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Much Ado About Publishing

Playing 20 Questions with Evil Wylie

by Nina L. Diamond

Evil Wylie speaks.

Or more accurately, he e-mails.

It was among the conditions the man who created Twitter's Evil Wylie set for this exclusive interview -- his first .

I don't know who he is. His email address is in his character's name. He's promised to reveal his identity to me at a later date, for another interview where I can actually speak to the man behind the skull.


Thanks to Evil Wylie, Good Random House, and Emperor Franzen, a trio of satirical characters whose creators remain a secret, since the end of July, Twitter has been all a-tweet with publishing industry high drama that has migrated to industry publications and the mainstream press.

And, boy, has it been fun.

Not to mention important.

The trio of Twitter characters has fanned the flames of debate over not only the Andrew Wylie/Random House mess, but also literary vs. commercial fiction and the attention received by male vs. female authors -- via the media's annointing of novelist Jonathan Franzen over his new book, FREEDOM, and the response by authors Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult, in funny, yet dead-serious tweets exchanged between the real women and the Twitter characters, which then played out in the media with Weiner and Picoult in the real world.

Evil Wylie and his cohorts also tackled a host of other pressing industry concerns with flawless satire and dead-on accuracy worthy of Evil Wylie's skull logo.

From Jennifer Weiner to Emperor Franzen, this tweet: "Supper? I thought you just dined on the crushed dreams of thwarted lady writers?"

From Emperor Franzen to the masses, this tweet: "FREEDOM has spread across the country. You have all been liberated. Or is that dominated? I always get those mixed up."

Evil Wylie soon created a website, evilreads.com, where he posted parodies he's been writing during all of this, including a short comic book, "Emperor Franzen vs. Jennifer Weiner."

At the end of July, in the aftermath of real-life agent Andrew Wylie's announcement that he'd started his own e-book publishing company in order to publish the works of dead authors whose estates he represents (can you spell conflict of interest?), and that these would be available exclusively through Amazon, a move that royally ticked off Random House, which published the print versions of many of these authors' works, a fictional character was born.

In his Twitter page short bio, Evil Wylie (@EvilWylie on Twitter) writes that he's an "...Evil publishing insider...10% less evil than actual Andrew Wylie."

With the real-life Random House now refusing to do business with the real-life Andrew Wylie, which meant, among other things, not being open to pitches on behalf of his authors, the battle grew even more complicated.

Savvy to things only a veteran publishing insider would know, Evil Wylie, the dastardly superhero, began handing out rights to his Twitter followers, including this one to @hypend: "...Evil Wylie has granted you exclusive e-book rights to the Bill of Rights."

Very quickly, Good Random House (also known as Captain Random House and @GoodRandomHouse on Twitter), his nemesis, showed up and they began sparring, not just about the real-life battle between the agent and the publisher, but about every publishing issue you -- and they -- could think of.

Some were just for fun. Good Random House tweeted that "...Voldemort was only doing @EvilWylie's bidding."

After almost a month, the real Wylie and Random House called a truce when the agent caved in.

Franzen Frenzy took over in the real world and, of course, the newly-minted Twitter character Emperor Franzen did more than his part.

The rest, as they'll say to aspiring superheroes everywhere, has become some of the finer moments in recent Twitter history.

And it continues.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must inform you that, like so many other journalists, authors, and writers, I've had a hell of a good time sending and receiving smart-ass tweets from Evil Wylie, Emperor Franzen, and Good Random House. And as long as they're around, I will continue to do so.



Ladies and gentlemen, I'm honored to present this interview -- and it's real -- with the first person I've ever interviewed whose real identity I do not know...Evil Wylie.

ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT YOU GOT SO MUCH ATTENTION ON TWITTER, AND THEN IN THE PRESS, FOR EVIL WYLIE'S BATTLE WITH GOOD RANDOM HOUSE?

Yes and no. Evil Wylie expected to garner some attention, but the immediate reaction -- news stories and hundreds of Twitter followers, all in one afternoon -- was unexpected. I started tweeting on a Friday afternoon, and since half the publishing world takes off at noon on Fridays during the summer, I didn't expect anyone to even take notice until Monday.

WHY DO YOU THINK YOU HAD AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE ON A FRIDAY?

The few of us in the publishing world left in the office on Friday don't want to be there. Agents, editors, copywriters -- whomever is left behind while their boss is out of the office. When the cat's away, the mice will play. Evil Wylie vs. Good Random House was a distraction that provided a few hours of entertainment.

WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT YOUR TWEETS LED TO SOME SERIOUS AND IMPORTANT DISCUSSIONS ON TWITTER, ELSEWHERE ONLINE, AND IN THE PRESS?

