The New York Times Sunday Business section published a long article on a guy who made as much as $30k a week writing “favorable online book reviews” for authors. Not just paid to review, mind you. That’s a perfectly legitimate occupation. This fellow was paid to say loudly and in as many places as possible: This book – the vast majority of which he admits he never read – is absolutely terrific. http://tinyurl.com/98hrbv2

What enrages me is not this entrepreneurial individual of little integrity. I’m seeing red over the writers who think it’s okay to poison the well by destroying reader trust in this manner.

Look, in terms of how the world works, writing and reading books is a minority occupation.

I don’t know what percentage of the billions of people on the planet can write and read, but I know most are too busy surviving to be able to do so. If you add the further refinement of reading fiction, and throw in that such reading is for pleasure as well as possible enlightenment, you narrow the audience to a pretty small slice of available humans.

I’ve spent my entire professional life fighting for a share of those few readers, trying to create things that are worthy, that offer both substance and delight. (And wearing my mentoring hat, helping others do the same.)

Right now I have a new novel to be published in April 2013. Here’s an abbreviated history of what has gone into that:

I spent four years creating an original manuscript I call Bristol House.

An agent spent months working with me to get it into what she felt was a version she could recommend to editors.

In March of 2011 Viking Penguin agreed to publish it.

Two different highly placed/experienced editors (three if you count one who wasn’t a good fit) spent the next year working with me on making perfect the story and the telling. (I have published many novels before this one – believe me, getting it right is never easy.)

After that the ms was copy-edited by another experienced professional. Her job was to make sure there were no errors of fact or spelling or punctuation.

Then I proofed her work and a proofreader did the same, and created page proofs.

Then I proofed the page proofs.

I am yet engaged with the book designer as we work through issues of fonts and print styles, and the challenges of a map as well as a schematic drawing. Her job is to be both a creative artist and an organizer of technical realities. She’s spent years learning how to do that.

As for the cover… Don’t get me started. The publisher and the art department and I are on the fourth attempt to get that right.

(Incidentally, my agent remains engaged as well. She’s asked to weigh in on 99% of these discussions and decisions.)

Pretty soon we’ll start talking about Advance Reader Copies and other issues of marketing. I’m relying on the advice of still more professionals for that.

In a few months readers and reviewers will finally begin to have their say. What happens if they don’t like what I’ve written and so many others have worked so hard on? Game over. We lose.

Now you’re telling me some people think it’s acceptable not simply to compete but to do the dirty in the process? It’s fair to destroy readers’ trust by jury tampering? Because, after all, “that’s business.”

If doping gets athletes disqualified, and falsifying medical or legal credentials gets you a jail term, how can you – the writer paying to deceive readers – think this is okay?