The Suppression Begins – Trolling, Smears & the Shadow Campaign
By Robert Stanek
By the time Ruin Mist had climbed to the top of the Amazon and Audible charts, I should have been celebrating. My story had found its readers. Word of mouth was spreading. Families were reading it together. Libraries were shelving it. Teachers were building lesson plans around it.
But instead of doors opening, I felt them slam shut.
It didn’t make sense—until it did.
Because the story wasn’t the problem.
The problem was how I’d told it.
The problem was who I was.
An indie author.
A disabled veteran.
Someone who didn’t ask permission.
It Started with Reviews. But It Didn’t End There.
One day, my books were sitting in the top 10. The next, they were flooded with dozens of 1-star reviews—from accounts that had never reviewed another book. Most of them hadn’t even read mine.
The reviews didn’t critique the writing. They mocked me. Personally.
Then came the forums. The whisper campaigns. The anonymous blogs. The fake “exposés.”
Suddenly I wasn’t just being criticized—I was being erased.
And it was organized.
Not disagreement. Not debate.
A deliberate campaign. One goal: make the books unfindable, unreadable, untrusted.
Because the story had done something they didn’t expect:
It succeeded.
The Lies They Told
If the books weren’t good, they could’ve just said that.
Instead, they made up reasons—because the truth was too inconvenient.
- They said I faked my reviews. (I didn’t.)
- They said I was a fraud. (I wasn’t.)
- They claimed the books weren’t bestsellers—even as those same books topped the bestseller lists.
- They accused me of creating fake accounts to praise my work—while they used fake accounts to tear it down.
They attacked my name. Then they attacked my readers—calling them “stupid,” “naive,” “manipulated.”
They wrote smear blogs and deleted any supportive comments.
They reported me to Amazon and Goodreads without cause.
They flooded my inbox with hate. They tried to make me disappear.
And for a time, it worked.
The Cost of Being First
- In 2001, I was one of the first authors to serialize a novel at Amazon.
- In 2002, I was the first indie author to hit the top of Amazon.
- In 2005, I was the first to hit the top of Audible as an indie.
Instead of opening doors, that put a target on my back.
Gatekeepers didn’t want to see indie publishing work—especially not in fantasy, where tradition ruled.
I wasn’t supposed to beat their system.
I wasn’t supposed to compete with their authors.
I wasn’t supposed to prove that readers could make their own decisions.
But I did.
And they couldn’t stop me.
So they tried to poison the well.
The Blacklist Effect
You want to know what suppression looks like?
- Reviewers “forgot” to include my books in roundups.
- Lists of bestselling fantasy left my titles off, even when I outsold others on the list.
- Bookstores dropped me from promotion—even when Winds of Change was outselling their top recs.
I wasn’t banned. But I wasn’t welcome either.
It was silent. Subtle. Systemic.
And it was designed to wear me down.
Because if they couldn’t stop the story, maybe they could stop the author.
Why I’m Telling This Now
I stayed quiet for years because I didn’t want to sound bitter. I wanted the story to speak for itself.
But silence doesn’t protect the truth.
And lies, if left unchecked, become legend.
So let’s set the record straight:
- Ruin Mist wasn’t buried because it failed.
- It was buried because it threatened what others wanted to protect.
- It dared to be different.
- It didn’t follow the rules.
- And when it succeeded, they panicked.
They told the world it was a fluke, a fraud, a fantasy not worth reading.
And yet, here we are—25 years later, and the story still lives.
What They Never Counted On
They never counted on the readers.
They didn’t think you’d keep the books alive.
They didn’t think you’d pass them down.
They didn’t think the story would mean something real.
But it did.
You saw what they didn’t:
- A princess who wasn’t a trophy, but a force.
- A boy who didn’t want to be chosen—just understood.
- A rogue who told the truth when no one wanted to hear it.
You made this story matter. You gave it life.
And now, I’m asking you to help it rise again.