Former and Current Business Names Used by Christina Kaye:
Write Your Best Book
Book Boss Academy
Book Launch Fairy
I first heard about editor and author coach Christina Kaye (aka Christina Broaddus) last year, via a writer who later posted this public complaint on Facebook. The allegations: misrepresentation of services (editing by a trainee rather than Christina herself), inadequate performance (the complainant paid for content editing, and got something more like copy editing), and refusal by Christina to either re-do the edit or provide a refund.
In addition to the allegations, the complainant provided supporting documentation…including Christina’s furious emails and lawsuit threats when the complainant refused to back off.
As far as I know, the lawsuit never materialized.
So who is Christina Kaye? Owner of two-year-old editing and coaching service Book Boss Academy (formerly Write Your Best Book), her resume includes a predecessor, Top Shelf Editing, which launched in September 2019 and whose URL is currently set to re-direct to BBA, as well as stints with Limitless Publishing (publisher of several of her novels) and Dragon Street Press.
Other entrepreneurial ventures include Bon Chance Press, which started up in early 2017 and contracted several books before closing that same year without publishing anything; a registered business called Book Boss Boutique, LLC; and an Etsy storefront that sells writing-related planners and gifts. Christina also has a substantial presence on various social media platforms, hosts her own podcast, and has amassed a large following on TikTok.
The BBA website displays testimonials from satisfied clients (of which there are apparently 300, or maybe it’s 150?). And a single bad review, even one as convincingly documented as the Facebook complaint, doesn’t necessarily indicate a problem business. Anyone can fly off the handle and say unwise things in response to pressure. Maybe this was an isolated incident? Maybe there was something else that explained Christina’s over-the-top response?
Over the past year, however, several writers who’ve used Christina’s services have contacted me to report similar experiences: editing that didn’t fulfill what they were led to expect or the terms of the contracts they signed (such as copy editing presented as content editing, or editing by a trainee); hostile, threatening, insulting, and generally unprofessional responses by Christina to concerns and complaints (not just in email or texts but on social media); and refusal of refund requests, including in one case where services weren’t just unsatisfactory, but mostly weren’t delivered.
That writer went public with a video on Facebook, in which she describes paying $2,500 for editing and coaching that Christina subsequently decided she couldn’t do; when the writer asked for the money back, Christina refused, claiming the payment was “in the bank” to cover future help the writer might need. The writer filed a dispute with her credit card company, which initiated a chargeback. Christina was not pleased.
(Refunds seem to be a particular issue for Christina’s business. Her editorial contract specifically excludes them–in ALL CAPS:
Like “we don’t guarantee that you’ll make any sales” clauses in publishing contracts, this suggests not so much a hypothetical situation as an anticipated one. And why would an editorial service anticipate refund requests?)
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve also heard from Christina’s staff members who say they have not been paid (and I’ve seen documentation to support this).
These are all serious complaints. What really stands out for me, though, is Christina’s communication style, particularly her volcanic reactions to criticism and complaint, or to people she perceives as having disrespected or dismissed her. In addition to the publicly-posted emails and messages above, I’ve seen many examples shared with me privately by clients, staffers, and people with whom Christina has worked professionally. Several of them told me they’re afraid of her.
Since I promise confidentiality, I can’t share any of those examples. But my own exchange of emails with Christina should give you a flavor of what I’m talking about.
The same day I tweeted this…
I’ve received several complaints about Christina Kaye of Write Your Best Book that are very similar to this one https://t.co/OPoVzoOVxR https://t.co/q96XhvAnRK
— Victoria Strauss (@victoriastrauss) October 27, 2021
…I received this:
Hmmm. I responded in my mild mannered reporter guise:
Within minutes, I got this:
Allll righty, then. (Between Facebook and Twitter, I actually have around 43,000 followers…still so sadly short of 100,000 friends, though.)
Christina did eventually agree to answer my questions. So I sent them off (you can see the exchange that prompted my first sentence at the bottom).
A bit to my surprise, she responded to at least some of what I asked.
(Right after receiving this, I emailed one of Christina’s staff members who contacted me about outstanding invoices. They provided documentation that confirmed that they were still waiting for payment.)
The TikTok Live didn’t happen. But a few days later, Christina added three lengthy posts to one of her Facebook pages, in which she claimed to know who was complaining about her (“there are THREE former clients I’m aware of who are ‘unhappy’ with my services”), accused those people of misleading gullible fools like me with “false information and even doctored documentation”, and threatened them, along with anyone who “jumps on that bandwagon”, with “pending legal action.” All with the greatest love, positivity, mercy, and compassion.
I always do due diligence, so I decided to reach out again.
This did not go over well.
Well, I tried.
Christina has since decided to take a break from social media.
If you’re thinking of hiring a freelance editor, Writer Beware’s Editors page has lots of information, tools, tips, and of course cautions, as well as links to helpful resources.
UPDATE 11/16/21: As I thought it might, this post has motivated new reports. I haven’t obscured the names on these, as they’re publicly viewable on Facebook
From the original Facebook complaint:
From Writer Beware’s Facebook page:
UPDATE 11/17/21: Christina has deleted the three long Facebook posts referred to above. I have screenshots, if anyone wants to see them.
Christina has also changed her name and handle on TikTok, reincarnating as ED Foster (quick editing tip: add periods to indicate abbreviations, unless you want people to think your name is Ed) and @bookbossacademy.
She has posted a video, all about how to deal with “enemies”.
UPDATE 11/20/21: Christina has changed the name of her Facebook page to Book Boss Academy. The company website still has the old name. She has also taken down the “enemies” video.
UPDATE 1/5/22: Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi! Subscribers to Christina’s email list received this plea last week:
It goes on from there, but the gist is that she MUST get at least ONE new client signed up in the next 48 hours or it’s goodbye Book Boss Academy.
So far, the threat of Book Boss’s demise appears to be greatly exaggerated. As far as I know, neither celebration nor sign-off email has been sent, the Book Boss Academy (nee Write Your Best Book) website is still live, and Christina is still busily posting videos on TikTok (now under her own name).
