Within 23 hours, the Times removed the book from the list, acknowledging in a vague statement that they had discovered “inconsistencies in the most recent reporting cycle.” She was accused of plagiarizing the book cover, white entitlement, and of hiring ResultSource, a company that runs cynical marketing campaigns aimed specifically at gaming the best-seller system. People called her a con artist and a cheat. The reaction on Twitter was swift and unsparing.

Amateur detectives - several of them YA authors themselves - soon uncovered evidence that Sarem, or someone working with her, had bought the book in bulk, presumably in order to get it onto the best-seller list. If anyone in the publishing world had even heard of Sarem, they didn’t say so. No one had reviewed it in any of the usual blogs or publications. And yet, hardly anyone seemed to have read her book. A Hollywood movie that sells 18,000 tickets in its first week is a catastrophe a YA book - any book, really - that sells that many copies within a week of publication is a sensation. Apparently she had sold more than 18,000 copies in the first week alone. In August, her book suddenly appeared at the top of the Young Adult Hardcover Books best-seller list. Sarem, in case you missed the headlines, is the author of Handbook for Mortals. She was a New York Times best-selling novelist, and if everything continued according to plan, she would soon star in a major motion picture based on her book. Like so many little girls and boys, she wanted to be a star, and for a brief moment this summer, her dream seemed poised to come true.

When these people made a big issue, they were like, 'This is too much effort.When Lani Sarem was a little girl, she had a fantasy.

They didn’t have to put me on the list despite how many books I sold. 'My personal opinion: I’m a first time author I did some great numbers,' Sarem told The Hollywood Reporter. Sarem even took aim at the Times, claiming it bowed to overblown social-media outrage. Do you only get to be successful in the YA world if you only do it the way that they think it’s supposed to be done?' I didn’t send out galleys two years in advance, and I didn’t go talk to the people that thought I should come talk to them. 'OK, I get it,” she said, “I didn’t play by the normal YA rules. Sarem responded to the criticism she received, and the removal of her novel from the bestsellers list, in a conversation with Huffington Post.

After a series of tweets revealed contradictory variables in the novel's distribution - in addition to scathing direct messages that suggest Sarem or her team purposely ordered large quantities of the novel from Times reporting retailers and the likelihood the alleged scheme was to prepare for a film adaptation with Sarem as the star - the Times pulled the book from its list due to 'inconsistencies in the most recent reporting cycle,' according to Vulture.

Lani sarem handbook for mortals