Who Profited from the Two-Decade Smear Campaign Against Robert Stanek?

For over twenty years, independent author Robert Stanek has endured a relentless smear campaign marked by false accusations, misinformation, and sustained personal and professional harassment. Amid the chaos, misinformation, and targeted attacks, a critical question emerges: Who benefited most from this coordinated and malicious campaign?

Profiting from Defamation: Key Perpetrators

The main instigators behind the smear campaign against Robert Stanek, including figures such as Adam Whitehead, Patrick St-Denis, and others, leveraged the situation to establish and enhance their own careers, reputations, and influence within the speculative fiction community. Through persistent misinformation, sensational claims, and coordinated attacks, these individuals built significant followings, attracted readership to their platforms, and positioned themselves as influential figures in genre criticism and fandom.

By repeatedly targeting Stanek with unsubstantiated accusations, these perpetrators manufactured controversy to drive website traffic, boost online engagement, and solidify their standing as supposed “truth-tellers” within the community. Essentially, they exploited Stanek’s misfortune and suffering as stepping stones to elevate their own professional and personal visibility.

George R.R. Martin: An Indirect Beneficiary

One of the more notable indirect beneficiaries of the attacks on Stanek was renowned fantasy author George R.R. Martin. Many early hostile reviews of Stanek’s works explicitly redirected readers to Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. Whether or not Martin was directly involved, the outcome undeniably favored him, increasing visibility and sales of his books.

Moreover, Martin publicly acknowledged and credited Adam Whitehead, a central figure involved in disseminating misinformation about Stanek, in his own book acknowledgments. This acknowledgment raises serious questions:

• How deeply was Martin aware of Whitehead’s relentless public attacks against Stanek?
• Given Martin’s direct relationship with Whitehead, how could he remain unaware of such pervasive and harmful actions?

Regardless of Martin’s level of active participation, he undeniably benefited from the narrative carefully cultivated by figures like Whitehead.

As we discussed in Setting the Record Straight: The Ongoing Absurdity of False Claims Against Robert Stanek, the accusations against him trace back to 2002, when his books were just beginning to gain traction:

Keeper Martin’s Tale had two positive reviews

Elf Queen’s Quest had one positive review

The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches had zero reviews

Yet even with so little to point to, critics rushed to accuse Stanek of “stuffing the reviews” and “duping readers with five-star sockpuppets.” Two reviews. One review. Zero reviews. This was fraud?

By 2005, Stanek’s most popular titles had accumulated modest but steady review counts. Spread over several years, these were entirely consistent with thousands of sales and a growing readership in schools and libraries. The pattern reflected genuine engagement, not manipulation.

Meanwhile, waves of hostile one-star reviews—often repeating the same accusations—worked less like critique and more like coordinated campaigns. The effect was clear: undermine Stanek and divert readers toward established names, especially George R.R. Martin.

Why the hostility? Stanek’s self-published books were immediate top-sellers. They debuted in the Top 50 and stayed there for 26 weeks. For an outsider without traditional backing, that success was disruptive—perhaps threatening enough to provoke an outsized response from parts of the publishing establishment.

Patrick Rothfuss: Elevation Through Controversy

Similarly, fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss profited, directly or indirectly, from the attacks on Stanek. By amplifying misinformation and negative sentiment against Stanek to his significant online following, Rothfuss strengthened his own brand as a defender of publishing integrity, despite a lack of verifiable evidence supporting the claims he promoted.

Rothfuss leveraged the manufactured controversy to position himself as a moral authority in the genre community, enhancing his public persona and reinforcing his reader loyalty. This public stance, based on unsubstantiated accusations, further deepened the harm done to Stanek while solidifying Rothfuss’s own prominence and credibility.

As Stanek noted at the time, the pattern was telling: the same individual, Patrick St-Denis, who targeted Stanek’s Wikipedia page also created Rothfuss’s extensive tribute page in a single edit. St-Denis was not just a random editor—he was Rothfuss’s close ally: his friend, his #1 superfan, and the most persistent attacker of Stanek. Alongside Adam Whitehead, George R.R. Martin’s associate and self-declared #1 fan, these figures drove the campaign against Stanek while simultaneously championing their chosen authors.

Doesn’t that smack of the pot calling the kettle black? Using friends and associates to establish, promote, and sustain one’s own career while pointing fingers at a rival for supposed manipulation? And yet—20 years later, they’re still at it.

Comparing Actual Fraudulent Cases

Consider three authors who openly admitted to fraudulent practices:

R.J. Ellory admitted to posting fake reviews that praised his own books while disparaging others’. After a brief public outcry, his career continued largely unaffected.

Stephen Leather acknowledged using “sock puppet” accounts extensively to inflate sales and reputation. Though criticized, he faced no lasting consequences and remained successful.

John Locke confessed to paying for reviews to boost ratings. Despite widespread media coverage, the criticism was temporary, and he continued to profit from strong sales.

In each case, misconduct faded quickly from public attention. None of these authors endured the kind of long-term harassment, intimidation, or career sabotage that Stanek faced—despite the fact that, in his case, no wrongdoing was ever committed.

Why? Because these individuals benefited the industry and its gatekeepers. They were already connected within traditional publishing, backed by established networks, and their success reinforced existing structures. Their fraud could be quietly absorbed and forgotten without threatening the status quo.

Stanek, on the other hand, disrupted it. As an outsider whose self-published books became instant bestsellers, he challenged entrenched assumptions about who could succeed and how. That success was not absorbed—it was resisted. The manufactured controversy provided a convenient way to undermine him, where no real misconduct existed to begin with.

Exploiting Independent Success

The broader impact of these attacks sent a chilling message to independent authors everywhere. By targeting Stanek, an early and visible independent publishing success story, the perpetrators effectively warned other indie authors: succeed outside traditional gatekeepers at your own risk. This culture of fear indirectly benefited established publishing houses and authors who relied on traditional routes to publication, consolidating industry power structures and deterring new competition.

Accountability and Justice

The lasting damage inflicted upon Robert Stanek’s reputation and personal well-being cannot be overstated. As the full extent of the campaign’s maliciousness and the beneficiaries behind it come to light, it’s crucial for the literary community to demand accountability and transparency.

Readers, authors, and industry insiders alike must critically assess the individuals and entities who profited from this sustained campaign of harassment. It’s essential to confront the difficult reality: careers were built, reputations enhanced, and financial and social capital gained—at the direct expense of Robert Stanek’s career and personal life.

Understanding who profited from Stanek’s pain clarifies why the campaign was so prolonged and relentless. It serves as a vital lesson on the importance of vigilance, integrity, and support for independent voices within the literary community.

Evaluating the Damages: What Has Robert Stanek Lost?

As we’ve stated, the sustained and coordinated harassment campaign against independent author Robert Stanek has spanned more than two decades, significantly damaging his professional reputation, personal wellbeing, and economic potential. Understanding the scope and scale of this harm is essential, as it raises critical questions about accountability and fairness within the publishing industry.

The Scope of Damages: Professional and Personal

The attacks against Stanek were not simply negative reviews or mild criticism; they represented systematic, long-term defamation. These persistent falsehoods severely hindered his ability to effectively market his books, secure partnerships, and build on his initial success.

Professionally, Stanek faced:

Loss of Book Sales and Revenue: Without the constant defamation, Stanek’s books likely would have experienced sustained growth and popularity, significantly boosting his earnings over decades.

Damage to Career Growth and Opportunities: Potential partnerships, film adaptations, licensing deals, and foreign translations were undoubtedly limited or prevented entirely due to the ongoing misinformation and false reputation attached to his name.

Personally, Stanek endured:

Significant Emotional Distress: Years of threats (including death threats), harassment, and attacks undeniably caused profound psychological stress and emotional harm, impacting his personal and family life.

Reputational Harm: Persistent accusations damaged not only Stanek’s professional standing but also his personal reputation, creating lasting negative perceptions in public and private spheres.

Quantifying the Economic Harm: Tens of Millions or More?