UPDATE 6/27/22: Book Boss Academy is going out of business again! Mailing list subscribers received an email today in which Christina proclaims the business’s imminent demise (again) unless she can sign “a minimum of two clients” by the end of the day tomorrow. Incentive: “drastically reduced rates”–one-third off everything! There’s even a countdown clock:
Why is Christina in such a fix? Why, nefarious treacherous clients, of course, whom she doesn’t hesitate to throw under the bus:
Will Book Boss Academy finally close indeed? Or will there be another going-out-of-business email in a few months? Stay tuned.
UPDATE 9/14/22: Book Boss Academy appears to have survived. Unfortunately, the problems discussed in this post also appear to be alive and well.
Since this post was published, I’ve received a steady trickle of complaints from writers who report that they’ve encountered the issues outlined above: poor quality service, refusal of refunds (even where work has not been provided or only partially provided), and angry and sometimes abusive emails and threats to sue if writers disagree or ask questions Christina doesn’t like, or, heaven forbid, ask for their money back.
It seems pretty clear that the negative exposure Christina received from being featured on Writer Beware has not motivated her to change her behavior.
UPDATE 5/1/23: Complaints about Christina continue to accumulate, both in my Inbox and also in the comments on this post. Check them out, below.
UPDATE 1/18/25: I continue to get sporadic complaints, along the lines of those detailed above, from authors who’ve encountered Christina, either in a business or social context.
Christina has also re-branded as Book Launch Fairy.
I just got scammed by Chistina Kaye. Paid $3600 in full. Got the 20% discount with extra meetings. 15 days later, I find I am logged out of slack(her way of communication) and an email stating she is dropping me because I am a liar, and she doesn’t work with liars. She also stated I refused to take her suggestions, especially notating toward my title. My last typed communication was letting her know that I had done the files she sent me. I let her know what I had been doing waiting for our first official meeting. My book is written. I just wanted extra help with making sure my title was what needed to be and publishing. She said all the things to seem she knew what she was talking about. But the book I had finished was slightly different from my dragon series. I am working on adding maybe 5 chapters to it. She said I had to choose. So, I went with the dragons as it is a series, and I do love it. She stated I didn’t go into drive and work on the templates. Out of all the files, maybe one was geared to where I was at with my writing/publishing. She also wanted me to make a reader avatar. Whatever, ok. But I could not type in the templates and made my own word doc thinking we would discuss at my first meeting. She didn’t check to see if I was having problems. Just called me a liar in an email and would not work with me. (It had just been 15 days.) Also, apparently, she believes she told me to change the title. We only discussed that I was thinking about it. She even agreed we could go over that later as we progressed. So, she was mad when I stated I wanted to keep the title. She blocked me and did not want to communicate with me. Later she emailed me and said she would send me all the files, but I had until 5pm Friday to download. But I would not be getting the one on one. She also confused me with someone else because she stated I had been with her since July. No, 15 days ago. And that she had allowed me to do payment plans since I couldn’t afford the services. No, I paid in full. Then the bank locked my card because she had tried to take money from me. ??How?? I should have listened to my husband when he said she was a scammer when she asked for the money by midnight that same night. We never had a meeting beside the initial free one. I don’t know if I got those files. I blocked her worried she could somehow get into my drive. When my husband spoke to a representative of an ID and Credit protection specialist we decided to sign up with, he said she is in their system for fraud, and our transaction would have been blocked until we spoke with them if we had been signed up with them at the time. Also, he said she may have used our video meeting to get my information to try and take my money. We paid through my husband’s account, not mine. I have been upset with the situation since it happened last week. In the contract, we are told not to discuss anything even against her, if our contract is terminated. At first, I was thinking who would do that. But now I know why that clause was added. And I did sign thinking we would not have issues. Wrong. Makes me ill.
I have somethings to share with everyone regarding Christina. I met her on tiktok. We talked a bit, and I reached out for a quote. Her original quote was 3,000. I passed. She does not like when you pass on her services. Let me tell you after I declined, she messaged me via TikTok and email several times a day! She then took the price down to $1500. Then she proceeded to guilt trip me. I wish I could share screenshots. I will copy and paste the last 2 messages from her.
Kylie,
I’m not sure what’s going on…is everything ok? Yesterday, I offered you my entire coaching program for only $1,500, and you responded thanking me for the offer but not telling me if you accept or not. And since then, I’ve not heard from you at all here or on TikTok. I know you’re handling a lot, but I think it’s only fair that I tell you why I am willing to offer such a low rate (aside from sincerely wanting to help you get the guidance you need) and why I do need to know ASAP what you decided.
It’s a long story and I won’t bore you with the details, but almost two weeks ago, RIGHT when I was about to pay my rent and payroll and other important bills, I found out that 2 clients (who were best friends, as it turned out) backed out of their agreements with me and stopped paying their invoices. In the long run, I’m out over $8k but even losing their second invoices which is what I planned to use to pay bills, set me back almost $2k! Then, a THIRD client heard what happened and since she was new, it somehow “scared” her and made her “doubt” my ability to help her. Somehow, what two people did TO ME negated all my 20 years of experience, as well as the hundreds of authors I’ve helped succeed in this industry. And then SHE backed out costing me another $3k!
My landlord was gracious enough to give me until tomorrow at the end of the day to pay my July rent, and I had the money all lined up, but then Friday, one of those clients who backed out also filed a “dispute” to get her $1,200 payment back, and the payment processor took the money out of my account with ZERO notice and only told me why after the fact.
That is why I am trying to get an answer from you. This could help us both. YOU get coaching worth well over $5k for only $1,500 and still get to keep a lot of your savings intact, and I get to pay my rent and not be evicted. I’ve been doing this full-time since January 2020, and since then, I’ve never ever been late on any payments, let alone rent, and I have no options to pay it other than signing a client. You’re literally my current and only hope.
I’m sorry if this gives you a bad impression of me, but I wanted to be honest and upfront with you. I do have more client payments coming later this month, but it won’t come in time to pay what I owe by close of business tomorrow. I don’t want (and won’t accept) charity, handouts, or even loans. I want to work for the money I earn. Period. And $1,500 is a drastic reduction of my fee, but it’s all I need to get back on track and recover from the unexpected blow from a couple weeks ago.
I’m willing to do that for you, but I need to know if you accept my offer or not, one way or another. If you have decided NOT to accept my offer, please at least tell me, so I know if I need to stay up all night trying to find a client. But if you do accept my offer, we can begin working on your project and toward your successful book launch as early as tomorrow. It takes only 20 minutes to get you set up as a client. And I won’t make you wait for your first call. We can do it as soon as Tuesday!
