Katee Robert and the bookish box
MISCOMMUNICATION? ABLEISM? FALSE PROMISES?
If you are in the Bookstagram, BookTok, or Book Twitter community, then you have probably seen some mention of the drama unfolding between author Katee Robert and The Bookish Box.
The main themes circulating through the book lover’s world revolve around miscommunication, ableist assumptions, and false promises.
In short, The Bookish Box sent out thousands of books that they claimed were signed by the author, Katee. They didn’t find out until AFTER the books had been sent out that many of the books had been stamped, not signed. They sent out an apology message on behalf of Katee, which is not a statement that she approved. So, in response, she went to social media and encouraged everyone to not buy from The Bookish Box anymore. The book subscription company then send out a very insincere apology post on Instagram, and now they are getting a ton of backlash.
*Please note that the information in this article was gathered through extensive research, mostly through social media, and does not include any specific details given to me by anyone mentioned, with the exception of the quoted email and photos. So, consider this to be an opinion piece. It will continuously be updated as new info arises (if anything new happens).
WHO IS KATEE ROBERT?
Katee Robert is the author of the Dark Olympus series, which includes Neon Gods, Electric Idol, and Wicked Beauty as well as MANY other novels.
KATEE ROBERT DISNEY BOOKS:
Some of her most popular books include the Disney villains spin-off series called Wicked Villains, of which there are 7 books.
WHAT IS THE BOOKISH BOX?
The Bookish Box is a book subscription service that ships monthly. Included in each box is a book and merch, such as pins, stickers, clothing, hats, candles, and more goodies. They work with many artists and small businesses to curate original theme boxes every month.
Katee Robert and The Bookish Box
WHAT HAPPENED -THE BASICS:
The Bookish Box often includes very exclusive content in their subscription boxes, including signed versions of a book. They created a contract with Katee stating that she had to sign 6000 copies of her books in the Dark Olympus series (Neon Gods and Wicked Beauty) within a specific time frams.
To aid her in this daunting task, Katee used a stamp in place of a physical signature. The Bookish Box was not aware that she was alternating between her hand signature and a stamp signature.
Customers received their Exclusive Lux Book Boxes in the mail and eagerly opened their new books to find, not a signature, but, upon closer inspection, a stamp. Based on comments on TikTok and Instagram, many customers really didn’t mind the stamp. They were just happy to have an exclusive book that Katee Robert herself had touched.
Unfortunately, there were many who were not happy about the change and went straight to The Bookish Box to complain.
After discovering that Katee stamped many of the books, they sent out an email apologizing on Katee’s behalf and brushed off the situation. They most likely hoped that this email would pacify all of those upset customers. Naturally, it didn’t. It also upset Katee and her publisher.
THE EMAIL:
" Last week we were made aware of an issue with our Neon Gods and Wicked Beauty Exclusive Lux Editions. Our amazing fam let us know that many of the tipped in pages mirrored each other, and there was some concern whether the author signatures were legitimate. After some discussion with our publishing partners, Sourcebooks and Katee Robert, we were able to confirm that some of the tipped in pages were hand-signed, while other were stamped using Katee's signature stamp for Neon Gods, Electric Idol, and Wicked Beauty.
Katee Robert and the Sourcebooks team would like to extend their deepest apologies to those who purchased these editions with the understanding that they would be hand signed by the author. As outlined in our contract with the publishers, Katee was given the time she requested to sign the tipped in pages. However, it was disclosed to us this week, due to a previous injury to her hand, she was not physically able to sign some of the tipped in pages. While The Bookish Box team was unaware until this week, we understand and support Katee's decision to do so based on a previous injury to her hand. Above all else, it's important to our company that our author's aren't over exerting themselves to the point of pain or injury.
There was no ill intention from Katee or the Sourcebooks team. While some of the tipped-in pages weren't and signed, they were hand stamped by Katee, and still given extra Bookish love by the author! We hope you still love your editions of these beautiful books!
As always, we appreciate your support of the Bookish Box, and our amazing publishing partners and author collaborators!"
Katee found out about this email and went straight to her social media to tell us, her fans, that she most certainly did NOT approve that statement and she does NOT apologize for using a stamp. She clearly told all of us that she has a disability that kept her from physically signing 6000 books and she needed an aide. She also requested that people not buy her books from The Bookish Box anymore.
The Bookish Box sent out an apology to Katee publicly (and most likely in private as well), and Katee accepted.
The public apology sent out by The Bookish Box is… not a good one.
Katee and her publisher posted statements on Instagram stating that they believe that a stamp IS a signature and that authors should not need to disclose their disabilities.
READERS REACTIONS
COMMENTS ON KATEE'S INSTAGRAM POST:
The book-loving community definitely seems to be on Katee’s side. She may have lost a few fans when they purchased special edition signed copies of her books but got stamps instead, but that certainly didn’t hurt her much. The amount of support and positive feedback she has received is inspiring. Hundreds of people are on her side. Here are a few comments directly from her Instagram feed:
COMMENTS ON THE BOOKISH BOX'S INSTAGRAM STATEMENT
The public apology from The Bookish Box is disappointing. It caused many people to unsubscribe from their service AND unfollow them. Here are some comments from their apology post:
HOW THINGS GOT SO MESSED UP...
Lack of open communication!
Katee did not tell The Bookish Box that she was using stamps.
When The Bookish Box found out (after the books had already been sent), they sent out an email statement explaining the situation and apologizing on behalf of Katee – an email that she never approved.
Instead of internally fixing things, Katee went to social media to dish about all the details and drive people away from using The Bookish Box.
