The book world and social media were abuzz earlier this week when it was revealed that indie author Susan Meachen had returned from the dead after reportedly dying by suicide two years ago.

According to Jezebel, Meachen’s daughter posted on her mother’s Facebook page in October 2020, stating that her mother had taken her own life the month prior. Subsequent posts suggested that Meachen—a self-published indie author with more than a dozen published books on Amazon—had felt bullied by members of a writing group (The Ward), leading to her suicide.

“Devastation from her friends, fellow authors, and readers followed,” wrote USA Today bestselling author Samantha Cole on Facebook on Tuesday. “Allegedly she’d been bullied in the book world to the point of suicide. What followed was rants from said daughter about how horrid the book world had been to Susan, and the family wanted nothing to do with the book world from that point on.” Cole added that the family had decided to honor Meachen by publishing her last book, which was widely shared.

Then on Monday, Susan Meachen came back from the dead by announcing her return to members of The Ward.

“I debated on how to do this a million times and still not sure if it’s right or not,” Meachen writes. “There’s going to be tons of questions and a lot of people leaving the group I'd guess. But my family did what they thought was best for me and I can’t fault them for it . . . Returning to The Ward doesn’t mean much but I am in a good place now and I am hoping to write again. Let the fun begin.”

The move sent ripples of shock throughout the writing group and quickly spread into the book community. No one could believe that Meachen had not only been alive this whole time, but had not even admitted the error (if indeed it had been one).

“Last night I got a message from Rhonda Butterbaugh, asking if I remember Susan Meachen (of course I did), and within the hour, I was horrified, stunned, livid, and felt like I’d been kicked in the gut and the chest at the same time,” wrote Cole.

To make matters worse, according to USA Today, it now appears that the family (or possibly Meachen herself) not only profited by sales in memory of Meachen but also created fundraisers and even sourced editing. And this now-viral sensational story is bound to only increase interest in her writing.

“I mean, January hasn’t even washed its face and brushed its teeth yet! 2023 is doing too much already,” tweeted author Farrah Rochon.

With the story spreading quickly beyond Book Twitter and hitting mainstream media, you might be wondering what this means for indie authors. Well, there are a few lessons we can take away from this utterly sensational fiasco:

Never, ever lie about your death to your readers, fellow authors, or anyone else.

Meachen’s friends and fans are absolutely furious that they were misled. How many people shared her book and bought copies, or contributed to fundraising in her memory? According to USA Today, some of these people now want their money back. You can guarantee that few of these people are likely to buy another book from Meachen. Once you lose a reader’s trust, it’s usually gone forever. And this especially goes when it comes to your fellow writers and authors. These people grieved for her death. Popping back up to say, “Surprise, I am still alive” will only alienate and anger those people. And oh, they’ll remember.

Emotional manipulation is a cruddy way to make money.

There comes a time when authors, seeing their sales plummet (or remain flatlined), find themselves facing desperation. Maybe we wonder if we can make more money by encouraging people to feel sorry for us. Maybe we share, fabricate, or overinflate circumstances in order to foster a sense of pity and encourage people to buy our books, share our posts, and engage more readers.

But there’s a big difference between an honest struggle and manipulating people for personal gain. No one wants or deserves to be exploited, and it’s a terrible way to treat readers. So ask yourself if you are sharing a challenging situation for the sake of sharing . . . or if you are hoping to exploit the situation to make some extra coin. Readers deserve your kindness and your respect.

Writing groups should be sacrosanct.

Sharing your work with others is always an act of trust, especially when it’s a work in progress. Your writing group should be a place filled with support, encouragement, and critical feedback. In a situation where you don’t feel safe within a particular group, or feel unfairly and even cruelly treated, that should probably be your sign to politely exit and find a group more suited to your needs. Announcing (whether it’s yourself or a family member) your fictionalized death is probably not the way to go about it. Aside from being cruel, it is also a betrayal of that group’s trust in you.

Be honest about wanting donations or sales.

Everyone goes through tough times. Some of us face tougher circumstances than others, and there are always those kind, generous souls out there who genuinely want to help. It’s OK to admit you’re having a hard time. It’s OK to ask for donations (although it’s usually best to set that up through Patreon or some kind of crowdfunding). It’s OK to ask people to buy your book. But don’t lie to your readers, your followers, your friends, and your fellow writing community about why you need the money. That’s abusing their generosity.

Going viral isn’t always a blessing.

How many of us, in hopes of trying to increase our visibility and reach, have secretly hoped we’d one day go viral? But you should probably ask yourself how you want to go viral. Do you want to make people happy or laugh or feel good? Or do you want to be a book villain? I mean, there’s always that person who wants to be hated, just so long as everyone knows who they are. But just remember that escapades like this—especially when they can reflect badly on the book community—can be pulled off only once. And a little infamy can destroy your credibility forever.

Be decent.

Life is hard, and being a writer can sometimes make things feel even harder. But this world is already filled with jerks. Let’s make it easier on everyone by trying to bring good things (like books!) into the world, and not things that involve very public lies, betrayal, manipulation, and scams.

After all, isn’t that why we have politicians?