Please do let me know something. I’d love to work with you, either way, but you truly are my only hope right now to cover this gaping hole in my budget and save my business, so I can continue doing what i love best, which is helping indie authors like you realize their dreams.
Christina
My response. Her messages went to my spam folder even after many interactions.
Christina,
Hi. Omg. I was not seeing any of your messages. They keep going to my spam folder. Ugh.
I’m so sorry for all you’re going through. Under different circumstances i would be able to hire you to help me. I’m in a tight place myself. I’m heart broken. I hope you are able to find some good quality clients, and everything works out for you.
Kylie
Her response.
That is not at all the impression you left me with before I went two days wondering what was going on. No, I didn’t find a client, and I’m now being evicted. Thanks for your concern.
As you can see I said no politely and she was cold. Then she blocked me on Tiktok. So childish. lol
(I had already said no, and I had read many experiences here. (and seen tiktoks on how she operates as well.)
She needs to be stopped. I wanted to share this experience on my Tiktok but am refraining due to negative impact this may have on my account, due to the negativity being shared. Her behavior is gross. I am sorry for anyone that paid her for her “services.” This is not acceptable.
I am new to tiktok and followed her as a FYP recommendation. Next minute she’s dming me telling me that she’s just launched her new bundle for authors or something and would I mind looking at it as she needs eyeballs.
I reply, hey I’ll look but just so you know, I’m not your target demographic and won’t be purchasing. Because I’m resistant to cold dms and something felt really really off.
She FLIPS her lid and says “You’re right! You’re not my demographic, you’re rude! WHY DID YOU EVEN FOLLOW ME!” and blocks me. I was feeling bad up until I found this article.
she’s changed her facebook to christinakayeofficial and christinakayellc, and tiktok to christinakayeofficial
I just wanted to say that this lady is a professional con artist. It just isn’t with book editing. It’s literally with any possible service you could imagine. I live in Richmond (where she lives). She posted in our Free Market group a couple of years back about needing a headshot for one of these book editing sites. We felt sorry for her and thought she was trying to start a business and of course wanted to assist and help out. I offered her a session for $35. I had just started in photography and my partner and I was trying some new poses which we took some inspiration Pinterest. We took the photos and then edited them and gave them to her. Were they professional top notch? Absolutely not. We had no studio and had to do an outside setting but for $35 that seemed fair to me. She gets on her Facebook and completely bashes us and our site. She wanted a refund. I gave it back but I requested she delete all copies of that image. We find out a couple of days later that she is still using the “terrible” headshot on her website. I messaged her and she refused to take it down. So on our photography page, I took up for ourself. I posted our side of the story and how she is still using the photo she hated so bad. She emailed us and said that she would of course “sue us”. However, she used to be a paralegal and is not anymore. My guess is she was fired for poor misconduct with the amount of times she’s claimed to have a lawyer and threaten people. However, fast forward to earlier this year. I see yet another post in our city facebook group asking for some help with moving because she was being evicted. If you feel so compelled, she would buy pizza for your help. I seen the post, didn’t recognize her name, and thought nothing of it. A couple of days later, the poor college kids that offered to help her move in exchange for pizza only, posted about how yet again they were scammed. They went to her house, she had nothing packed. The kids still felt compelled and offered to help and packed her house and helped her move. She ordered Little Caesars, then ASKED THE KIDS TO PAY FOR IT. Of course at their breaking point, they posted so others are aware. The amount of people that commented including myself finally recognizing our city’s own local scam artist was insane. Of course, she messaged and threatened to sue me again and then blocked me…..
So I had scheduled a call with her TODAY, and after that I got a bad feeling and my husband was pretty skeptical (but he always assumes the worst in people) so I kinda played it off, THANK GOD I FOUND THIS. I couldn’t have handled being pressured into it. I kinda panicked and debated just getting on the call and playing it off and just telling her no. But seeing how pushy she was with all of you on here I decided, and I’m embarrassed to admit, I just blocked her on Gmail and TikTok and didn’t even cancel because I cannot handle that kind of confrontation, it would ruin my week or even month and I couldn’t trust myself to hold strong in saying no with how persuasive she could have been. I’ve dealt with exfriends who have had victim complexes and she sounds spot on to my personal experience with them but in the professional space… just wow. Thank you all for speaking out, you saved me tons of stressed out days and even money.
Did a PSA about her and sent a person this post so they can see who they’re dealing with. CK sent me a cease and desist. She said she do a a live about the “cyberbullying and rumours” last night (8PM EST), but have no idea if she actually did it or not.
She did a live, I watched it and actually scheduled with her after. Blocked her with no notice on everything after I found this. She talked about haters coming from ONE previous client claiming she was homophobic and racist all these other lies and that’s why she has haters. Claims a writer ghosted her and then asked for money back and tried to play it as the victim. I’m so embarrassed I believed it and even commented how I love that she addressed this head on. But it was all bs, bc she clearly has “haters” because of her bad business practice and not some false claims of bigotry.
would have loved to see that live, but it was too early in the morning for me so missed it… If anyone has it, i’d love to see it.
Circulating that she’s now booklaunchfairy and she sent me a cease and desist threatening to sue me if I didn’t take down a thread warning authors about her. Still up to the same tactics.
Thanks for the heads up on the new name. (Threatening to sue/sending C&Ds is her go-to; I’ve heard this from many people but I’m not aware of a single time she followed through.)
Not sure if you’re still keeping tabs but she is now the book launch fairy. https://booklaunchfairy.com/
As of 8/6/2024, she is operating as Christina Kaye / Christina Kaye Author Coach
Thanks for having this here. And I’m glad I did my due diligence before a scheduled call later today; I have ME/CFS, and absolutely no tolerance for stress (which is why I could use some help with marketing), so I won’t be trying her services.
Yeah I just had a run in with this woman. I found her on TikTok and she suggested I do a zoom call with her. She disconnected the call on me because I wasn’t ready to “buy today” then she blocked me on TikTok.
I thought that was the strangest sales call I ever encountered and I emailed her to let her know it was a rude way of handling business. She wrote me back a 10 page email about how I am rude, a narcissist, a liar, a bully etc.
Clearly she ain’t cut out to handle business because you’re supposed to nurture leads not attack them.
Steer clear from this woman.