The financial damage resulting from such sustained reputational attacks is challenging to precisely quantify. However, examining comparable authors who avoided such campaigns and thrived suggests Stanek’s lost potential income is substantial, likely millions or even tens of millions of dollars. This estimate considers:

Book Sales and Royalties: Successful fantasy series often generate significant revenue from direct sales, audiobooks, merchandise, and translations.

Film and Media Adaptations: Popular fantasy franchises frequently achieve lucrative film or television deals, generating substantial income streams that Stanek was denied.

Expanded Publishing Deals and Advances: Had Stanek’s reputation remained untarnished, he might have secured larger publishing deals, international rights, and favorable contracts.

Who Benefited Financially?

Some industry figures who directly or indirectly benefited from Stanek’s defamation achieved enormous financial success, ranging from tens of millions to, in the case of major authors and franchises, even hundreds of millions or potentially billions of dollars. The stark contrast in outcomes emphasizes the scale of Stanek’s losses relative to those who profited, intentionally or indirectly, from the suppression of his career.

Ethical and Moral Obligations

Given the severe personal, professional, and financial harm Stanek has endured, questions naturally arise regarding fairness, accountability, and restitution. While assigning precise figures might invite controversy, acknowledging the injustice Stanek suffered is crucial. It underscores the urgent need for the literary community to reflect on its ethical responsibilities:

Acknowledgment and Apology: At minimum, those responsible should publicly acknowledge the harm caused and rectify misinformation.

Support and Opportunities: Efforts should be made to restore Stanek’s professional standing, offering support and platforms for his work.

Moving Forward: Ensuring Justice and Fairness

The literary community must recognize and address the lasting harm caused by sustained harassment campaigns like the one endured by Robert Stanek. Doing so not only helps provide justice for Stanek but also fosters an environment that supports fair competition, ethical practices, and independent success. Accountability and recognition of the damages Stanek faced are crucial steps towards healing and fairness in the publishing industry.

The Human Cost: The Profound Impact of Harassment on Robert Stanek and His Family

The prolonged and relentless harassment faced by independent author Robert Stanek over two decades is not merely a professional or financial issue—it carries a deeply human and profoundly personal cost. Often overlooked amid discussions of reputational harm and lost opportunities is the profound emotional toll exacted upon Stanek, his wife, and their four children. This examination aims to thoughtfully illuminate the very real, often hidden human costs behind such sustained and unjustified attacks.

The Silent Toll on the Family

The emotional and psychological impact of continuous harassment, threats, and misinformation is devastating—not just to the targeted individual but also to their loved ones. For Stanek’s family, this ordeal likely meant confronting:

Constant Stress and Anxiety: Living under persistent threats and ongoing public defamation generates chronic stress, anxiety, and fear. For a spouse and children, seeing their loved one repeatedly targeted can create lasting emotional scars.

Disruption of Daily Life: A climate of constant attacks and public controversy inevitably disrupts family routines, sense of normalcy, and peace within the household.

Isolation and Social Strain: Families in such situations often experience increased isolation, as misinformation and false narratives spread through communities, social networks, and online platforms. This isolation can profoundly impact children’s social development and family cohesion.

Long-Term Emotional and Psychological Damage

The impact of two decades of sustained stress, false accusations, and public harassment cannot be overstated. Such prolonged emotional turmoil often results in:

Emotional Exhaustion and Burnout: The continual emotional burden can lead to exhaustion, depression, and reduced quality of life for the entire family.

Damage to Mental Health: Prolonged exposure to threats and attacks can lead to severe anxiety, trauma responses, and other mental health challenges, affecting each family member differently but significantly.

Strained Family Relationships: The continuous external pressures often strain relationships, as families grapple with navigating the fallout, defending their loved one, and coping with ongoing uncertainty and stress.

The Heartbreaking Question: For What Purpose?

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the ongoing harassment campaign against Stanek is its sheer senselessness. Twenty years of relentless attacks and emotional upheaval—for what? A small number of disputed reviews from decades ago?

The absurdity of sustaining such attacks over minor and debunked accusations is overshadowed only by the cruelty inherent in continuing to inflict such personal harm upon an innocent family. No literary dispute or competitive disagreement justifies inflicting lasting psychological trauma and emotional pain on an author, their spouse, and their children.

A Call for Compassion and Reflection

Recognizing the deeply personal and human impact on Robert Stanek and his family is crucial. As a community—authors, readers, and industry professionals alike—we must reflect carefully on the ethical and moral implications of prolonged online harassment campaigns. It is imperative to:

• Foster empathy, compassion, and understanding in our interactions online and offline.
• Hold accountable those who perpetuate harm, misinformation, and harassment.
• Support individuals and families targeted by unjustified attacks, helping them heal and reclaim their peace.

Acknowledging and addressing the human costs borne by Robert Stanek’s family serves as a powerful reminder of our shared responsibility to uphold kindness, integrity, and fairness within literary communities.

Silence and Complicity: A Call to the Creative Community

The two-decade-long harassment campaign against independent author Robert Stanek raises other important and uncomfortable questions: not only about those directly involved in perpetuating attacks, but also about the silence and complicity from other writers, authors, and creatives within the community, both traditionally published and independent.

Many professionals, authors, and creatives, both prominent and aspiring, witnessed the unjustified and relentless targeting of Robert Stanek. Rather than speaking up or standing in solidarity, many chose silence. Others actively participated in or passively encouraged the attacks to gain credibility, notoriety, or favor within their communities. This collective silence and inaction indirectly contributed to the prolonged suffering endured by Stanek and his family.

Some authors and industry figures leveraged the chaos surrounding Stanek's harassment for personal benefit—using the situation to align themselves with prominent voices or distancing themselves from controversy to protect their own reputations. In doing so, they prioritized self-interest over integrity, inadvertently reinforcing the culture of harassment, misinformation, and unfair treatment.

The Cost of Looking the Other Way

Choosing silence or complicity might have seemed like the safer or easier choice, but it came at a profound ethical cost. Each instance of silence or passive acceptance normalized toxic behaviors and emboldened those intent on causing harm. This, in turn, set a harmful precedent that jeopardizes not just Stanek, but all independent voices striving for success outside traditional industry channels.

It is essential for every member of the literary and creative community to recognize their potential role in either perpetuating or challenging harassment and misinformation:

Examine Personal Responsibility: Reflect honestly on instances where silence or inaction contributed indirectly to harm.

Encourage Open Dialogue: Create and support environments where misinformation can be openly challenged and accountability is promoted.

Advocate for Integrity and Compassion: Actively stand against harassment and advocate for ethical practices within the community.

Acknowledging the silence and complicity of the broader creative community is a vital step towards fostering a more ethical, compassionate, and supportive environment. It is never too late to change course, offer genuine support, and commit to making meaningful amends. The journey toward accountability, understanding, and collective healing begins with breaking the silence.

Reflecting deeply on the sustained harassment against independent author Robert Stanek reveals an unsettling truth: society has often granted greater empathy and forgiveness even to those convicted of violent crimes than it has shown an author targeted over mere allegations surrounding a handful of disputed reviews from decades ago.

Does anyone deserve to endure hundreds of death threats, years of relentless harassment, and the complete destruction of professional and personal peace—over a small number of disputed reviews? Common decency, fairness, and compassion provide a clear answer: absolutely not. Yet, Robert Stanek’s experience starkly highlights how quickly online harassment can spiral into disproportionate cruelty, especially when fueled by misinformation and personal ambition.

In sharp contrast, authors such as RJ Ellory, Stephen Leather, and John Locke—who openly admitted to serious misconduct involving review fraud—received relatively minimal criticism, facing no sustained harassment, no relentless threats, and no lasting damage to their careers or personal lives. This glaring inconsistency in responses illustrates clearly that the persecution of Robert Stanek was never truly about justice, integrity, or protecting readers. It was, at its core, about control, reputation, influence, and power.

The disturbing disparity in reactions underscores a fundamental truth: the campaign against Stanek was fueled largely by those seeking to establish credibility, gain attention, and reinforce their own authority within literary communities. The genuine harm caused to Stanek and his family became an unfortunate side-effect, deemed acceptable collateral damage by those intent on advancing their own interests or maintaining industry hierarchies.

