The editor of Royal Love contacted me and asked me to put this statement up:
To everyone affected by Cristiana Serruya,
I would like to personally apologize for my role in this situation. I edited Royal Love, Book 1. If I had any knowledge this book was plagiarized in any way, shape, or form, I would have sent her packing.
I do not condone plagiarism. It’s as bad as pirating an author’s book in my opinion. As a fellow author, I would never engage in such unethical behavior.
When I was handed this book to edit, it was a mess. I was told that it needed a fast turn-around because the last editor had messed it up. It was one of my first paid editing gigs. I was excited. I edited 120,00 words in a twenty-hour period. It was a pain in the ass, but I did it. When I looked over Royal Love’s sample pages on Amazon, I noticed she didn’t keep most of my edits, but that’s her problem.
This book helped launch my editing career when I needed to take a break from writing. If I had known that it was going to turn into this, I would have never edited this manuscript.
I am so sorry that she stole work from all these amazing authors. She even stole work from a romance author I’ve admired since I started reading romance novels.
I am sorry I let her steal from you. I didn’t know, so I couldn’t stop her from doing this.
I promise to try harder.
~Deliaria Davis (@deliariadavis)
Please let her know that no one truly blames her. I would imagine that part of the push to quickly edit, other than money, was also so that there wasn’t time to take a breath and say “that sounds familiar”.
Sounds like Cristiane followed a standard pattern for her – taking advantage of people at an early stage in their career where they couldn’t afford to pass up paying work. You were very brave to come forward and speak, Deliaria, and I hope your bravery in an untenable situation is what people will remember about you from this whole mess. Best of luck in your future editing career.
You didn’t let her steal from anyone. That blame is placed solely at her feet. She took advantage of many people. You are not to blame.
There is no need to apologize. She used you. This isn’t your fault.
Getting to edit a book for a popular romance author must have seemed like a dream come true! I’m sorry she took advantage of you.
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We trust people. We take them at their word. We should be able to do this. The people I know in the writing community are creative, supportive, and wonderful.
When any well-known author asks one of us to edit or proof their work…I think most of us would assume it’s on the up-and-up. Unfortunately, now we ALL know we have to be more careful.
Please do not blame yourself for the actions of someone else. You are not responsible for the foolish life choices of another person. However, you have shown more integrity and honor than Cris has, and stepped up to take personal responsibility for your small part in what Chris put her name on. At the end of the day, her name is on the cover, it’s her that is 100% at fault. If anything, your honesty in this matter speaks volumes and (hopefully) other writers will respect you all the more for it, and want to work with you in the future.