We had almost the same run in with her the other day. I asked a question on an “ask me anything” tik tok about street teams and got a DM saying she wanted to give us a call. When we politely declined and paid services, she got super defensive (when did I ask you to pay for anything?? I offered a free call) and when I replied explaining why it came off as her trying to pitch services she blocked us lmfao. Trust your gut people!
Heads up. As of 2/26/24 she has rebranded as @successfullyselfpublish.
Thanks for the heads-up. She’s using that handle here — she’s still doing business as Book Boss Academy, though.
I was an independent contractor with her and she has a victim mentality about everything. When you provide clear instructions on how to do something, she forgets and then makes you out to be a bad person when I all you were trying to do was help and make your own living. I still have an outstanding balance that she owes for the work I did, but her excuse for not paying me was (1) I gave an invoice late and (2) she could barely keep the lights on, so paying me wasn’t a priority.
I’ve been in contact with other people employed by her and it’s a similar story. We all need a therapy group.
I hired Christina Kaye without doing research… please do your research. She is now successfullyselfpublished and used to be The Book Boss while I was a client with her. She’s rebranded six times in three years. It’s hard to keep up and that says a lot about her. I was originally given five coaching sessions, but because I paid invoices “early” and she claimed the money was tight, I got two extra sessions. The emails state that seven bookings were confirmed, but not all of them happened. At least two weeks of the action plan we never went over and she canceled appointments or just did not show up to them. I remember one time was because she got COVID-19, which is valid, but just because the emails state confirmed does not mean they happened. I did hire her to edit my manuscript and the contract stated that she would be the one editing my stuff even though she has an elite editing team. She had my manuscript for 15 weeks with no updates and when I asked questions, she was very rude and unprofessional. She contradicts herself claiming to have 14 years of experience one day to 15 years’ experience the next. She bullies her clients and gaslights them. It’s very much like you are in an abusive relationship. It is always “I’ve done nothing wrong,” “You hired me! I know everything,” and “Without me you will fail!”. My integrity was sound the whole time while working with her. When I asked to leave… I asked three times… she grew more hostile. At the beginning of our professional, she did reduce her rates for me for the coaching sessions and the edits as well (so she says). But she held this over my head the entire time afterward. I did not ask for her to discount anything. She offered. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. Kept wanting to work with me, even though I did not want to work with her. When she finally ended things after she asked if anyone would like to continue, she told me I was not allowed to work with the people she connected me within the industry. I did inform these people of what was said to me when clients left Christina’s service and they had no idea. She kicked me out of Slack after finally letting me go because I told her I did not want to continue once the coaching block was done and my manuscript was turned over. I did email her asking if I was still getting my manuscript back since I hadn’t received it by the time she kicked me out and she did not want me to communicate with her. She did invite me back to Slack and kicked me out again… The only person I included with this was an attorney and she threatened a lawsuit because of a “smear champion”. I am baffled by this response. I am allowed to contact an attorney… I too have screenshots and screen recordings of our interactions.
I was editing with her around this time- it could be that I have your book. I have still not gotten paid. She was supposed to pay me March 8th…I was getting ready to contact this blog myself.
I ALMOST worked for her, and I am thankful everyday that she showed her red flags early on, which made me question her and her business.
I had been following her on Facebook and TikTok for over a year, and I never saw any red flags. I didn’t always agree with her videos or advice, but I did take a free webinar (the my editor sent to me) as I had taken a few years off of writing and publishing my books and I wanted to get back in the saddle, so I was looking for all the help and advice I could get. After that, a few months passed and she had posted a ad for a marketing rep for her team. I wanted to get some marketing under my belt, as well as help other indie authors, so I contacted her and we set up an interview. There were a few red flags, but I gaslit myself into thinking I was just being super judgmental to her and I wanted to give her a chance.
Red flag #1: I was signed up for her newsletter, and when she did send it out, it was always titled “help save my business!” Or “is anyone there??” Or “i need at least 2 clients so i can pay my bills!” I thought this was either a sh!tty marketing tactic (which turned me off of her services completely) or, she really just needed the money that bad and was ACTUALLY begging, which again, made me not want to book her services whatsoever.
– In the interview I asked how her business was fairing, but didn’t bring up the newsletter. She told me that “it had suffered the last two years, but that she was making record sales now!” And “she made 6 figures last year and just last month she made $14,000!” (I cannot confirm or deny this, but I’m sure it’s not true.)
Despite this, I decided that maybe working with her would be different? (Stupid, I know.)
Red flag #2: in the interview she told me that all of us employees have a messaging app: slack, and that one of her “pet peeves” was when people don’t answer her messages within an hour, regardless of if she tags them or not. I thought she meant when we were on the clock, but NO, she meant whenever she messaged on there! I told her straight up that on the weekends I probably won’t message her back, as I run my own businesses on the side and am busy during that time. She didn’t seem happy about that but agreed.
Red flag #3: (like all companies) she said “we’re a family!”
I had my interview on Thursday, I did onboarding stuff on Friday (unpaid, BTW, even though I worked on getting signed up for the multitudes of programs she sent over for over an hour) and I was SUPPOSED to start on Monday.
Well, that’s where my eyes were finally opened.
She messaged me on Saturday morning asking “if I was up.” I was having coffee so I said “yeah, what’s up? I’m just having coffee.” She told me she just needed someone to talk to. Red flag #4. (I’ve worked in companies with people like this and it NEVER ends well. They’re always spouting some kind of drama instead of focusing on work, so I was cautious right away.)
She proceeded to tell me that she had to fire an employee that she took on as a “charity case” and that her “seizure disorder was causing her work to be subpar.” She said “I was REALLY nice about firing her!” (This is funny to me, because I later learned that when people speak nicely to HER she goes off on them, but she expects people to not do that same if SHE speaks “nicely” to them. 🤔) She then told me that this fired employee was now relentlessly bashing her and her business all over Facebook because she was angry for being fired. (Later I tracked this employee down, who told me it wasn’t her that did the bashing, but a different past employee on Facebook – she sent me the screenshots for confirmation) (I want to also note that she said in the message that “her lawyer has the Facebook posts and is drafting a cease and dissed order to send to this person. This, I later learned, is a tactic that she uses often, but she doesn’t have a lawyer and she will never actually come after anyone with one.)