Sometimes it's easier to talk about a serious issue by using a proxy. Evil Wylie is clearly much more evil than Andrew Wylie, but there's an element of truth there that people recognized.

WHEN THE NEWS BROKE THAT ANDREW WYLIE AND RANDOM HOUSE HAD REACHED A TRUCE, WHICH WAS WYLIE GIVING IN, EVERYONE ON TWITTER WAS TWEETING UP A STORM AND YOU WERE SILENT FOR A WHILE. THEN, YOU TWEETED THAT YOU'D BEEN HAVING YOUR AFTERNOON NAP WHEN THE NEWS BROKE.

The official story was that Andrew Wylie and I share the same body, and that whenever he does something I am silent. And vice versa. Like Edward Norton and Brad Pitt in FIGHT CLUB. the real story, though is far less exciting: Evil Wylie was actually napping.

WHEN TIME MAGAZINE PUT NOVELIST JONATHAN FRANZEN ON THE COVER, EMPEROR FRANZEN WAS BORN ON TWITTER. AND IT WAS REVEALED THAT EVIL WYLIE ANSWERED TO EMPEROR FRANZEN. SO THE TWO OF THEM -- THE TWO OF YOU -- ENTERED INTO THE FRANZEN FRENZY AND THE SUBSEQUENT CONTROVERSIES ABOUT ATTENTION PAID TO MALES VS. FEMALE AUTHORS AND LITERARY VS. COMMERCIAL FICTION. EMPEROR FRANZEN AND EVIL WYLIE HELPED TO DRIVE A LOT OF THAT DISCOURSE, WHICH MIGRATED FROM TWITTER TO ELSEWHERE ONLINE AND TO THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THAT?

Again, a difficult subject for a lot of people in publishing to speak about directly for fear of blowback. If you criticize Franzen Frenzy, are you criticizing Franzen? Not necessarily, but that's the way the media has played it, and that's how a lot of readers reacted to Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult's comments.

Emperor Franzen, however, is a being of pure evil who resides on The Dark Side of Oprah's Couch. You can criticize him all you want and it's not going to effect his ego or good looks.

Before Emperor Franzen's arrival, Evil Wylie was contemplating going into the restaurant business. But plans have changed now that the Emperor is in need of my services.

DID IT SURPRISE YOU THAT YOU PLAYED THE ROLE OF CATALYST IN SOME OF THE FRANZEN FRENZY BY GIVING PEOPLE A "SAFE" PLATFORM TO MOUTH OFF?

We don't live in a black-and-white, good-vs.-evil world, but wouldn't it be nice if we did? It would certainly be less confusing. Great evil characters -- from Emperor Franzen to Darth Vader to Dick Cheney -- provide safe outlets for us to examine our feelings. Of course, Evil Wylie doesn't have any feelings, so I'm obviously not speaking from experience here.

IS EVIL WYLIE THE FIRST ALTER-EGO YOU'VE HAD ON TWITTER?

This is the first Twitter satire account I've created.

IN ADDITION TO EVIL WYLIE AND EMPEROR FRANZEN, WHICH OTHER CHARACTERS ARE YOU, SHALL WE SAY "AFFILIATED" WITH?

That's it. Some people think that Evil Wylie and Good Random House are the same person, but they also think that Jonathan Franzen and NPR's Terry Gross are the same person.

YOU ARE ONLY ON TWITTER AS EVIL WYLIE AND EMPEROR FRANZEN?

Yes, just those two. My other accounts are my "real" self and a book that I've authored. Neither of which have anywhere near as many followers as the "fake" accounts. Which I hope doesn't say anything about me as a person!

YOU AND GOOD RANDOM HOUSE AREN'T THE SAME PERSON. I THOUGHT YOU WERE AND I'M SURE NEARLY EVERYONE ELSE ON TWITTER DID, TOO. I ALSO SUSPECTED YOU MIGHT BE DARTH VADER.

I don't know who Good Random House is. It's like Spider-Man, when he and the Black Cat get hot-and-heavy. It's more exciting for her if the masks are on. And, no I don't (currently) have any other fake accounts.

SO, YOU'RE AN AUTHOR. IS THAT ON THE RECORD?

Yes, that's fine.

I FIGURED THAT YOU WERE PROBABLY NOT AN EMPLOYEE OF A PUBLISHING HOUSE OR A LITERARY AGENCY BECAUSE THESE TWITTER ACCOUNTS COULD GET YOU FIRED. AND IT'S CLEAR THAT YOU'RE CLEVER, CREATIVE, AND A VERY GOOD WRITER. SO, I THOUGHT YOU WERE PROBABLY A WRITER, AN AUTHOR, OR A BLOGGER, OR MAYBE ALL THREE. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO TELL US ABOUT YOUR WORK?

