4 September 2012
In light of the recent revelations within the crime writing world that authors have been adopting different guises online to give glowing reviews of their own work and damming that of their peers, Kate Pool (deputy General Secretary, pictured) was asked by Alison Flood at The Guardian to give a comment:
"Sock puppetry is in every respect wrong. It is misleading about the book it praises, it is worse than misleading about the works it disparages. And because the truth is increasingly likely to come to light, it is also entirely counter-productive. The Society of Authors has never had a code of practice – it does not make value judgments on its members of their work – and would prefer not to have to introduce one, but clearly if sock puppetry becomes established, it is something the Management Committee would have to consider."
To read Alison Flood's full article, please visit The Guardian website by clicking here.