Trust me when I say I don't have my finger on the pulse of Romancelandia. When it comes to Twitter, I have the attention span of a squirrel. And I get overwhelmed by the amount of kick ass ladies who dwell there. I am just an anxious chick who makes posts about bread. Not someone who has anything profound to say about the business. But it was hard to miss the #copypastecris plagiarism scandal. I was sitting on twitter DMing with an author friend as it all went down.
And what a shit show.
The entire situation is disheartening for an indie author like me. Someone gamed the system. Someone stole the hard work of 26 (HOLY SHIT BALLS 26!) authors. They made cold hard cash off the sweat and tears of others while the rest of us are struggling just to be seen. Her rep has tarnished those who can write a book a month, or authors who work as ghostwriters, or indies who are just trying to get by. I mean I really could go on and on about this bullshit. It fries my bacon.
But that's not what this post is about.
Because out of this circus of terror came some amazing things. Things that made be really proud to be in the Romance community, even if only at its fringes. While the Twitter detectives were getting to the bottom of it all, I saw readers clamoring to buy books from those who were plagiarized so they can show their support. A good chunk of those authors were best sellers who insisted that readers go find a new indie to check out because they are the ones who need the boost. People were offering advice, legal support, and in general, not being the douchcannoes that can populate the internet. The intense amount of pay it forward was touching, and wonderful, and fucking beautiful if you don't mind me saying so.
The Romance genre is more than just a genre. Its more than just words on a page. Its a community. It has its ups and down and trust me, I've seen the downs while squirreling around on Twitter, but at heart, its comprised of some pretty stellar people who believe that we're all in this together. That's the type I want to be a part of. That's the type of author and person I want to be.