I reject the parasitic treatment of readers as consumers and in this post, I make concrete pledges as to how I will comport myself as an author.
Ethics (noun)
1. principles of conduct governing an individual
2. guiding philosophy
– Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Readers Are People, Not Consumers
- I pledge to write novels that meet reader expectations for the genre.
- I pledge to write novels that meet those expectations in an original way.
- I pledge to publish books written to the best of my ability.
- I pledge to publish books edited and formatted to the best of my ability.
- I pledge to respect readers by publishing at a pace that does not undermine the trust placed in me to deliver complex, thought-provoking and well-written novels.
Courtesy
- I pledge that it is solely your decision when or if you would like to interact with me.
- I pledge not to bombard you with marketing emails.
- I pledge to behave as a responsible adult when confronted with either praise or censure of my writing.
Aliases
- I pledge that I will avoid anonymity or obfuscation of who I am.
Reviewing and rating books
- I pledge I will never review my own books.
- I pledge I will not solicit friends or family to review my books.
- I pledge to decline review swap offers from other authors.
- I pledge not to purchase reviews.
Reacting to reviews
- I pledge to respect the integrity of reader reviews by staying out of the process.
- I pledge not to badger, review bomb, or otherwise behave as a narcissistic ass when I receive bad reviews or low ratings.
Plagiarism
- I pledge not to plagiarize the work of others.
- I pledge to cite references when appropriate.
Book Promotions, Marketing, Advertising
- I pledge not mislead readers with false statements about best-seller status.
- I pledge not to mislead readers with false claims of awards.
- I pledge to use third-party services that adhere to my ethical principles.
Use of Tools and AI
- I pledge to be the sole creator of the novels I publish.
- I pledge not to use AI to generate any portion of my work.
- I pledge to use competition analysis software to categorize my books where they can be found by the correct audience.
- I pledge to use formatting software with built-in previewers to ensure book formatting is not a hot mess.
- I pledge to use spelling and grammar check.
Responsibility
- I pledge I will admit when there are errors that result in poor-reader experience.
- I pledge to hold myself to the ethical standards described on this page.
- I pledge to be responsible for my own words, reactions, and statements.
My author ethics are informed by, but not limited to, the Alliance of Independent Authors Ethical Author Code.
This page uses headings published in the ALLi Ethical Author Guide; the pledges themselves are authored by me.
Erzsebet Carmean 