by  with Storify for iPad
Sat, Jul 28 2012 14:12:53

Jeremy Duns on Matt Lynn's sock puppets

My Description

  1. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    We writers are colleagues. Play fair with each other, play fair with readers, don't be cruel and vicious and so on. Obvious, surely?
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  2. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    I'm about to discuss, and name, another bestselling British writer who creates fake identities - sockpuppets - online.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  3. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    Like Stephen Leather, he does this to promote his own work. Like Leather, he has also used it to attack 'competing' authors.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  4. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    He's not quite as well known as Leather, and not nearly as vicious, but he is petty, cheating, pathetic and it deserves exposing, I think.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  5. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    The pathetic bit is setting up fake identities to praise yourself. But for me it's the using of them to attack others that is very shoddy.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  6. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    The author in question is currently one of the UK's bestselling thriller-writers. He's also on Twitter, and follows me. Hello!
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  7. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    You can find his thrillers in most bookshops, often displayed on the tables. I see them around a lot and grit my teeth every time I do.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  8. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    I first came across him about a decade ago, and it was my first encounter with what is now known as sock-puppeting. I found it bizarre.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  9. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    In 2002, I set up a small forum on Yahoo, to discuss spy novels. It's still going, if a bit dormant: dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/spynovel…
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  10. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    One day someone popped up in the forum and advertized his new book. He was James Harland, and the book was The Month of The Leopard.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  11. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    James Harland was infamous in many groups for being a blatant spammer: groups.google.com/groups/search?…
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  12. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    If you look at any of the posts in that link, you'll see he never revealed himself as Harland, though, but used other names, other accounts.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  13. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    James Harland was a pseudonym, though. His real name is Matt Lynn. He's on Twitter as @mattlynnwriter.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  14. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    He even used his own email address when spamming forums, which was a bit daft.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  15. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    Here, for instance: groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.…
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  16. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    Pretty silly thing to do, but hey, it was a decade ago, the net was young, etc.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  17. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    After a few years, Matt Lynn moved into ghostwriting. He got a gig writing the Chris Ryan books.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  18. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    Yes, shock horror, they are ghostwritten.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  19. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    He did a couple of those, and they were bestsellers. So he then pitched a series under his own name, about mercenaries. Same sort of stuff.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  20. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    Anyway, his series got picked up by a big publisher and they sold well. But Mr Lynn hadn't abandoned his old ways.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  21. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    As before, he set up several sockpuppets. But the net had changed, so now he did this on Amazon. He gave himself loads of 5-star reviews.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  22. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    He also decided to use some of those accounts to review other authors in the same genre negatively.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  23. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    For me, that's where it slides from pathetic to shoddy. One author he used a sockpuppet to go for was Matt Hilton.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  24. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    Another was whoever followed him in the ghosting Chris Ryan gig! He did both of these under the alias 'Bruce Farley'.
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49
  25. jeremyduns
    @jeremyduns
    Both are on this page: amazon.co.uk/gp/cdp/member-…
    Sat, Jul 28 2012 07:00:49

Did you find this story interesting? or comment as 1 already did!

Liked!
Total views
1,376

Sorry.

This URL is already in use. Please choose another URL.
Edit URL

Storify

@Storify

Are you sure?

Are you sure you want to delete this story?

Are you sure?

Are you sure you want to flag this story?