Narrative Warfare: OldPub Does Blackface & Wold Scolds Do Veruca Salt Impressions

Leave it to OldPub to find new ways to shoot themselves in the foot.

To kick off Black History Month, Penguin Random House and Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue is partnering up to give twelve classic young adult novels new covers, known as “Diverse Editions.” The books will hit the shelves on Feb. 5, and Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue will have the books on display in their massive storefront throughout the month of February.

Which look like this.

And the Woke Scold crowd made Woke Scold Noises, like this:

And yes, the Supreme Dark Lord also noticed:

And this is why Castalia Library is not only important, it is downright necessary. Because it is only a matter of time before Amazon starts deleting the non-updated versions from your digital libraries.

The amusing thing is that black authors are rightly irritated that Penguin and Barnes are attempting to use Black History Month to sell books by dead white authors instead of live black ones.

Speaking of the live black authors, I have a bone to pick with them and the rest of the Woke Scolds Done Told.

Why are you expecting the people you hate to do your job for you? It's not their job to publish you. It's not their job to promote you. It's not their job to do jack shit for you, ShitLib or not. All of that--every single step--is on YOU. You're doing your best Veruca Salt impressions, and as such you deserve her fate.

This, by the way, is why the Cat Lady Crew so cynically exploits you Woke Scolds. They know you'll bitch, whine, and moan--even blog it up and cut videos for YouTube--and when push comes to shove you'll show up and buy it new on release anyway. Because you don't have the discipline required to actually walk your worthless talk, as you're spoiled children when it comes to actually getting the changes you say you want. Star Wars fans are better at this than you are; either you're also lying frauds, or you're utter fuckwits, if you can't manage to just Not Buy Shit New.

What so many of you chase is not the satisfaction of your work being done and on the shelf. You want the clout and status of being a Published Author. You want the C-Span shows, the NPR appearances, the book tours, and all that stuff you see on Oprah without realizing that they don't do that for most of the writers under contract. They do that for a select few, so few they can likely name them all off the top of their heads, and you will never be one of them. No, it doesn't matter where on the stack you are; this works just like Scientology, and you're not one of their Celebrity Center cultists.

You're better off going indie. The sooner you accept this, stop screaming at people who hate you--and they do--to do your work for you, and get on with it the better you'll be- but that means accepting the reality of being a writer and abandoning the fantasy you want so badly.

Amazon is right there. You can get an Author Page up before you finish your next Twitter screed. You can publish ebooks via Kindle and use them for POD-based paperbacks until you know what you're doing. You can hire your own editors, illustrators, and cover artists. You can join groups like 20Booksto50K and learn how the folks making bank make that happen directly. The resources to make yourself succcessful without the OldPub crews exist. Stop being a bitch and do it yourself already. That white guy you hate already is.