THEN, Christina went on to tell me that her assistant up and quit the morning after the Facebook drama had unfolded. I was sympathetic to her, and told her that while I can’t do much I’m here if she needs me. (This was before I learned the truth.) she kept saying “I hope this doesn’t scare you off.” But inside, my gut was clenching and warning bells were going off. I decided to take some time that afternoon to dig on tiktok and the internet and oh boy, I found this article, amount 20 or so TikTok’s from past authors and employees of her. That’s when I found out the truth-that she’s a scam artist!
I spoke to everyone I could find, (which was at LEAST 20 people) including her assistant that just quit (I couldn’t remember her full name and Christina had deleted her off of slack right away, so it just said “deleteduser” on her slack profile. Luckily, one of the people (past employee) I spoke to got me in contact with her.) I was literally APPALLED by the destruction Christina had left in her wake. So many broken hearts, so many broken promises, and so much theft moneywise. I wanted to help other indie authors like myself, but I had almost helped her scam them instead! I also learned that out of all the employees I got in touch with, she had only paid 2, and even they were still owed compensation of some kind. (The ones she fired had put in hours but Christina refused to pay them their last checks – and the ones who quit were the same. She refused to pay them because they no longer worked for her. This is all VERY illegal!)
I have to admit that I was scared to tell her I wasn’t going to work with her after this. I spoke to a few people that told me to be prepared for her backlash. So, Monday morning I sent her a slack message letting her know that I would not be going forward with working for her. I was curious to know how she would react if I used her own victim/sad life tactic on her- so I also let her know that my husband has cancer (which is true) and that with being his only caretaker, I had bitten off more than I could choose. I sent this message at 8AM (PST – we’re both on the same time zone) and she didn’t message me until around 4PM! (So SHE can ignore messages, but no one else can.)
Her message was simply this: “log out of all my stuff.” And then she blocked me the next second. (I was going to tell her I already had – but obviously I couldn’t.)
I am so glad that she raised her own red flags to me before I started working for her! I now know I dodged a huge bullet! From all of the people I tracked down and talked to, only one of them said that she was only a jerk to them “sometimes.” The rest of them said she was merciless, rude, and very unprofessional! I made it my mission to warn my indie author friends after this, and it paid off! I’ve saved two authors so far, who were thinking about trying her services! So, I AM helping indie authors afterall, just not in the way I thought. 😅
(In a nutshell she: Love bombs, plays the victim, and then threatens you with lawsuits/her “lawyer” (which she doesn’t have) and then blocks you all together.)
That is no way to run a business or even try to talk to any author out there. That’s extremely unprofessional, and that’s only scratching the surface. It’s scary what she’s been doing to authors, her employees and anyone who rejects her before even signing a contract. Wow. Even if I was Indie, I would not consider her, I’d consider one of my friends over someone I don’t know anyway. I know a lot of editors, and I know they would never do anything like this to anyone.
It’s 2024 and here we are. Christina hired me to help her with her Etsy shop, then dropped me without a word and owes me over $200+ in payments. She’s nasty, talks horribly about employees and ex-employees and tries to make smear campaigns. This isn’t ok. She is NOT ok.
Well folks, it’s 2024 and she is still attempting to grow her relaunch as The Book Boss. I had the unfortunate experience of consulting her for services. She seemed kind, though a little under informed and several red flags jumped out at me before our call even began. I knew shortly into the call I would not be retaining her services but chose to tell her to send the proposal anyway because I had a feeling she wouldn’t take well to being told no. I was correct in that judgment when shortly after I’d declined the proposal and politely stated we were not a good match I received an email from her. She was obviously offended by the rejection and quite unprofessional. She then proceeded to block me on TikTok and gmail. Shortly after she posted about dealing with “haters” across her platforms. I opted to block her across all accounts for good measure. Truly was an unsettling experience.
I just had the exact same experience. Had the call, she seemed sweet though didn’t alike me to talk much, and I could tell that what I was looking for and what she was offering weren’t in alignment. At the end, I politely told her that I didn’t think we were a good fit at this time. She hung up mid call and sent me an extensively long and emotionally charged email. I’m very glad I didn’t sign up for her services.
I am a past client and victim of Christina Kaye’s. You can find some of my story about what I went through with her on TikTok, but the short story is that I tried to work with her for about 3 months before I finally took off my rose tinted glasses and realized what a horrible person she is and that her entire business is a scam meant to target new writers/authors. I myself was a new author at the time, still am. I hired her to help me not only edit my first book but paid for her entire self-publishing program, she dragged her feet and gaslit me for the first two months. Lied to me, forced me to pay her money early by using emotional manipulation techniques that she used on every other client of hers, she bullied my writing, spouted writing rules that made no sense, and was constantly sending very long messages that were aggressive and manipulative throughout the weeks. My appointments were always cancelled, dropped, or forgotten entirely, which she does to everyone. Her entire goal is to force her clients to quit before she ever has to deliver on anything she has promised them.
Spoiler alert: This is fraud, if you have been scammed or are being scammed by her. Reach out to your bank and file a fraud dispute, you often can get your money back. She cannot come after you for it, she will send scary emails about her “legal team”, she doesn’t have a lawyer, she lists a new lawyers name in every email she sends to people. You can call the lawyers and most of them have no idea who she is, those that do know her all have said they do not represent her.
Take your hard earned money, and find a reputable editor or coach elsewhere. Always look for an editor who has glowing verbal reviews, or ask your future editor who their author clients are and if you can talk to them. Talk to other authors, that is the easiest way to avoid scams.
Cheers,
Madeline
I was hired by her for some freelance work and it was a very frustrating and sometimes degrading experience. I’ve seen her interactions with other employees and the slightest thing sets her off.
My experience with her was pretty mild but just really freaking stupid. I told her there was placeholder text on her website and she replied with “UM, OK.” like, f**k me for trying to point out something she should update, right? I immediately blocked her lol, that energy is duuuuumb and I absolutely do not need it. I kind of wonder if she replied again haha.
This woman preys on indie authors that are just starting out. RUN! She is a complete and total scam artist and thief. She sucks you in with lies, takes your money, and then ghosts you when you have scheduled appointments. I have talked to OVER 20 authors in the past week that received the same treatment. When I questioned why she was making appointments with me and then ghosting me, I would receive degrading and disrespectful messages where she was irate and hateful, talking to me like a child needing scolding. It was disgusting. She even disconnected one of the meetings she actually attended within the first 15 minutes because I dared to disagree with her about something trivial. I have never met a more unprofessional person. Please! Do not put your time or money into anything this woman touches.