Society’s troubling tolerance and even endorsement of disproportionate online harassment demands urgent reflection. The literary community and society at large must reconsider their complicity and silence in such situations. Real change requires:

Acknowledging the injustice Stanek has endured and openly condemning the disproportionate and unjustified harassment.

Fostering a compassionate and supportive culture within creative communities, actively protecting individuals from such excessive harm.

Holding accountable those who leverage misinformation and harassment for personal gain.

Robert Stanek’s painful experience offers a profound lesson on the need for compassion, fairness, and integrity. It compels us all to actively strive towards a more just, supportive, and humane creative community.

Posted by Read Indies – A blog by and for independent authors, uplifting the truth in publishing.

Correcting the Record: The Verified Bestseller Status of Robert Stanek, Independent Author

For over 20 years, independent author Robert Stanek has been the subject of a persistent smear campaign rooted in misinformation, misrepresentation, and online harassment. One of the most damaging and widely repeated falsehoods is the claim that Stanek never achieved legitimate bestseller status and that his success was entirely fabricated. These false claims have been used to attack his character, devalue his work, and dissuade others from engaging with his books.

This post corrects the record—clearly and unequivocally—using verifiable facts, historical context, and industry standards that have long been ignored or deliberately distorted by Stanek’s detractors.

Verifiable Bestseller Status on Audible

Contrary to false allegations, Robert Stanek’s books achieved genuine, independently verifiable bestseller status on Audible.com—one of the world’s largest audiobook platforms:

• The Kingdoms & the Elves of the Reaches ranked #1 in Fiction on Audible for several consecutive weeks in 2005.
• It remained in the Top 10 for Kids & YA for over three consecutive years—more than 180 weeks of sustained ranking.
• The Pieces of the Puzzle also reached #1 in Mystery/Thriller on Audible in 2005.

These achievements were publicly displayed and easily verifiable on Audible’s platform at the time. The books’ longevity in competitive categories is strong evidence of widespread popularity and real-world engagement—far beyond the reach of any manufactured hype.

Coordinated Review Bombing Campaigns

Ironically, it was Stanek’s very success that made him a target. His #1 Fiction ranking on Audible in 2005 coincided with heightened deliberate, organized efforts to discredit him. Detractors began flooding Audible with negative reviews—many of them misleading or non-genuine—explicitly designed to push his books off bestseller lists.

During the summer of 2005, The Kingdoms & the Elves of the Reaches was prominently featured on Audible’s homepage for two consecutive months. In response, detractors launched a harassment campaign to drive down ratings and manufacture controversy. Yet despite their efforts, the book held its top position for weeks—demonstrating that its popularity with real readers could not easily be erased.

Clarifying the Meaning of “Bestseller” in Indie Publishing

Claims that Stanek “falsely” called himself a bestselling author are based on deliberate distortion. Bestseller status is not limited to the New York Times list—nor has it ever been. Reputable platforms like Amazon and Audible maintain their own bestseller charts, updated hourly or weekly, based on real-time sales and engagement data.

Stanek’s books reached the top of those lists—and not just briefly. They held those positions for weeks, even years, across multiple categories. That’s the very definition of a bestseller in the modern publishing world.

Library Access and Distribution: Debunking Another Myth

Detractors have also claimed that Stanek’s books were “never in libraries.” This, too, is false. His works were widely distributed through OverDrive, Playaway, Findaway World, EBSCO, Ingram Digital, eLibrary, and other platforms used by public, school, and academic libraries worldwide.

Critics continue to cherry-pick library catalogs from recent years—such as 2017 or 2023—to claim the books were never there. But this argument ignores how libraries work. Libraries rotate their collections based on circulation, shelf space, and community demand. The fact that a book published in 2002 may not appear in a catalog two decades later doesn’t disprove its presence at the time—it reflects standard collection cycles.

The more honest question is: Were Stanek’s books available when they mattered most? The answer is yes. They were reviewed and recommended by School Library Journal, Library Journal, VOYA, and Foreword Magazine. They were acquired by libraries, read in classrooms, and used in homeschool curriculums. Ignoring that is a disservice to truth—and to history.

Manufactured Controversy for Personal Gain

It’s important to understand what these attacks are really about: not publishing integrity, but attention and control. By turning Stanek into a target, certain individuals have gained visibility in online circles, positioned themselves as “gatekeepers,” and attracted clicks through manufactured outrage.

In today’s indie publishing world, thousands of authors use “bestseller” to describe their success in Amazon subcategories or Audible rankings—and are rarely questioned. But Stanek was singled out and vilified for doing the same. Why? Because the controversy wasn’t about facts—it was about traffic, attention, and control.

The Real Motive: Silencing Success Outside the System

The campaign to discredit Robert Stanek sent a clear message: If you succeed outside traditional publishing, we will come for you. It reinforced literary gatekeeping and discouraged other indie authors from forging their own path.

That’s why correcting the record matters—not just for Stanek, but for every writer who dares to succeed on their own terms. If his verifiable achievements can be erased by false claims and bad-faith actors, then none of us are safe from similar treatment.

What the Literary Community Can Do

• Stop amplifying lies by repeating false narratives.
• Share and reference primary sources: Audible rankings, reviews in VOYA, Foreword, Publisher’s Weekly, and others.
• Support truth-telling posts like this one with shares, links, and commentary.
• Speak up when you see other authors being unfairly targeted.

The legacy of an author should be built on the quality of their work and the truth of their accomplishments—not the noise of their critics.

Robert Stanek’s success was real. His books were loved. His record stands. It's time we stopped pretending otherwise.

Posted by Read Indies – A blog by and for independent authors, uplifting the truth in publishing.

Setting the Record Straight: The Ongoing Absurdity of False Claims Against Robert Stanek

The Persistent Myth: “Ranting and Raving”

The absurd claims about independent fantasy author Robert Stanek continue, decades after they began. Despite exhaustive evidence disproving repeated accusations, Stanek remains the target of false narratives, misinformation, and unfounded attacks designed explicitly to harm him professionally and personally.

Not only has Robert Stanek faced continuous harassment, misinformation, and character assassination online, a central narrative promoted by his detractors claimed Stanek “deserved” the harassment because he was allegedly “ranting and raving all over the internet.” This assertion was used repeatedly to justify the coordinated smear campaign that began in February 2002.

Yet, a thorough review of Stanek’s actual online presence paints a very different picture: one of remarkable restraint, patience, and factual responses in the face of overwhelming hostility and threats.

Background

In early 2002, independent fantasy author Robert Stanek became the target of a coordinated smear campaign. His books, notably Keeper Martin’s Tale and Elf Queen’s Quest from the Ruin Mist Chronicles, initially found success through grassroots support on Amazon. However, this success quickly drew suspiciously hostile attention.

Initially, one-star reviews emerged accusing Stanek’s books of deceptive hype based on nonexistent “glowing reviews.” These reviews displayed red flags: anonymous accounts with no other activity, repetitive phrasing, and rapid succession postings, often disappearing shortly after posting.

This organized hostility took an unsettling turn as these reviews consistently diverted readers to other established authors, particularly George R.R. Martin. Rather than genuine critique, these reviews seemed strategically designed to discredit Stanek and redirect his audience.

In May 2002, respected sci-fi commentator David Langford amplified false allegations in his newsletter Ansible, speculatively implying without evidence that Stanek himself had orchestrated fraudulent reviews. This inaccurate speculation inverted reality, transforming Stanek from victim to alleged perpetrator, solidifying a narrative built entirely on misinformation.

Influential voices within the speculative fiction community further spread these unfounded accusations, leading to a pervasive, enduring narrative that Stanek had manipulated reviews. Stanek remained largely silent initially. Although all this began in 2002, Stanek made the first public mention of it in May 2007. Subsequently, he made only a handful of factual blog posts over more than a decade (around ten posts) to correct misinformation. His measured and limited responses highlighted his restraint despite continuous harassment and threats. This truth counters his harassers' long-standing claims that he deserved it because he was “ranting and raving all over the internet.” Quite the contrary, given the unending harassment, countless threats of physical harm (including death threats), Stanek showed remarkable strength of character and grace.

