It was on Friday afternoon that @EvilWylie, the Twitter doppelganger of agent Andrew Wylie was born. Self-described as an "Evil publishing industry insider and winner of the Golden Balls Award 2010," @EvilWylie claims to be "10% less evil than actual Andrew Wylie!" Not long after EvilWylie showed up on Twitter, quickly gathering followers, @GoodRandomHouse came to do battle and the superhero alter-ego publishing smackdown in the Twitterverse began.
The alter-ego extravaganza was inspired by an extremely controversial announcement made Thursday by the Wylie Literary Agency, headed by top-dog agent Andrew Wylie. The agency said it would be launching its own eBook publishing imprint called Odyssey Books for famous works by the likes of Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, and John Updike, and that the eBooks would be sold through Amazon exclusively. Random House, which owns the paper book rights to these books but not technically the eBook rights, retaliated, and refused to deal with Wylie for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, in the Twitterverse, EvilWylie began his strategy by attempting to gift his followers exclusive rights to various literary works. These ranged from Philip K. Dick to the collected works of "Shakespalin." GoodRandomHouse responded by sounding the call for booklovers everywhere to rally to its side.
As the exchanging of insults became more headed, GoodRandomHouse began to threaten EvilWylie with violence done with a hardcover book. This threat prompted EvilWylie to taunt: "Oh, I'm sorry...you didn't see Amazon's press release? Your silly hardcover is the one that is dead. "
The two publishing forces commenced to fight over the loyalty of their followers, dappling in Twitter seduction. After @JentoInfinity confessed that being followed by EvilWylie felt like dating the bad boy in high school, GoodRandomHouse tweeted: "Jennifer, @EvilWylie may tempt you with his wicked ways, but I can win your heart with truth, justice, and a hot bubble bath!" Later, the publishing underdog also tweeted: "Dear @JentoInfinity - I am your Edward. @EvilWylie is merely your Jacob. You know who you belong with."
The comparison grew, as GoodRandomHouse explained: "Amazon = Justin Bieber. RT @cories: @GoodRandomHouse = Edward. @EvilWylie = Jacob." Huffington Post Books = confused.
After a weekend of rest, the two enemies resumed hostilities. GoodRandomHouse launched into the fight with a new vigor, launching a string of "True Facts", including that "@EvilWylie uses the hide from baby seals as a cover for his Kindle."
Soon after EvilWylie began to amass followers from the publishing world, Huffington Post Books called Wylie's office to to ask for comment, and the receptionist knew nothing about it. We tweeted that fact and EvilWylie tweeted that of course Bruce Wayne never commented on Batman.
The battle continues on Twitter now.