I can help you! I was a partner that she slammed the door on because she felt I spent too much time with my kids/ family. I conduct business in a much different way.
Glad I found this in time. Had a free 30 minute session since everything was half off. Later on, I was polite when I clicked no and the reason for it. She was not happy and said a bunch of stuff such as this has been settled in court and I should trust the interaction we had instead of trusting and reading an article from a competitor.
I am dealing with her now. I hired her to help me launch a book and she sent me a novella of a slack shredding my soul about how much she didn’t like my first chapter. Man. Imposter syndrome is serious for an artist and I don’t believe I’m the most fabulous writer, but it was unprofessional and felt like a verbal beat-down. My husband said to screw the money and walk away. When it comes to writing and something this personal you need support and help, not abuse. She also (after signing contract & saying she had other services like editing but didn’t have to use them) got nasty with me when I told her I already had an editor. She’s incredibly manipulative and it did not settle well.
Just…walk away. To aspiring authors, please walk away and know that you can find better and more life-giving support systems.
Omg. I just found this. I feel like a fool! I fell for it. I guess I didn’t do my due diligence so fault is my own. Out so much money, thousands! For basic edits not feom her. A pushy pay early email. Was told I head hopped in a scene when it was clear I didn’t. Always had a strange feeling and even let her try to do a logo for me which was a disaster. I feel sick to my stomach. I want a new editor and now I can’t afford that. Great.
Are you still in her writing group slack? We should send everyone the link for this article
I had the pleasure of experiencing the nastiness of Christina in February. I am a fellow company who aides authors in writing and publishing their books. I signed up for her mailing list, from my company email, and after not receiving what was promised automatically, I responded to an email she sent asking if the FREE offer was received. I told her no and I guess she started doing some research on my company and she came back with the nastiest email I have ever received accusing me of being a scam artist and trying to steal her information and pass it off as my own, which are both lies. Truthfully I never opened the offer as I forgot. She talked about the 1M followers across all social media platforms, which I never counted that many, she had and how she was going to warn them about me and all this. The most she did was make a video about scam artist publishers, which after reading your article, I see this was a form of deflection. She never sat well with me. To come across this article from 2 years ago is both informative and a huge relief. It’s sad what she has done to those she’s encountered. I would never. Thank you for bringing awareness to her. It’s still helping.
She now has a FB group where people are being added without consent, smh.
https://m.facebook.com/groups/selfpublishingsuccesstipsforauthors/?ref=share&mibextid=S66gvF
Christina Kaye and Book Boss Academy are scams. She’s a nasty woman- and I’m someone who worked with her. Seriously regret working with her, as she treats her ‘employees’ like trash. The messages she’s sent me are awful.
Never ever hire her. She’s an awful person and will take your money.
So I met with her and we set up a contract for a payment plan. As of now I have paid a down payment and a first payment. The first payment I actually sent her early because she said she hit a dry spot and needed the money then. (I have an email to prove this). Yesterday I reached out and said that due to a medical crisis, I had lost a lot of my income and would be no longer able to pay her. I even offered that we could put it on hold and then continue on in the future when things settle down but I wasn’t able to give her a date of when that would be. (again I sent
this in email)
She responded on slack with a very long, nasty guilt tripping message about how horrible and serious it is to back out of contracts, and at the most she would be willing to settle for an exit fee. I again try to explain my circumstances in my opinion, my messages were professional at first. I did a lot of apologizing and explaining of the circumstances while she basically accused me of being like past clients and “overcommitting” and just dropping her. And she said multiple times how it’s unfair to her. I explained that I understood that it was unfair to her and she’s not the first cut that’s being made. When she refused to “ go back and forth” any further and to look for an invoice in email, and called me “snarky”, I again replied that I’m not being snarky, that text messages don’t always come through the way you would like them to, and that I will look for her invoice in my email and “have a nice and healthy life”. I even offered that I would pay it off over a couple years if that’s what it took. I apologized multiple times but anything I said was taken to the complete opposite in a negative context. I even said that I understand it’s unfair to her and that I will, of course, pay her the money because she needs it. Then she freaked out that she doesn’t need my money and everything like that. She threatened me with her attorney multiple times and suing me to collect for payment to which I replied that I expect to see her next week for our meetings, because if I’m going to pay for the services that I’m going to receive them. She at no point said that she would continue providing services if I paid, and eventually I offered to go to TikTok and let everybody know what is happening here and then she yelled at me in all caps and threatened me with a lawsuit for libel (which everybody should know is FALSE statements made publicly), and currently sent me a long email calling me immature and threatening me with a lawsuit and trying to collect all payments, but also calling her contract avoid and refusing to provide services paid for. I sent her a message telling her that I felt physically and mentally unable to continue with the conversation at this point and would read the messages when I felt more up to it. And again emphasized the fact that I’m not trying to be snarky or coy, or any of the rest of what she called me, and that when we come back to the discussion, perhaps I can find a way to convey my points better. After that, she proceeded to completely delete her slack, and therefore all the messages between us, besides a couple screenshots of notifications. Worst experience ever. I’m glad I didn’t pay her anymore than I did. I felt truly guilty, but it’s looking like I probably wouldn’t of gotten the work I was paying for anyways. I have screenshots of our original contract, plus my emails to her, and the very long email sent to me calling me immature, threatening me with a lawsuit for libel, and voiding the contract but asking for full payment. Therefore there is nothing illegal about this post.
Found the messages between us too and screenshotted all of them!
I’m really sorry for what sounds like an incredibly difficult experience. As you’ll probably have gathered from reading my post and the comments, threatening to sue is Christina’s go-to for all occasions, and I’m not aware of a single instance where she has ever followed through. Thanks for visiting and commenting, and I wish you all the best in dealing with your medical crisis.
Thank you. She agreed to “take the high road” after me giving “ZERO notice” (my next payment isn’t due for over a week). She proceeded to then attack me more and throw her “22 years of legal experience” around. She even proceeded to I made “idiotic statements that made no sense at all”. She basically admitted that she was using the legal claim as a scare tactic to show me how serious it is to back out of a contract. She’s definitely a piece of work. I’ve found so many horror stories about her now.