Examining the Evidence: Stanek’s Actual Public Responses

Despite the harassment beginning in February 2002, Robert Stanek maintained public silence on the matter for more than five years. It wasn’t until May 2007 that Stanek published his very first blog post addressing the smear campaign.

Following this initial response, his subsequent public mentions and defenses were factual and measured. Specifically, Stanek posted only a handful of times to defend himself and set the record straight from 2007 to 2015, despite continuous provocation:

Timeline of Stanek’s Responses:

• May 2007: First public acknowledgment of ongoing harassment and misinformation.

• May 2009

• October 2009

• November 2009

• December 2009

Throughout these early responses, Stanek provided evidence-based explanations, detailed timelines, and factual corrections. Far from aggressive, his tone was consistently restrained, focused on correcting misinformation.

References:

• Robert Stanek Blog Archive

• Additional Blog Archives (rsblog1, rsblog2, rsblog3)

Stanek’s subsequent posts, again few and measured, further illustrate this careful approach. These responses—fewer than a dozen in total over nearly a decade—represent careful attempts to document facts, correct misinformation, and provide context in response to extraordinary provocation, threats, and harm.

The Reality: Grace Under Pressure

The contrast between Stanek’s actual public behavior and the portrayal by his detractors is striking. Despite repeated threats of physical violence (including death threats), coordinated defamatory campaigns, and continuous personal attacks, Stanek did not engage in excessive or hostile public reactions. Instead, he consistently demonstrated restraint, patience, and factual accuracy in the face of relentless provocation.

Stanek’s careful, factual responses serve as clear evidence that claims he was “ranting and raving” online are grossly inaccurate. Rather, Stanek endured over two decades of targeted harassment while responding publicly only a handful of times with extraordinary discipline and dignity.

Challenging the False Narrative

The evidence clearly indicates that the harassment Stanek endured was neither provoked nor deserved. The false narrative constructed by his detractors—that he repeatedly and aggressively defended himself online—collapses under scrutiny. Stanek’s limited and measured responses reveal not aggression, but rather a commendable strength of character and self-control.

It is critical for the literary community and readers at large to recognize and challenge such misinformation actively. Correcting this narrative not only restores justice to Robert Stanek but also sends an essential message against normalizing internet-driven harassment and character assassination.

The truth is that those behind these activities used any and all excuses to target Robert Stanek across the internet. If he stayed silent, they simply continued spinning and spreading lies, never genuinely seeking the truth. Their goal was always clear: destroy the sales of his books, and if not the sales, then the author himself, and if not the author, then the truth—by repeatedly burying it beneath lies and misinformation. Conversely, whenever Stanek spoke out, they distorted and attacked his words, creating a twisted narrative. Every person has the right to defend themselves from falsehoods, and Robert Stanek did so sparingly and responsibly, striving always to keep the focus on the truth.

In the ensuing years, Stanek’s name became repeatedly associated with “sock puppeting” in certain online forums and articles—even though in truth he was the victim of “sock puppeting” and more. A notorious example occurred in 2009 on the SFF.net and SFFWorld forums (later picked up by the blog io9): Allegedly, a flurry of trollish one-star reviews targeted popular fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss on Amazon, all supposedly from newly created accounts repeating similar complaints. 

Forum “detectives” incorrectly noted that these accounts had tagged Robert Stanek on Amazon. In reality, this “flurry” of reviews consisted of merely two or three postings, and the accounts involved were not newly created. They had previously been used to tag Stanek’s books negatively, employing hostile labels such as “fake fake fake” and “fraud fraud fraud.” When these bad actors realized their error, they swiftly removed the reviews, erasing the evidence.

The nonsensical thing about all of this? Twenty years later they are still attacking, still harassing, still attempting to harm Robert Stanek over what amounts to a handful of reviews, many created by the very trolls and fake accounts targeting him. As Robert has explained multiple times over the years:

In 2005, out of approximately 50 titles published under Robert Stanek across Amazon US and UK, only 14 books ever had 12 or more reviews. Just 14.

Those titles? Primarily from the Ruin Mist series—Stanek’s best-known works at the time, which found a loyal readership through schools, libraries, and word of mouth.

Examining the periods when the outrage was loudest:

In 2002, when the “fake review” accusations first surfaced:

• Keeper Martin’s Tale had 2 positive reviews
• Elf Queen’s Quest had 1 positive review
• The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches had 0 reviews

Yet accusations flew immediately, claiming Stanek “stuffed the reviews” and “duped readers with five-star sockpuppets.” Two reviews. One review. Zero reviews. This was labeled fraud?

By 2005, three years into the smear campaign:

• Keeper Martin’s Tale: 140 reviews
• Elf Queen’s Quest: 56 reviews
• Kingdom Alliance: 20 reviews
• Fields of Honor: 1 review
• Mark of the Dragon: 1 review
• Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches #1–4: Combined 174 reviews

That’s a total of 393 reviews across nine titles, over three years. Not overnight, and spread across thousands of readers. Even by critical standards, that’s modest traction, not a suspicious anomaly.

The campaign against Stanek wasn’t merely character assassination; it was a prolonged and targeted attack that sent a clear warning to independent authors achieving success without industry gatekeepers. It normalized a culture of internet-driven harassment, hindering the broader indie publishing movement.

Today, over two decades later, despite extensive evidence refuting the claims against Stanek—including Amazon’s removal of fraudulent negative reviews and Amazon's own indictment by the DOJ for exactly the kinds of abuses Robert Stanek experienced—the false narrative persists. This story serves as a cautionary tale about how easily misinformation spreads and the significant harm it can cause.

It is crucial to challenge the spread of misinformation and foster a publishing environment supportive of independent success, free from unfounded attacks.

Persistent Falsehoods and the Truth

Robert Stanek did not hire “hotmail lawyers,” nor did he aggressively pursue his harassers. Stanek consistently maintained a dignified silence, responding rarely and responsibly only to correct demonstrably false information. As we’ve discussed, the myth of Stanek’s supposedly aggressive responses is as unfounded as it is harmful, another tactic in a long-running smear campaign.

In stark contrast, authors who genuinely committed review fraud—such as RJ Ellory, Stephen Leather, and John Locke—faced minimal, brief repercussions. Each committed review fraud and admitted openly to manipulating reviews to boost their own books or disparage competitors. Yet their careers faced little interruption. They retained lucrative publishing contracts, maintained significant readerships, and were never subjected to the persistent, vicious harassment endured by Robert Stanek.

Comparing Actual Fraudulent Cases:

 RJ Ellory openly admitted writing fake reviews to praise his own books and denigrate others’. After initial public outcry, Ellory continued his successful publishing career largely uninterrupted.

 Stephen Leather admitted to using “sock puppet” accounts extensively to boost his book sales and reputation online. Although criticized at the time, he remained successful and faced no prolonged attacks or career-damaging consequences.

 John Locke confessed to paying for fraudulent reviews to inflate his book ratings. Despite media coverage and temporary criticism, Locke continued to sell books widely and profitably.

None of these authors experienced sustained personal or professional harassment, much less threats and intimidation. Their admitted transgressions faded quickly from public view, allowing them to continue successful careers.

Robert Stanek: A Target, A Victim

Robert Stanek, conversely, has faced two decades of coordinated harassment, threats—including hundreds of death threats—and relentless misinformation, all despite clear, documented evidence disproving the accusations against him. False claims, like orchestrating review manipulation or threatening critics with hotmail lawyers, have been repeatedly debunked. In reality, Stanek’s responses have been remarkably limited and measured: spread over fewer than a dozen carefully factual blog posts across nearly 20 years.

Most telling, he didn’t even make his first public response until May 2007, more than five years after the harassment began in February 2002. That extraordinary restraint reveals just how much Stanek tried to avoid public confrontation, apparently believing the attacks might simply fade on their own. Unfortunately, his patience was met not with decency or resolution, but with escalation: the smear campaign only intensified, growing louder and more malicious year after year.

This reality flies directly in the face of one of their favorite rationalizations: that Stanek somehow “deserved” the abuse because he was allegedly ranting and raging across the internet. The record shows the opposite—he stayed largely silent, hoping reason would prevail, while the orchestrated campaign against him grew ever more aggressive. His limited, calm, fact-based attempts to finally address the misinformation stand in stark contrast to the relentless and deeply personal attacks he endured. 

