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.
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.
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.