Nevermind. She freaked out again. Btw she also claims to have won a lawsuit over all the original stuff 2.5 years ago. Ha! She doesn’t even appropriately use legal jargon and thinks it’ll scare people into doing what she wants. Still demanding I pay (more than what I owe her) AND refused services. Anyone have any advice on how to make her go away?
If the claim about winning a lawsuit was made in writing, could you forward it to me or send a screenshot? beware@sfwa.org Thanks.
Sent you an email. I also remembered I have the name of her supposed lawyer.
I have had my first official interaction with Christina Kaye! She wasn’t very nice. At all.
I’m soooo glad I found this holy crap. So I had stumbled across her tiktok live, struggling new author and she promised the world, even hopped on a zoom call same day. Everything was great until she dropped the 3400 (2900 with discounts oh yay!) and then began pressuring me to make a decision when I was just curious. I was worried about missing out on the opportunity and she preyed upon that. Either way I couldn’t do anything for the next five days (waiting on funds) and I tried explaining this to her and she was flabbergasted why I couldn’t just use a mobile bank (I would have to liquidate valuables since I’m a disabled single mom) and told me that she’d be booked by Tuesday. I told her that’s fine, it gave me time to save (and by save I mean research).
It’s unfortunate for her I’m in Cybersecurity during the day and something was really off; I don’t like being pushed especially when money is involved. I’ve blocked her on all platforms. Thank you for your service, Victoria. Keep it up.
Yesterday she almost got me , I as in her live just listening as I am just writing my lil book so I was curious as to what she had to say .
She kept saying I have one spot left etc. so I scheduled a call .
She messaged me and said her client canceled was I free. I said yeah sure she calls me and I start to tell her about my book she said I’m sorry let me ask the questions it will go faster. So I went quiet she asked like one question. I kind of causally said well I’m on disability so I have time to write . She stopped and said oh you are on disability I can’t work with you … and hung up on me . No good bye nothing just click then she blocked me I have been depressed since thinking that I have a dream that won’t ever be a reality.
I’m living this nightmare right now and oh how I wish I’d seen this post when that first red flag began waving…back when she demanded the second installment from me earlier than we’d discussed (in the emails I kept) because Hurricane Ian was bearing down on my location and if I lost power/internet/cell towers, it would inconvenience her to have my second/final payment delayed. Her communications have been a mix of reasonable with abrasive-and-combative since then. When I tried to commiserate with her on her missing our first scheduled session, she misunderstood my message and POUNCED on me to explain she never misses meetings with clients. Never. It was her staff’s fault for dropping the ball. Annnnnd the hints of narcissism grew from there. Today she “terminated” our contract because I won’t follow her advice on two of the social media platforms she wants me to build a presence on (because the three I’m currently focused on — Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube — aren’t good enough for her). This means I’m in breach of contract, I guess, and gives her the right to transfer services to editing instead. Now I can have two $500 vouchers toward editing services in the future, which gives her the chance to exploit more money out of me…if I were inclined to remain in the dark. I’m not in the dark any longer.
I’m so sorry. The voucher offer is new–haven’t heard that before. It’d be interesting to know if she’d honor them, but maybe she’s counting on you never using them. smh
That’s funny she mentioned “never” missing meetings because she had cancelled several with a writer I work with because she had to take care of her adult daughter because, in her words “you never stop being a mom, right?!” she never reimbursed or rescheduled those cancelled sessions and instead counted them toward the writer’s 10 sessions per the package. (I don’t know if I am allowed to speak for another writer, so I understand if this is not approved. The writer I mention is too afraid to speak up because CK threated to destroy her if she did.)
I’m so sorry Victoria. The same thing happened to me 🙁 $2500 down, refuse to deliver services and then tried to blame me for it. Do not engage Book Boss Academy.
Has she actually came after anybody with her lawyer?
No one that I’ve heard from or about.
This is because, people with lawyers… people who HAVE lawyers to call, will just call their lawyer. They won’t threaten it, because it usually goes against their case if they’re in contact with the person/entity they wish to take to court. Christina Kaye has experience as paralegal, and she knows exactly what words and terms scare people, and uses them. She’s threatened to sue me over a hundred times, and that’s only a *small* exaggeration.
Best bet is to encourage others away from her business, otherwise she isn’t going anywhere.
Can you send me an example? beware@sfwa.org . Thanks!
People, please do not sign up with this woman! She offered me a free consultation and when I declined to sign on she sent an abusive and offensive e-mail. She then dropped an associate of mine as a client as retaliation. She is toxic and her business is toxic and criminal. Reaching out to Victoria now.
I wish I had seen this sooner. I am a current client of hers trying to find a way to get my money back as she just paused all services to me not long after first asking me to make my final payment and then few minutes later realizing I already did it a week or so early as she requested me to do.
Happened to me a year ago—-$2,500 scammed😡
Fascinating! I had to chuckle when reading her comment about her 10 years in the demanding, sometimes demeaning, legal field. Just wondering which side of the legal line she was on.
Ok this is weird but she uses 10 a lot. When screaming at me via email she said she waited for me for 10 weeks (inaccurate and my emails back that) and she told some one I knew that she was tired of working with her for 10 months when the program was 10 sessions. (Also inaccurate and this person has emails and other things to verify as it was a 12 session program that was advertised to me and the other person.) I feel like she uses 10 yo impress/intimidate people.
Wow, you too? I don’t even know her at all and she came after me with teeth. So random and weird.
She has officially abandoned the 'Write Your Best Book' name and is now calling her company 'Book Boss Academy.'
From her email about it:
"I have done a lot of soul searching, brainstorming, praying, and seriously deep thinking, and I decided that it is time for a major pivot/rebrand.
"As you may have noticed, although I’ve been editing and coaching authors through the writing process for over a decade, my true strength became much clearer over the past year or so, and that is in helping authors prepare for their book launches. Specifically, when it comes to branding, social media/video content, and early marketing.
"So, starting now, Write Your Best Book has a new name…
BOOK BOSS ACADEMY"
She has also stated she will no longer be using Facebook.
So yes. She is already looking to scam/intimidate people in new ways.