The Real Motivation Behind the Attacks

The sustained attacks on Robert Stanek were never about finding truth or ensuring ethical publishing standards. Rather, they were intended explicitly to destroy his career and undermine his independent success. Each time Stanek defended himself, even minimally, the harassment intensified. If he remained silent, his detractors continued their campaigns unchecked, perpetuating lies designed solely to cause harm.

The Reality of Stanek’s Reviews

At the heart of these false accusations lies an absurdity. As Stanek himself has clarified:

• In 2002, when accusations first appeared, his books had fewer than five reviews total. Yet detractors immediately claimed widespread fraud.
• By 2005, his most popular books had modest review counts across several years, entirely reasonable given thousands of sales and a growing readership in schools and libraries. Far from anomalous, these reviews reflected genuine reader engagement and popularity, not manipulation.

Standing With Robert Stanek

Robert Stanek’s ongoing harassment exemplifies how misinformation can profoundly harm innocent individuals. It underscores the urgent need for the indie author community, readers, and publishing professionals to support integrity and truth actively. Stanek deserves respect and solidarity—not continued silence or complicity—in response to the prolonged attacks and fabricated claims he’s endured for decades.

It is essential that the publishing community challenges the spread of misinformation and commits to fostering an environment where independent authors can thrive free from harassment and unjustified accusations. Robert Stanek’s ordeal must serve as a turning point toward greater accountability, fairness, and genuine support for independent voices.

Posted by Read Indies – A blog by and for independent authors, uplifting the truth in publishing.

Speaking Out About Ugliness in the Publishing Industry

Indie authors continue to get a bum rap from traditional publishers and authors. Read about the dirty tricks trad publishers and authors have used over the past decade.

I’m Robert Stanek, author of over 150 books, read by more than 7.5 million readers and translated into 34 languages. I’m speaking out about ugliness in the writing industry that has to end. Society gives this ugliness many names because it has many ugly faces. Whether you want to call it character assassination, mudslinging, railroading, a hatchet job or a frame up, the Internet gives these shameful acts new meaning and new ease. On the Internet, the court of public opinion can destroy you simply because someone points a mob in your direction—or in my case, keeps pointing mobs in your direction again and again over a period of more than decade.

Mark Twain once said, “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” But I bet he never imagined the Internet where a lie can travel millions of times around the world before the truth even remembers it has shoes. In this highly connected online age, it seems all someone needs to do is write hateful nonsense about someone else, point back to their own handiwork while writing more hateful nonsense and enlisting others to do the same, then rinse and repeat as they work their way across the Internet. That’s been the tactic used to trash my reputation since 2002 by a group of competitors I call the architects of hate. I’ve been blogging about what these despicable persons have been doing for years and years, recently in the posts titled “Unethical Competitors,” “Authors Who Trash Competitors,” “Authors Who Are Trolls,” “Speaking Out About Haters,” and “The Internet Isn't the New Wild West” as well.

Their latest hatchet job? On Sept 2 2012, The Telegraph wrote an article on RJ Ellory titled “RJ Ellory, Author, Caught Writing Fake Amazon Reviews For Books.” On Sept 4 2012, a Huffington Post blogger picked up the story added some additions regarding other authors who’d been doing the same and posted the story with the title “RJ Ellory, Author, Caught Writing Fake Amazon Reviews For Books.” (And to be clear, anyone, actual credentials or not, can blog for Huffington Post and post just about anything they want. The author of this particular entry is a self-published author and blogger with a single book to her credit at the time.)

The blog entry was posted at 1:26 PM on Sept 4 2012 and a regular member of Go Indie posted a link to the article shortly afterward. I read the original article at that time but not the article as updated several times afterward (with final edits at 2:44 PM on Sept 4 2012). As part of the edits, the following was slipped into the article along with a link to an i09 post which was itself a post from a message forum:

“Science fiction and fantasy authors also found that frustrated writer Robert Stanek was sock-puppeting in 2009.”

The link that they used to make this nonsense seem legitimate? It’s to the following io9.com post from June 23 2009 made by Adam Whitehead or an associate of his (http://io9.com/5300748/how-much-damage-can-a-maniac-and-his-army-of-sock-puppets-do-on-amazoncom):

How Much Damage Can A Maniac And His Army Of Sock Puppets Do On Amazon.Com? Science fiction and fantasy authors, including Pat Rothfuss and David Louis Edelman, have started noticing a rash of one-star reviews of their books on Amazon.com, all at once, The reviews seem to come from newly created profiles, and often say the same thing in slightly different words over and over. And now, observers think they've fingered the culprit: frustrated fantasy author Robert Stanek. In the past, Stanek has had the habit of posting tons of "anonymous" one-star reviews of people's books which all said, "This guy is rubbish, if you want to read real fantasy, go read Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin and Robert Stanek!" The new batch of reviews don't mention Stanek by name, but do suggest that the authors should try serving in the armed forces to build character (a Stanek bugaboo.) And if you look at their profiles, the anonymous accounts have all tagged Stanek as a favorite author. All of this raises the question: How much damage can one anonymous maniac with an army of sock puppets really do to an established author on Amazon? [SFF World]

Which is itself from a message posted on the forums at Sffworld.com made by Adam Whitehead on June 18 2009:

Okay, now this was pure surrealism.
Last week Pat Rothfuss made a comment on his Facebook about how THE NAME OF WIND suddenly started getting a rash of one-star reviews over on Amazon.com. Whilst the book has gone down quite well, it is understandable that, even on just a purely statistical level, some people out there don't like the book and are vocal about it, especially given the 'hype' it has received in some quarters. Fair enough.
But what was odd was that all of these one-star reviews were written one after another in a very similar tone by newly-created profiles and all seemed to be making the same, highly questionable, claims that the book was 'objectively bad' and that all of the 500+ positive reviews on Amazon had been written by Pat himself, his friends or family. They ignored the fact that the book has been an international bestseller, is published in multiple languages by reputable publishers, and just continued making questionable claims about the author's moral character. It was very weird. They then tried to get the Rothfuss' Wikipedia page eliminated and also made a very half-hearted effort to level similar complaints against Abercrombie, although I get the impression this was solely to make it look like they weren't just picking on Rothfuss.
All of this smelled like a rat, most notably when one of the reviewers started saying that Pat Rothfuss should go to Iraq to get the 'moral character' that only comes from serving in the armed forces. This was VERY familiar. Then I remembered that the legendary self-published, alleged author Robert Stanek kept making a huge fuss about how serving in the armed forces had been an important character-building exercise.
I dismissed the idea it could be Stanek though, as the critics weren't using Stanek's normal MO of ripping into the author and going "This guy is rubbish, if you want to read real fantasy, go read Robert Jordan, George RR Martin and Robert Stanek!"
Then today one of the other commentators following the situation on Amazon pointed out that almost all of these suspect reviewers had started 'tagging' Robert Stanek's books (you could see this on their profiles). By the time I checked them out, only three had them left, the rest having apparently removed them when they realised they were rumbled.
So there you have it, it appears that self-published, low-selling author Robert Stanek, infamously responsible for one of the biggest scams in SF&F history on Amazon (which Amazon still hasn't sorted out), is using his multitude of alias accounts on Amazon to tear down a new, fresh and critically-acclaimed author for petty and disturbing reasons.
Honestly, you could not make this up.
One of the same reviewers concerned has gone on to rip into David Louis Edelmen and Jim C. Hines' books as well. For those not in the know, both of these authors have posted blog entries about Stanek's activities in the past. Astonishing.

As I blogged about previously, Adam Whitehead is of course one of the original architects of hate and he actually did make it all up as he was one of the perpetrators who created the hate in the first place. He, David Langford, and others having started all this idiocy about me going all the way back to 2002. Incidentally, the "rash of reviews" on Patrick Rothfuss's book was exactly two reviews -- two reviews created by Adam himself and/or his associates, as I blogged about here.