My "real" work is more serious. Evil Wylie gets to have all of the fun, and that's one of the reasons that I started posting short e-books and other musings on evilreads.com.

I TRIED TO FIGURE OUT WHETHER YOU'RE MALE OR FEMALE. AND HOW OLD YOU ARE BY THE WAY YOU WRITE. HERE'S MY GUESS: YOU'RE A GUY WHO'S 40 OR YOUNGER.

That sounds like the profile of a serial killer. But I won't comment on if you're right or not.

THAT'S OKAY, WE'LL GET TO YOUR ACTUAL IDENTITY IN ANOTHER INTERVIEW. AND WE WON'T KNOW IF YOU MATCH THE PROFILE OF A SERIAL KILLER UNTIL WE SEE IF YOU HAVE THOSE TELLTALE SHIFTY EYES. DO ANY OF YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, OR COLLEAGUES KNOW THAT YOU'RE EVIL WYLIE AND EMPEROR FRANZEN ON TWITTER?

It's not easy hiding a secret super-villain identity, and Evil Wylie may have spilled my identity after a few too many milkshakes.

DO YOU HAVE ANY CLUES ABOUT GOOD RANDOM HOUSE'S IDENTITY?

No idea who Good Random House is.

WHAT DID YOU THINK WHEN GOOD RANDOM HOUSE APPEARED ON TWITTER? IT CERTAINLY MADE IT MORE FUN TO HAVE SOMEONE TO SPAR WITH.

Evil Wylie predated Good Random house by about an hour. Darth Vader had his Luke Skywalker, the Joker had his Batman. It just seemed right, like the universe was correcting itself for the evil that I had birthed into it. It's a love/hate relationship. As the Joker said in The Dark Knight, "I don't want to kill you! What would I do without you?"

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO WITH THE PARODIES YOU'RE POSTING ON EVILREADS.COM?

Right now, there aren't any plans to do anything other than post them on my site. Although I did read a tweet from someone that said, "Thanks for providing me hours of free amusement." Free? The price, of course, is my Twitter followers' souls! Cue evil laughter.



WILL IT SHOCK YOUR BOOK'S READERS WHEN YOU EVENTUALLY REVEAL YOUR IDENTITY, AND DO YOU WANT TO GIVE US A CLUE ABOUT WHETHER YOU WRITE FICTION OR NON-FICTION AND WHAT GENRE?

No clues! I've already said too much ;)

YOU HAVE AN INSIDER'S FEEL FOR THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY. IS IT SAFE TO SAY YOU'RE PRETTY EXPERIENCED?

Yes. Evil Wylie may be new to Twitter, but has spent many years lurking in and around the publishing industry. I've paid my dues, unlike some of these punk kids. Justin Bieber, I'm looking at you.

WHAT HAVE YOU ENJOYED MOST ABOUT BEING EVIL WYLIE AND EMPEROR FRANZEN, AND HAVE YOU TWEETED OR RECEIVED TWEETS TO/FROM ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO DOESN'T REALIZE THIS IS YOU?

What would an author's ego look like, unchecked by the filters of agents, editors, publicists, and proper manners? Evil Wylie or Emperor Franzen.

Underneath any writer's carefully controlled appearance is a jealous bitch waiting to get out. We all have self-esteem issues, and authors usually grow thick skin to deal with the constant rejections and disappointments that we face in this writing life. Some writers hide it better than others, but deep down we're all emotional infants.

In terms of tweeting to and from anyone I know, yes and no. Evil Wylie has gotten Direct Messages from many agents who have worked with the real Andrew Wylie. Without giving up their names, I will say that they found the Twitter feed amusing. Friends who also follow (Evil Wylie and Emperor Franzen)? No comment.

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Nina L. Diamond is a journalist, essayist, and the author of Voices of Truth: Conversations with Scientists, Thinkers & Healers. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Omni, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and The Miami Herald.

Ms. Diamond was a writer and performer on Pandemonium, the National Public Radio (NPR) satirical humor program, for its entire run in Miami and select markets nationwide from 1984-1998. As an editor, she works frequently with other authors and journalists on both fiction and non-fiction.

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Read Nina's other Much Ado About Publishing columns from 2010:

When LOL Meets PPF

Sunday in the Park with Scarlett, Seuss, Webster, Zhivago & Salinger

There's No Such Thing As a Quick Remote

Thanks for the Genes

From Blog to Eternity

Jessie: A Literary Tail & A Warm Nose for News

Struggles on the Shelves

Impacted Cranial Rectitis

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