The Bookish Box posted a public apology, but it was not sincere in the eyes of their followers.
HOW CAN EVERYONE DO BETTER IN THE FUTURE:
THE BOOKISH BOX
Let me get straight to the point – EDIT YOUR WORDS! As an influential public figure in the book community, it feels a little silly to be saying this, but words are important. As a community, we take words very seriously, which is probably why we are all constantly having little battles within our own sub-communities. Sometimes it can be difficult to express through words what we are actually feeling. In those cases, voice notes and videos are helpful.
The Bookish Box made a mistake when they sent an apology email and included Katee’s name when she did not want to apologize. They also made a mistake when they shared a lackluster apology post to everyone on Instagram.
KATEE ROBERT
Based on everything I have seen and read, it is my opinion that Katee should have disclosed with The Bookish Box that she was using a stamp as well as physically signing books. Had she been transparent from the beginning, before the books were mailed out to customers, then this situation could have been resolved faster.
Katee is under no obligation to ever share her disability, BUT providing that information to The Bookish Box (not to the customers) would have allowed the company to adjust their wording when they sent out the books. Or, she could have kept her disability to herself and just told them that she will stamp or sign a specific number of books. If she had been more upfront about her signing process, then The Bookish Box would have had more time to inform customers.
WHAT KATEE DID RIGHT:
Let’s take a look at what Katee Robert did right during this drama. She stayed in constant communication with her fans. That’s it. She didn’t really need to do anything else. She kept us updated on what was happening and shared her side of the story as everything unfolded. Open communication is the key to maintaining strong relationships with the people that you work with and with your loyal followers.
If there is ever drama with Katee again, I am sure that she will handle it in a similar way – by honestly and openly keeping her fans and followers in the loop.
She did such a great job of publicly handling the situation after the books were sent out that I believe she actually gained loyal followers. Unfortunately, I think she also may have lost followers when the books were initially sent out and they didn’t have her physical signature, as was promised by The Bookish Box.
CASABLANCA BOOKS
This publisher seems to have sided with Katee Robert throughout this entire debacle. Now, I can’t speak on what was happening behind closed doors, but publicly, Casablanca Books has Katee’s back! That is exactly what writers and readers want to see from publishers. We are getting so tired of hearing stories about big publishing companies, like Random House, screwing over their authors, so seeing Casablanca Books loyalty is refreshing and something to be applauded.
IN CONCLUSION:
As readers, we love A LOT of drama! But, we don’t want to see it happen with our favorite authors, publishers, or book subscription services. However, this situation has opened up room for us to have conversations on disabilities among readers and writers as well as PR techniques that do and don’t work within our book-loving community.
DISABILITIES:
Authors, or anyone else, should not have to disclose or discuss their disabilities. However, I personally think that they should (at least with the companies that they work directly with). My policy in life is that open communication and honest is always the way to go. Sharing deeply personal situations is not easy, and most of the time, it’s not even really necessary. But, as we have learned from this mess, an open communication policy between the author, publisher, and book subscription service would have alleviated all of the potential backlashes.
Even if writers decide to keep their conditions to themselves, companies AND readers should be more open and understanding when there are slight alterations. We are all human. Whether it be a typo in a book, or a stamp instead of a signature, or a fringe on a hand-sewn book lovers tote bag, we are all human and we all make mistakes and we all need support.
To expect an author to physically sign 6000 individual copies of a book is unrealistic. I personally do not have any disability in my hands or arms that would prevent me from writing that much, but I would absolutely opt to use a stamp! My hand hurts just thinking about it…
But, to be fair, the customers did pay a lot of money for a personal signature in the “Lux Edition”.
What do you think? Is a stamp just as good as a signature?
ABLEISM:
Is The Bookish Box an ableist company? Let’s look at the definition: discrimination in favor of able-bodied people.
First off, based on the definition of ableism, The Bookish Box should not be accused of this. This company, as far as I am aware, did not know if Katee Robert did or did not have a disability. Therefore, the blame should not fall on their shoulders for being unaware that she had replaced her signature with a stamp. She failed to disclose her signing process, and therefore, she failed the customers who paid extra for her hand signature.
Moving forward, The Bookish Box should ask authors if they plan to physically sign all of their exclusive books or if they plan to use an aid to assist them. The authors do not need to share if they have a disability, they just need to say “Yes I will sign all books” or “No, I will not sign all books, I will use an aid”. From there, The Bookish Box and the author can discuss logistics and the book box service will be better prepared on how they sell and market exclusive books.
PUBLIC RELATIONS:
Understandably, die-hard book-loving collectors were disappointed when they paid extra for something that they were promised but did not receive. Again, there was a miscommunication and human error, but companies that create errors like that should be sensitive and open to fixing the issue, not pointing fingers. I’m sure The Bookish Box team was very upset when they got their first customer complaint and learned that they had, in a way, been deceived. I believe that they should have let the situation rest for a couple of days and created a game plan on how to address the situation in a classy and professional manner.
Keeping information hidden or providing false statements and apologies, as we saw in the email, is a big NO!
Openly communicating, sincerely apologizing, and providing fixes are much better ways to maintain relationships with customers and readers. The reading community is VERY loyal, but we will turn away if we think that you aren’t.
ONE LAST THOUGHT...
Do you think everyone should continue to be mad at The Bookish Box for how they responded to the situation, or should we forgive them, as Katee Robert did? Is it our place to be mad at someone on behalf of someone else?
What do you think? Share your opinions on the Books 4 Movies Instagram page: @books4movies