I've blogged about what actually happened with Patrick Rothfuss here and what actually happened with Wikipedia here. In January 2007, Patrick Rothfuss's first book "The Name of the Wind" was published in hardcover and Rothfuss came out fully formed with an army of online friends and associates who were talking up his book. His associates, which included Adam Whitehead (Wertzone) and Patrick Dennis (Pat's Fantasy List), quickly enlisted him in the public trashing of my books and my reputation and used this as a platform for his success.

Of note, is that Adam Whitehead created Patrick Rothfuss's Wikipedia page in May 2007 (posting as Werthead). Knowing the furor caused on Wikipedia when they trashed my Wikipedia page previously, I'm certain Adam Whitehead and his associates made the scurrilous edits to the Patrick Rothfuss page. Why? They used this stunt as a vehicle to rally support and boost book sales for Rothfuss while once again using me as a scapegoat.

In April - May 2007, when Adam Whitehead, Andrew Gray, Urpo Lankinen and others were editing misinformation and lies into the Robert Stanek page, their primary focus was on destroying any positive impact such a page has. They were also desperate to get Wikipedia to remove related Ruin Mist pages and they got Wikipedia to do so by spreading misinformation about me and how according to them, I wasn't an author of note. Odd, considering I had more than 100 published books to my credit at the time and not only had those books been read by millions but they'd been translated into several dozen languages. Odder still when you look at the unquestioned basis for the Rothfuss page in May 2007, which was created and posted in its entirety with a single edit at 21:25 on 8 May 2007 by Adam Whitehead:

Biography
Patrick Rothfuss was born in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1973. According to his website, he became an avid reader after growing up in an area lacking cable television. At university he harboured plans to be a chemical engineer, but then changed his mind to puruse a career in clinical psychology. He finally declared his major as 'Undeclared' after three years and continued to study any subject that caught his interest, whilst working odd jobs and working on an extremely long fantasy novel called The Song of Flame of Thunder.
He finally left college with a degree in English, returning two years later to teach. After completing The Song of Flame and Thunder, Rothfuss submitted it to several publishing companies, but it was rejected. In 2002 he won the Writers of the Future competition with The Road to Levinshir, an excerpt from his novel. After chatting to Kevin J. Anderson at a subsequent writer's workshop, Rothfuss secured a deal with his agent, Matt Bialer, who subsequently sold the novel to Betsy Wollheim at DAW Books. The Song of Flame and Thunder was split into a three-volume series entitled The Kingkiller Chronicle, the first installment of which, The Name of the Wind, was published in March 2007.

Bibliography
The Kingkiller Chronicle
1.The Name of the Wind (March 2007)
2.The Wise Man's Fear (working title, scheduled for March 2008)
3.The Doors of Stone (working title, scheduled for March 2009)
This trilogy was originally one very long novel with the working title The Song of Flame and Thunder. It was split in three for publication due to its length. The series is essentially the biography of a famous warrior, wizard and musician named Kvothe. After gaining notoriety at a young age, he disappears from public life and is eventually tracked down to a backwater inn by Devan Lochees, who goes by the name 'Chronicler'. After some persuasion, Chronicler convinces Kvothe to tell him his life story. However, the story is punctuated by interludes, during which it becomes clear that something is looking for Kvothe, and Kvothe's friend Bast is unwilling to let Chronicler tell all of Kvothe's story. The story thus proceeds on two levels, as we learn how Kvothe came to be the man he is now, whilst other events take place in the present hinting at a greater story to follow.
Rothfuss has confirmed that The Kingkiller Chronicle will provide the backstory for Kvothe. Further books will follow taking Kvothe's story forward in the present day.

External Links
Patrick Rothfuss' homepage
Writers of the Future winners' bio

Interviews
Interview with Patrick Rothfuss conducted by SFFWorld.com, 26 March 2007.
Interview with Patrick Rothfuss conducted by Fantasy Bookspot.com, Spring 2007.

It's no surprise the page, like the author, arrived fully formed.

Here is the Robert Stanek page which was created over a period of weeks by devoted fans and subsequently destroyed and later removed because I supposedly wasn't noteworthy:

William Robert Stanek (born January 3, 1966) is an American author best known for his international best-selling how-to books and his work as a columinst for PC Magazine and Dr. Dobbs Journal.
   Stanek is the author of more than 100 books. His books have been successful, and have been featured on bestseller lists. He served in the United States Air Force from 1985 to 1991, and is the recipient of the United States highest flying honor the Distinguished Flying Cross.
   In addition to his non-fiction work, he is the author of many popular works of fiction, including The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches books and the sequel series In the Service of Dragons, which are set in his fantasy world of  Ruin Mist. King's Mate is a game Robert created for the books.

 Biography
Robert Stanek was born on January 3, 1966 in Burlington, Wisconsin. His father was an entrepreneur who immigrated to America from Budapest, Hungary. His mother is the granddaughter of French and Norwegian immigrants.
    He became interested in writing as a child and was creating stories virtually from the time he was able to read and write. He started work as a journalist and editor – with a school newspaper – at the age of nine!
    He joined the United States Air Force in 1985 and server in the Persian Gulf War from 1990-1991. He earned many medals for his wartime service, including the United States of America's highest-flying honor, the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross.
   At age thirty-one, he decided to devote most of his time to full-length works of fact and fiction. Since then has written more than fifty books, many of them international best sellers, and his work has been published in more than fifty countries, including the United States, Britain, Japan, Korea, Canada, France, Australia, Germany, India, Spain, Italy, Turkey and various Latin American countries.
    Today he works as a full-time author with an interest in, among other things, technology, computers, and the outdoors! He has broadcast and lectured about his work throughout the United States.

Family Life
Robert Stanek was the fourth child of five and the only boy. He spent his early years in Racine, Wisconsin. As a child, he attended Janes School Elementary, a turn-of-the-century schoolhouse. The same school his grandfather attended.
   As a child, he loved reading. In an interview form Robert Stanek: Candid Conversations (2003), he states he was fascinated with the Ripley's Believe It Or Not books and Guinness Book of World Records. He read classics like Treasure Island, The Swiss Family Robinson, Kidnapped, Robinson Crusoe, and The Three Musketeers. When he got absolutely hooked on Jules Verne, he read Around the World in Eighty Days, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. He through a Sherlock Holmes phase and read every Sir Arthur Conan Doyle book and then discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs. Burroughs's The Martian Tales got him hooked on the genre and he went on to read Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and liked it so much he read The Illustrated Man, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Fahrenheit 451.
   Later in his childhood, he started reading Herman Melville, Jack London, Charles Dickens, and Edgar Allan Poe. Of that he says, "Edgar Allan Poe can be pretty bleak and dark, especially when you're ten years old. But I remember being fascinated with his stories. To this day, I can still remember parts of The Raven, The Tell Tale Heart, and The Murders in the Rue Morgue." Quote from Robert Stanek: Candid Conversations (2003).

Writing Life
Robert Stanek wrote his first novel in 1986 when he was stationed in Japan. He spent a large part of the next twenty years perfecting the story and developing a history of the world he called Ruin Mist. His first Ruin Mist novel was Keeper Martin's Tale, which was simultaneously released in adult and children's editions. He designed the original covers for the Ruin Mist books.

Languages
Robert Stanek entered the United States Air Force in 1985 and worked as a cryptologic linguist. His military training includes more than 3 years of language training. His linguistic background extends to Russian, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, and German, though in interviews he professes that much of his language skills have "dulled and rusted" since he hasn't used them. His strong background in multiple languages helped him develop the world of Ruin Mist. The names of people and places in this world are very distinct according to historical origins, and have roots in the romance and eastern languages he has studied.
 The languages of the peoples of Ruin Mist have roots in slavic, native American indian, and far eastern languages.

