Publisher corrects subtitle of Desmond Cole’s book to include the word ‘black’

The publisher of Desmond Cole’s “The Skin We’re In” says it’s re-jacketing the book after the word “black” was omitted from the subtitle.

When the activist and journalist’s debut hit shelves late last month, the subtitle on the jacket read, “A Year of Resistance and Power.”

Doubleday Canada is now rushing to replace the jackets to correct the subtitle to “A Year of Black Resistance and Power.”

“I was very dismayed by this error, but I’m glad my publisher is taking full responsibility and correcting it,” Cole tweeted Friday. “Our blackness needs to be visible.”

The vice-president of marketing and communications at Penguin Random House Canada, which owns the imprint, said the error exposed a “vulnerability” in its particular system for preparing jackets for the printer.

That’s why the error appeared on the jacket when the subtitle was correct on the title page inside the book, on advance readers’ copies and online, said Beth Lockley.

“We have put in place measures to help ensure nothing like this can happen again,” Lockley said in an email Thursday.

“At no point did we ever consider an alternative subtitle for Desmond’s book.”

As soon as it caught the error, Doubleday Canada printed new jackets and expedited shipments to booksellers so they could replace them, said Lockley.

For libraries, the publisher is donating a brand new book for every copy that needs to be re-jacketed so that branches can address the issue without taking inventory out of circulation, she said.

It’s also sending replacement jackets to any readers who request them, she said.

“We are immensely proud to publish Desmond Cole and his incredibly important book, ‘The Skin We’re In,’ and are committed to bringing it to the widest possible readership,” Doubleday Canada tweeted Friday.

This report by the Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2020.