Eat, Pray, Delete.

Why Elizabeth Gilbert's decision to "postpone" her new book hurts the literary community and what should happen next.

A Quick Personal Note

Thank you for being patient while I regrouped over the past few weeks. I thought I’d get back to writing a lot sooner! I appreciate you sticking around.

Let’s get to it:

Earlier this week, bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love, fame decided to “postpone” her upcoming novel, The Snow Forest, due to “an enormous, massive outpouring of reactions and responses from my Ukrainian readers, expressing anger, sorrow, disappointment, and pain about the fact that I would choose to release a book into the world right now, any book, no matter what the subject of it is, that is set in Russia.” Yet, the book is set in 1930s Siberia and focuses on a Russian family who withdraws from Soviet society to live there. I won’t rehash the details of her announcement, but you can read Katha Pollitt’s excellent piece in The Nation here.

Gilbert’s publisher, Riverhead (an imprint of Penguin Random House), has remained silent throughout this ordeal. The “massive outpouring of reactions and responses” from Gilbert’s Ukranian readers was in the form of 575 one-star reviews on Goodreads. Since the book’s publication date was planned for October 2023 and was only just announced, none of the people who left reviews on Goodreads could have read it. “Review bombing,” the act by which there is a coordinated effort to leave negative reviews en masse on Goodreads, is not a new practice. However, a famous author self-censoring because of review bombing isn’t something the industry has seen until now.

It is striking that Twitter, a platform where several YA authors have received intense scrutiny, with the result being that they canceled their books, is where the literary community is currently criticizing Elizabeth Gilbert’s decision to cancel her work. Usually, Twitter is where the mob mentality is sometimes powerful enough to dictate what happens to a book. This time, Goodreads, with its almost nonexistent moderation, is part of the problem. They, too, have remained silent this week.

We live in a country where coordinated efforts to ban books endanger authors, librarians, and booksellers. Freedom of speech, a constitutional right, is disregarded by certain politicians who ironically say whatever they want. When books are being removed from classrooms and libraries because one person finds them objectionable, it is not the time to back down from publishing a book due to keyboard warriors criticizing a work they haven’t even read. Further, as an author with an enormous platform, by “postponing” her book, Elizabeth Gilbert has done a disservice to authors who 1) can’t afford to do so without serious financial consequences and 2) have books on submission that take place in Russia (no matter the period). She has also empowered those who wrote negative reviews on Goodreads, many of which suspiciously had similar wording (note: the Goodreads page for The Snow Forest has been removed). Perhaps Ms. Gilbert missed the memo on this, but acquiescing to those critical of a book—indeed, one they haven’t read—makes it harder for everyone to fight against censorship.

The blame doesn’t only fall on the author, though. Goodreads, where toxicity abounds, also bears some responsibility. Why isn’t there a mechanism on the Goodreads platform where one-star reviews are turned off until a book is published? Where is the content moderation? What about creating a system where you can leave one star, but only if you write a review? None of these are perfect solutions, but Goodreads is messy, and authors rely on it to be the opposite. If nothing else, Goodreads should address what happened after Elizabeth Gilbert announced her book and subsequently canceled it.

It is also mind-boggling that Riverhead/Penguin Random House hasn’t released a statement. Perhaps they are busy managing the headache that comes with a major book being pulled from publication in Q4 (for those who don’t know, Q4 is the final quarter of a fiscal year, which is why you often see big books published in the fall). Still, as a publisher, it behooves one to be proactive in such matters. You can appease your author and address customers. If it is a matter of publishers being tepid about stepping into the political arena, it is too late: books are being politicized every day. You can either say something or have your silence interpreted as complicity.

Afterword:

What I’m watching: In honor of Robert Gottlieb, who passed away this week at 92, I’ve started watching Turn Every Page. It’s a wonderful documentary about Gottlieb and Robert Caro, author of The Power Broker (and the not-yet-published fifth installment of his books about Lyndon Johnson). It also chronicles the relationship between the editor and the author. You can rent it on Amazon Prime or Apple.

What I’m reading: I am in a reading slump, hoping that changes after finishing my MBA class on Sunday.

What I’m listening to: Yacht Rock, baby. I’ve also started listening to the Publishing Rodeo podcast on Spotify. This is for you if you want to hear different perspectives on the industry.

As always, please email publishingconfidential@gmail.com with comments/questions.