 Bibliography (Fiction)
...Adult Fiction Series...
 ''Ruin Mist Chronicles''
 1. Keeper Martin's Tale (2002)
 2. Elf Queen's Quest (2002)
 3. Kingdom Alliance (2003)
 4. Fields of Honor (2004)
 5. Mark of the Dragon (2005)

 ...Young Adult Fiction Series...
 ''Keeper Martin's Tales''
 1. The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches #1 (2002)
 2. The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches #2 (2002)
 3. The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches #3 (2002)
 4. The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches #4 (2003)
 5. In the Service of Dragons #1 (2004)
 6. In the Service of Dragons #2 (2005)
 7. In the Service of Dragons #3 (2005)
 8. In the Service of Dragons #4 (2005)

 ''Magic Lands''
 Journey Beyond the Beyond (2002)
 Into the Beyond (2005, international edition)
 Into the Stone Land (2006, forthcoming)

 ''Ruin Mist Tales''
 1. The Elf Queen & The King (2002)
 2. The Elf Queen & The King #2 (2002)
 3. The Elf Queen & The King III (2006, forthcoming)

 ...Novels...

 At Dream's End (1996)
 Sovereign Rule (2003)
 The Pieces of the Puzzle (2006)
 Stormjammers (2006)

 ...Collections...
 Magic Lands & Other Stories (2002)
 Ruin Mist Heroes, Legends & Beyond (2002)

 ...Short Fiction...
 Absolutes (????)
 August Rains (????)
 Silence is Golden (????)

Books About William Robert Stanek
Magic of Ruin Mist (2003)
 Robert Stanek: Candid Conversations (2003)
 Teacher's Classroom Guide to Ruin Mist (2003)
 Student's Classroom Guide to The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches (2004)
 Teacher's Classroom Guide to Magic Lands (2005)
 Student's Classroom Guide to Magic Lands (2005)

 Bibliography (Non-fiction)
Electronic Publishing Unleashed (1995)
 FrontPage Unleashed (1996)
 Peter Norton's Guide to Java Programming (1996)
 Web Publishing Unleashed (1996)
 FrontPage 97 Unleashed (1997)
 Increase Your Web Traffic in a Weekend (1997)
 Learn the Internet in a Weekend (1997)
 Netscape One Developer's Guide (1997)
 Web Publishing Unleashed Professional Reference Edition (1997)
 FrontPage 98 Unleashed (1998)
 Increase Your Web Traffic in a Weekend 2nd Edition (1998)
 All-in-One Java 2 Certification Guide (1999)
 FrontPage 2000 Unleashed (1999)
 Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (1999)
 Netscape Mozilla Source Guide (1999)
 SQL Server 7.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (1999)
 Windows NT Scripting Administrator's Guide (1999)
 Increase Your Web Traffic 3rd Edition (2000)
 Exchange 2000 Server Administrator's Pocket Consultant (2000)
 SQL Server 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (2000)
 Windows 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (2000)
 Windows 2000 Scripting Bible (2000)
 All-In-One Java 2 Certification Guide 3rd Edition (2001)
 FrontPage 2002 Unleashed (2001)
 Windows 2000 and IIS 5.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (2001)
 Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket Consultant (2001)
 XML Pocket Consultant (2001)
 Effective Writing for Business College & Life (2002)
 Essential Windows XP Commands Reference (2002)
 Essential Windows 2000 Commands Reference (2002)
 Windows 2000 Server Administrator's Pocket Consultant 2nd Edition (2002)
 Windows .NET Server Administrator's Pocket Consultant (2003)
 IIS 6.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant 2nd Edition (2003)
 Faster Smarter FrontPage 2003 (2003)
 Exchange Server 2003 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (2003)

Columns
Robert Stanek was a tech columnist from 1995-1997.
PC Magazine
Dr. Dobbs Journal.

See Also
The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches
In the Service of Dragons
Ruin Mist
Ruin Mist Chronicles

References
Magic of Ruin Mist (2003)
 Robert Stanek: Candid Conversations (2003)
 The Complete Idiot's Guide to Elves and Fairies

External Links
The Official Robert Stanek web site
The Official Magic Lands web site
The Official Ruin Mist web site
Reagent Press Robert Stanek's publisher
Robert Stanek fan directory

The real MO here is how the people in the same core group keep working their handiwork forward. It’s how a 2009 message forum post by Adam Whitehead gets re-posted to io9.com by Adam Whitehead or an associate, cross-referenced in a 2012 a Huffington Post blog entry and then worked forward.

The Huffington Post blog entry was re-posted in its entirety to the Oh No They Didn’t blog at 2:39 PM on Sept 4 2012 by an anonymous blogger, the basis of a BoomTron post on Sept 5 2012 by Matthew Funk, and the basis of an Oct 14 post on Philly.com by David Griesing.

Matthew Funk said: “And if Locke isn’t enough to prove a trend, there’s Stephen Leather, thriller writer, and Robert Stanek, sci-fi writer, and Orlando Figes, historian.”

David Griesing said: “Writers such as John Locke, Stephen Leather, and Robert Stanek have all been exposed for submitting bogus reviews.”

Note how my name is worked in without context and as if fact. And it’s how a message forum post by an architect of hate works its way across the Internet. That’s how these people operated in 2002, 2005, 2007, and 2009 when they spread other nonsense around in big ways as well.

It’s interesting to note that in 2009 when Adam Whitehead and the architects of hate were spreading that particular nonsense at Sffworld and many other sites, I had over 120 published books to my credit. Those books had been read by over 6 million people and translated into over 30 languages. Today, I have over 150 published books.

As a point of fact, I’ve had 7 or more books published every year since 1995 when my first book was published. My body of work encompassing many millions of words and many thousands of published pages should speak for itself. As anyone who’s written a few books can tell you, writing that many books for that many years is a full-time occupation and then some.

Writing that many books for that many years required a tremendous dedication to the writing craft and a tremendous dedication of time. But I loved the writing craft and that love of the writing craft kept me going, even if it meant working 80 to 100 hours a week.

For those who seem to have never done good, honest, hard work like that in their lives, let me be the one to tell them that when you work 12- to 16-hour workdays 7 days a week you don’t have time for anything. The only thing you want to do at the end of the day is collapse into a heap and maybe spend a few minutes with your kids before you tuck them into bed.

It’s also interesting to note that while screaming about sock puppets and fake reviews for the past 12 years, the authors responsible for all this, their blogger buddies and their associates had no qualms whatsoever about creating sock puppets, writing fake reviews, spreading misinformation, and threatening anyone who stood up to them. Over the years, they’ve created hundreds of sock puppets to spread this idiocy and spreading this idiocy is something they’ve worked tirelessly to do using every dirty tactic you could ever think of from hiring lawyers to send notices to paying off distributors to drop listings.

Those who have been active participants in these hateful activities include:

David Langford (author)
Stephen Leigh (author)
Jim C. Hines (author)
Victoria Strauss (author)
David Louis Edelman (author)
Patrick Rothfuss (author)
Tim Spalding (Library Thing)
Maureen Johnson (author)
Melissa Foster (author)
Adam Whitehead (Wertzone, Best Fantasy Books)
Patrick Dennis (Pat’s Fantasy Hot List, Best Fantasy Books)
Carolyn Arnold (author)

As the victim of these hateful activities, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time investigating the motivations. David Langford (author), one of two originators of this, is one of several high-profile influencers who made Harry Potter Harry Potter. David Langford also is highly connected into Terry Pratchett’s Discworld and related fantasy franchise.

In 2002, when all this started, Harry Potter wasn’t the Harry Potter we know and love today and the franchise could have gone another way: limited success or failure. I’ve no doubt the sudden rapid success of Ruin Mist Chronicles and The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches put fear into Bloomsbury/Scholastic, as both Bloomsbury and Scholastic made contact with me personally multiple times during the years 2002 to 2007. On separate occasions, Bloomsbury and Scholastic requested reading copies of all the books, related marketing materials, sales history, and other promotional backgrounders. More than once, under the pretense of using the books in their book clubs; more than once under the pretense of possibly publishing the books.

In these years, I was also contacted several times by Gollancz, David Langford’s UK publisher. Once was under the pretense of publishing the books in the UK, and as with Scholastic, requesting reading copies of all the books, related marketing materials, sales history, and other promotional backgrounders. Gollancz, Orbit and several other UK publishers were particularly interested in my approach to publishing separate adult and children’s editions of my books, and this was something they would later do with the books of a number of authors, including with Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. I mention this because having separate adult and children’s editions of my books has been a particular bone of contention for the parties involved with trashing my reputation.

