Self-publishing. It’s a term that evokes a lot of different emotions, many of them bad. I personally don’t hate self-publishing. As a writer I find the notion of independence in the writing industry to be intriguing. In fact, writing is one of the few creative arts that hasn’t developed much in the way of an indie subset. Art, music, video games and the like are moving in that direction and doing so successfully.

Yet writing has gotten left behind and I think the reason can be found in self-publishing, even if it isn’t necessarily the act itself that’s a problem. No, it’s the people who self-publish who are, all too often, the problem. Take for example one Robert Stanek.

In terms of reprehensible behavior, this man seems determined to make himself a one-man PublishAmerica. I can’t quite figure out which I find more deplorable: That he uses fakes names to give his own books 5 star reviews or that he uses fake names to give other well-known, genuinely published and bestselling authors 1 star reviews.[1] How about Photoshopping himself into a picture with Brian Jacques, bestselling author of the Redwall books?[2] Gee, Mr. Stanek, I know the publishing industry can cut the legs out from under you, but that’s the first time I’ve seen photographical evidence.

It’s jaw-dropping. Tales of this man’s perfidy abound on the internet, from author blogs to reader complaints to stories of Stanek’s outrageous attempts to threaten legal action.[3] The good news for other authors attempting the same endeavors as Stanek is that fake lawyers are free.

But if you’re wondering why I use a word as strong as “perfidy”, take a look at the Amazon reviews. Negative ones are few and far between, but the disparity between them and the positive ones are startling. Moreover, the disparity between the positive reviews and Stanek’s actual writing…I don’t think you have to be Jewish like me to respond to that with a resounding “Oy vey!” Take a look if you don’t believe me.[4]

Even if you could somehow prove that the reviews on Amazon aren’t fakes (and I doubt you could), just look at the man’s own websites. Yes, websites, plural, because the man seems to think that every little thing about him and his work justifies a website. There are quotes of praise that aren’t attributed to anyone.[5] I can say with quite some confidence that I’ve never seen unattributed quotes on the websites of traditionally published authors.

Lies, fake reviews, bad Photoshop jobs…All of this makes me really, really angry. Now, I’m not at this time a published author. I’m an aspiring writer who, at the tender age of twelve, had her career dreams shanghaied quite suddenly by the discovery of an intense love of storytelling. Trust me when I say that no one was more surprised than me. And as I’ve begun to make my first attempts at having a career, I’ve come face-to-rejection-letter with just how tough the publishing industry can be.

But if you think this would make me sympathetic towards Robert Stanek, you’d be wrong. Robert Stanek is the proverbial smoker in my house. It’s my house. Maybe people love the décor, maybe they hate it, whatever, but it’s mine. And here comes this person with his stinking, poisonous cloud of smoke. In my house.

I can’t fathom it. I just can’t. It may sound corny to you, but I love writing, love storytelling, so much that I can’t wrap my mind around these actions. How can anyone tarnish the integrity of themselves and their work this way? How can anyone treat paying readers this way, with lies, with utter falsities? I don’t get it.

It’s this kind of behavior that hurts the notion of self-publishing so much. All too often self-published writers are self-serving egotists who don’t love writing so much as the idea of being a writer. They love the idea of the recognition, the praise, and they commit atrocities such as this one, adding further layers to the stigma surrounding self-publishing. And those bright voices who could make something out of indie publishing get drowned out, lost in the stink.

This is not okay, Mr. Stanek. Do you hear me? This is not okay, not for self-published authors, not for traditionally published authors, not for anyone. Using a sockpuppet review to tell an author they need to “go to Iraq to get the ‘moral character’ that only comes from serving in the armed forces”[6] is not only low, it’s tacky. I’m pretty sure the men and women of the armed forces would take some issue with Stanek’s idea of “moral character”.

People like Robert Stanek, people who engage in such actions, have no moral character. What they have is selfishness and falsity. Some of us love what we do and do it because of that. Does Robert Stanek? You couldn’t convince me that he does.

So do me a favor, Mr. Stanek, and get out of my house. You stink.