups were writer groups where a hardass blogger known for vicious reviews would not have been accepted because her presence wouldn’t have been helpful or productive. Jane knew this when she joined yet she stayed anyway. Like a fox in a hen house. Gathering info for whatever purposes. Taking what she needed. Giving nothing back but some comments of commiseration about how stressful writing can be.
It wasn’t until after she was forced to expose her “situation” that she told the group she’d gladly pimp their new releases on her blog. Throwing a bone to the poor lowly authors who she wouldn’t have previously touched and attempting to buy their silence and loyalty with the promise of free promo. That’s not benevolent. It’s crafty. It’s underhanded. It’s pathetic. It underscores the amount of power she has and her intention to utilize it how and whenever it suits her needs.
I understaand her wanting to see if she could make a successful go of being an author using a pseudonym and there’s nothing at all wrong with that. But becoming successful can be accomplished without sneaking into private groups and using people. Jane had enough info about the industry, enough email addresses, enough friends she had confided in—she could have launched her author experiment just like that without infiltrating sites that are populated by actual writers who are sincerely just there for advice, exchange of ideas and to help people who are REALLY in the same position as them. Not people who are going to make them care, make them trust them then turn around and say “surprise—I’m not who you thought I was—but here, have this token spot on my uber powerful blog to make up for whatever pain I caused you.”
As Jane would say: #notchilled
[…] Sarah at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has a great Q&A session, including answering issues relating to the ECvDA legal fundraiser. […]
@150 Rayven asks what deceived parties would like to see …
A sincere apology from Jen/jane to the authors she knowingly deceived (esp those who had her blocked as her DA persona); and
A sincere apology to those authors, editors and EC contractors who’ve exposed themselves to stress and costs in order to help DAs case
A sincere apology to her friends who had to cover her deceipt for the past two years and thus tarnish their own reputations and brands – esp in Sarahs case.
Considering DAs tweets today joking as if nothing had happened, I dont expect any of the above to happen. To steal Jennifer Aniston’s line, “she has a sensitivity chip missing”
@150 @156
I think those ideas are a good start as to what jane should do to make amends but I would also add that she needs to come up with some rules about how she will deal with transparency and conflicts of interest going forward. Apologies would be a good start, but it’s only a start
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve met Sarah, and I’m an author, as well as an avid reader. I’m going to confess that as an author, I can completely understand Jane’s use of a pseudonym. It makes sense to me. Does Sarah have any responsibility in this issue? Personally, not that I can see, only that she kept a confidence (I don’t view this as a cover-up or intention to deceive). Does this affect how I view SBTB? No. I’ll still look here for info, deals, reviews etc, and I’ll still form my own opinions, and carry on much as I did before.
I don’t have opinions yet about the controversy, but I do have a suggestion…this post felt as if it started in the middle of the story and assumed readers had a lot of context that they may not actually have had (which may be fueling comment arguments). While I understand that Sarah, being in the middle of the situation and perhaps not wanting to add more fuel to the fire, may not want to write more, if there’s a post or article out there with a little more context (maybe written by someone with more distance) it would be great to post a link. Everything I Googled to was written by someone who clearly a) understood a lot of backstory, b) has strong feelings on the subject and c) was bringing in a lot of history, deserved or not. I feel like I just walked in on my best friend screaming at her husband and I can’t tell if she needs a hug and a glass of wine, or for me to help her start packing a suitcase…
Sarah, I have legit questions I hope you answer. The below are your words.
But no one is just one thing. We are all complex humans who are making decisions based on what we know and think is best at the time.
Question: Why do you treat others in a way that is in direct conflict with your above statement?
You and Jane reduced countless authors/editors/publishers to ‘one thing’. You and Jane gleefully crucified ‘complex humans’ who might have made decisions based on what they knew or thought was best at the time.
Question: How can you expect a community filled with people you’ve hurt, and/or know someone hurt by you, to be forgiving toward you and Jane when you and Jane proved to be ruthlessly unforgiving toward others?
It would be refreshing to have Jane, and Sarah too for that matter, admit to holding everyone up to a certain set of standards and decimating anyone who fell short…all the while participating in the sort of subterfuge they would have destroyed anyone else for. I won’t hold my breath for that acknowledgment, though. I’ve found that hypocrites rarely admit their hypocrisy.
Question: Sarah, will you and Jane continue to reduce others to ‘just one thing’, or will you now actually treat people respectfully and with a bit more care than you have in the past? Will you respect that ‘we are all complex humans who are making decisions based on what we know and think is best at the time’?
It will be interesting to watch Sarah’s and Jane’s behavior now that Jane is, by her own standards, an Author Behaving Badly.