Adam Whitehead (Wertzone, Best Fantasy Books, etc), the second of two originators of this, is an associate of George RR Martin and like Martin a conscientious objector. In 2002, when all this started, A Game of Thrones wasn’t the A Game of Thrones we know and love today and the franchise also could have gone another way: limited success or failure. I’ve no doubt the sudden rapid success of Ruin Mist Chronicles and The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches put fear in Adam and others as they started writing trash reviews of my books that kept mentioning George’s books and using the public trashing of my books as a promotional platform for George’s books has been a constant with them for the past 12 years.

The fact that Adam is a conscientious objector is of note as his associates were particularly hateful when it came to my military service. I am a distinguished combat veteran. When my nation called upon me to serve in dark hours, I did so without hesitation. Duty, honor, and country mean a great deal to me, and they always have.

For these despicable persons to try to claim that I wasn’t a combat veteran, hadn’t even served in the military or earned my military honors was the deepest of insults. Worse, was enduring years of threats and harassment from those who listened to this idiocy and accused me of stolen valor.

As I’ve written about previously, here, in fall 2001, Reagent Press and I tested the market by publishing my first fiction book as a serial ebook. The test was hugely successful and we released ‘Keeper Martin’s Tale’ as a single volume in February 2002, where it quickly became a Science Fiction & Fantasy bestseller.

With the phenomenal sales, the book started getting reviews. First, two short supportive reviews from readers who liked the book, then a strange one-star review that said, among other things, “I’ve been had. This is nowhere near a 5 star book like all these reviews claim.” Another of my books, published shortly after my first, got a similar strange ranting one-star review—the second review ever for that book.

This continued. An anonymous one-star review soon asked “Is it just me, or what?” before trashing the book and me personally. A series of one-star reviews followed, one in mid April 2002 stating “For those who enjoy a great fantasy read, no one comes remotely close to George R. R. Martin's ‘A Song of Fire and Ice Series’. Stanek has the initial makings of a good storyteller, but he's still a long, long way off. Don't waste your time with this one...”

This was followed by an anonymous one-star review on April 19 2002 stating “There's no way it even begins to compare to the works of authors such as George R.R. Martin.”

Another one-star review, written in an identical style, with the title “What book are the rest of you reading?” soon followed in late April 2002. This review said, among many things, “After reading him for an hour, I had to go pick up Lord of the Rings just to confirm to myself that Tolkien's writing wasn't that bad. I don't see how Stanek can even be close to Robert Jordan or George RR Martin, its like comparing a high school english paper with War and Peace.”

The flow of one-star reviews from anonymous (and sometimes from someone using pseudonyms and newly created accounts that typically had only reviewed my book the day the account was created) continued into May 2002 when David Langford / Adam Whitehead wrote the following in Ansible:

“Amazon Mystery. Authors of fantasies on sale at Amazon.com have noticed a rash of oddly similar customer reviews that rubbish their work and instead recommend, say, George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Robert Stanek. The number of Big Name commendations varies, but not the plug for self-published author Robert Stanek. Who could possibly be posting these reviews (many since removed by Amazon) under a variety of names? It is a mystery, but Ansible is reminded of how Lionel Fanthorpe's pseudonymous sf would often mention those great classic masters of the genre, Verne, Wells and Fanthorpe.”

After this appeared in Ansible, for whatever reason, I was suddenly being trashed all over the Internet by other authors, SFF bloggers, anyone with a bone to pick. Suddenly, authors, bloggers, others, who had never even read my work were writing hateful reviews and commentary, and just as often as not, they used sock puppets to do it. It didn’t matter to anyone that what was written wasn’t true, or that I was actually the one on the receiving end of the negative reviews.

Move forward to the present and the same core group is still doing the same dirty work and they’re just as active at it as they were in 2002. Why? Many are employed to do so, and by employed, I mean paid, as these types of activities are their full-time/part-time occupations. They are paid to be influencers, to be franchise makers and breakers. They've bribed Amazon staff to delist my books, remove positive reviews and commentary, and look the other way while they use fake negative reviews, hateful commentary, upvote negative reviews and other dirty tricks to derail sales.

Entertainment franchises are big business. The Harry Potter franchise has earned billions. The Game of Thrones franchise has surpassed a billion in earnings. With billions and hundreds of millions at stake, it’s no wonder why some organizations employ “actors” to do dirty work. And for relative peanuts, those “actors” will tirelessly work their social and online contacts to break some while making others.

While we’re talking about fakery, why don’t we look at sales of Rothfuss books compared to ratings. During the period January 2007 to present, Kingkiller Chronicle has sold approximately 2.5 million copies. As examples, according to Publishers Weekly for 2012 ebooks sales, The Name of the Wind sold 53,097 copies and The Wise Man's Fear sold 49,731.

Amazon US & UK have 3705 reviews for The Name of the Wind currently (3157 + 548) and 2852 reviews for The Wise Man's Fear (2364 + 488). Barnes & Noble has 2076 reviews for The Name of the Wind and 1570 for The Wise Man's Fear. Add in other book sites like Booksamillion and elsewhere, and the total reviews tops 25,000. Goodreads has 361,152 ratings and 26,050 reviews for Rothfuss. Other book sites, bring the total well over 500,000 ratings. Or in other words, approximately 20% of readers supposedly wrote a review or rated.

How many Robert Stanek ratings were Rothfuss and associates screaming about for over a decade? Out of over 200 Robert Stanek titles on Amazon US & UK, only 14 ever had 12 or more reviews.

Those 14 books were primarily my Ruin Mist books. In 2002 when they began screaming about fake reviews, Keeper Martin’s Tale had exactly two positive reviews, Elf Queen’s Quest had one positive review, and The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches had zero.

In 2005, when they kept screaming about fake reviews, Keeper Martin’s Tale had 140 reviews, Elf Queen’s Quest had 56 reviews, Kingdom Alliance had 20 reviews, Fields of Honor had 1 review and Mark of the Dragon had 1 review. The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches #1 had 79 reviews, The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches #2 had 45 reviews, The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches #3 had 31 reviews and The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches #4 had 19 reviews.

So what was years of negative noise about? Less than 400 reviews in total for books that had sold collectively over 350,000 copies at that time (2005). Or put another way, approximately 1/10^th of 1% of readers had written a review.

In fact today, if 1/10^th of 1% of my readers wrote reviews there’d be nearly 10,000 reviews of my works. But there aren’t 10,000 reviews of my work or even 1,000 because these competitors and paid actors have made sure there isn’t.

Let’s also look at the percentage of positive ratings, as that’s something these competitors howled about for years as supposed proof of fakery. Here’s what these competitors were saying when my Ruin Mist books had an 85% positive rating: “No real book has such a high positive rating. It’s all fake and fraud.” 

Well, during the period January 2007 to present, Kingkiller Chronicle has an astonishing 99% positive rating from Amazon US & UK to Goodreads. Is it a real boy too or just a wooden one with a long, long nose? I don’t know Pinocchio. I don’t know.

The online world is like High School that never ends, where the cool kids do anything it takes to make sure they stay the cool kids. And by anything, I really do mean they do anything it takes, because they have and likely will continue to do so.

At the end of the day, it’s the words on the page that matter. The books that matter. I encourage you to read my Ruin Mist books for yourself to see why they matter and why certain competitors have spent 12 years trying to get you not to read them. Currently, there are 18 books set in Ruin Mist:

Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches
Winds of Change
Seeds of Dissent
Pawn of Dragons
Tower of Destiny

In the Service of Dragons
A Clash of Heroes
A Dance of Swords
A Storm of Shields
A Reign of Dragons

Guardians of the Dragon Realms
The Dragon, the Wizard & the Great Door
A Legacy of Dragons

Dragons of the Hundred Worlds
Breath of Fire
Living Fire

A Daughter of Kings
Betrayal
Deliverance
Rebirth
Discord

Magic Lands
Journey Beyond the Beyond
Into the Stone Land

Read the books if for no other reason than my competitors are desperate for you not to. If you enjoy the books, wonderful. If you don’t, there are plenty of other books out there.

Thank you for reading,

Robert Stanek