I'm one of the authors who was burned by this "service," to the tune of $2000, and reported it to Victoria and a few other podcasts that had featured her in Fall of 2020. For the record, I'm still scarred by the experience and it's set me back considerably on my progress. Thank you, Victoria, for all your diligent work! Now that her methods have been exposed, I sincerely hope no other authors are scammed like I was.
"Like Father Like Daughter" seems to be under both names, from what I can see. Why would that happen? (It's not inherently bad, just a bit confusing to me.)
The enemies video she posted and subsequently deleted I downloaded. (I take receipts) It had contradictory quotes from OTHER SUPERIOR sources on how to deal with ones enemies, and most of them contradicted eachother. Some were very narcissistic others were about rising above it. (She does not know who or what she is.)
I think she is (possibly) having a bipolar episode, or manic, maybe borderline… ALL too easy to be an armchair psychologist. But… her actions scream of untreated mental illness. And if that is so…she has my sympathy. She is shifty.
Also, it is clear as opposed to trying to tactfully manage this PR nightmare, even if a victim and wrongfully crucified she lacks any of he right mental reactions. LIKE ANY… she lashes out at anyone even on a good day. I looked at some of her older video's and average interaction on her video's would have normal questions and additions and she would just BARK at them, (DONT LIKE IT- UNFOLLOW!) narcissist, and obviously someone with their head way too far up their own ass.
To be honest, I saw her for what she was LONG before this article was published, but I was not about to call her out. She gives bullshit advice. I recently saw one of her tips about Characters waking up intro's being clichés in books, and yes that is a common one. BUT SHE COMPARED IT TO THE WALKING DEAD….WHICH OPENS UP AT A GAS STATION WITH A LITTLE GIRL AND A TEDDY BEAR…. NOT A COMA. It is non linear story telling and she talks of novels and screen plays as if they hit the audience the same way. They don't. She is about as ignorant as they come.
She needs to stop. just tuck tail and realize she effed this. She should not have had this attitude of no refunds, and treat employees like this. She should not threaten to SUE EVERYONE WHO SPEAKS AGAINST HER…see how it turned out? She will need to delete her tiktok, no one will trust her…AS IN, EVEN IF SHE SUE'S HER REPUTATION WILL NEVER RECOVER.
She will never be able to be a face again for her work…
The book community has learned how to be tight bolt of cloth, and she is going to be CUT.
Being an award finalist is not the same as being an award winner, as her various bios claim (unless there's some other award she isn't mentioning). On Amazon, she also claims to have been awarded Suspense Novel of the Year by NIEA, but I could find no record of that anywhere (or even a mention of that specific category). You'll note that's one of my questions she didn't answer.
Christina Morgan may have been her married name. She also goes by Christina Broaddus. The "Kaye" may be a middle name. I don't know for sure–just that all three names belong to the same person.
I ended up finding her on the NIEA finalist page in 2017 (11th Annual Awards page), and while the cover is the same for Like Father Like Daughter, it's under a whole other name. How many does she have? On their website, she's listed as Christina Morgan.
Theres a comment that is saying Tik Tok is a breeding ground for morons, and before I get into this I want to first say that Tik Tok HAS helped authors have successful debut launches. Sorry, while that app has it's problems, it's been stellar in terms of promoting myself.
Onto the actual point of the article, now. I've worked closely with Christina Kaye and this was a huge bomb to have dropped on me. Luckily, someone was kind enough to come to me with the evidence (something Christina has claimed to have but never showed, which, now makes sense.) here in the article. I can't help but to feel a bit betrayed, as I stuck by her and went off just my own experience… I didn't realize how she was treating people. Thank you to Ms. Strauss for bringing this to light, and waking me the f**k up.
I think there are some clear correlations here to other famous narcissistic personalities in recent years.
I would like to note her claim that she has a lot of 'big names' in the industry on her side who will support her. I have checked some of those big names whom I know had previous associations, and they've pulled her from their websites.
Unfortunately I'm sure we'll see her again as the power behind some other scammy LLC put in place to hide her name.
She sounds pretty unstable. As a writing professional of over 20 years in the business, I know that if I client is that upset with my work, I'll do whatever I can to bend over backwards and make them happy– but if they still complain, it's far easier to simply refund the money than risk that damage to my business. Fortunately, over the past decades, I've only had it happen once. For it to have happened this often to Christina says that she's doing something wrong. If she wants to know why she's being attacked, she needs to stop blaming others and look in the mirror.
It really upsets me that these authors, who don't have much money to begin with, get taken in by scammers who can't provide a simple service and spend more time advertising themselves than putting in the work. She doesn't even have any successful books to her own name– which proves to me, if she has 100k followers, that TikTok is a breeding ground for morons. I (and many others in the business) know the name "Victoria Strauss." Never heard of this person before today.
Terrible punctuation and grammar.
Someone should leave a write-up over at Reddit's /r/hobbydrama
Some of those emails from this person have entire sentences that don't even make sense. I would not trust them to edit a grocery list.
If I didn't know better, I'd say this sounds so much like Robert Martin of City Limits Publishing infamy…
This is all narcissistic behavior. Blame, deflect, play the victim, invoke God. She even compares this situation to the witches during the Salem Witch Trials and that she's being persecuted to that degree. I KNOW she's not paying her editors. And to that note, if the editor who I specifically hired had outsourced my edit to anyone else, a trainy or pro editor who I did not agree to edit my book, I'd be FURIOUS & demand a refund strictly for that. Hell no. Christina is a predator who uses victimhood to get people to feel sorry for her. We should feel sorry for her clients and editors who still haven't gotten paid.
"I'm better than you, I'm better than anyone."
"I know exactly how to have people turn a blind eye."
She sounds nice and not at all sociopathic.
I worked with her and she’s awful. This is truly an honest depiction of the kind of person she is. My advice? STAY AWAY!
I wish I’d known this a year ago when she scammed me for $2,500😡
Me too. Almost $4000. Sick to my stomach.
I’m really surprised there isn’t a group lawsuit at this point. Most courts wouldn’t bat an eye at anything less that 2k but I’m seeing far more than that AND the fact that Christina is clearly breaking contract laws. I don’t know if people realize that these are all suable offenses
Small claims courts can be very useful in situations where individual losses aren’t huge–depending on which state you’re filing in, the cap is as high as $10,000. It’s much less expensive than hiring a lawyer.
Are you sure this isn't Rebecca Hamilton, cause it's the same MO.