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On quoting reviews on jacket blurbs

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Ariadne
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Post by Ariadne » Sat October 9th, 2010, 12:53 am

I think most of them do, or at least skim! Most of the above write for the same publishing house as the author.

In the publishers' catalogs I receive, promotion plans are often included alongside the blurbs, but I wonder how much of those are followed through. I've seen many state that they plan "outreach to historical fiction bloggers," for instance. But there are only so many of us, and when I don't see any blog reviews out there, it makes me think it was all just talk. I've even seen a couple that stated that the books would be promoted at the HNS conferences, which was news to me!

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cw gortner
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Post by cw gortner » Sat October 9th, 2010, 1:03 am

Not that I'm much of a "name" but I do read the books I endorse. When you're starting out as a writer, you are encouraged to endorse; it's a way to get your name out, while helping a fellow writer. Lately, I've had to decline requests because as I actually do read the books and have so much on my plate, time is at a premium.

With big ticket, debut books like Juliet those endorsements are key to attracting readers. The house has invested a significant amount in the new author and the endorsements by familiar and respected names help the book seem less of a risk to a reader who doesn't know the author but may like the endorsing writers enough to purchase. I'm sure there was quite a lot of thought and effort put into getting those particular authors for that book.

Often when a writer is starting out, he or she has to find their own endorsers. With The Last Queen, my agent and I worked to get the endorsements; with Confessions of Catherine de Medici, I personally asked every author on my back cover if they would consider reading the ARC and possibly endorsing the book. I always request this favor (and it is a favor, a commitment of time and effort that must not be taken lightly) in a manner that allows the person I'm asking to decline or not feel obliged if they read the book and don't like it. I strongly believe that no one should feel obliged to endorse me on any other basis than that they liked my work. The "'you rub my back, I rub yours" policy is not one I adhere to, as it can backfire and the endorsements can appear insincere.
Last edited by cw gortner on Sat October 9th, 2010, 1:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
THE QUEEN'S VOW available on June 12, 2012!
THE TUDOR SECRET, Book I in the Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles
THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI
THE LAST QUEEN


www.cwgortner.com

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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Sat October 9th, 2010, 7:50 pm

:D Couldn't resist quoting Cordaella from the Mistress of Rome thread:
Cordaella wrote:I read an "early reading copy" which had marketing blurb stuff on the back cover and on the accompanying press release. Evidently this novel ticked a lot of boxes: "perfect for fans of the TV miniseries Rome, and films Spartacus and Gladiator". And "if you like Philippa Gregory, Anita Diamant and Kate Furnivall, you'll love this". Plus puffs from Diana Gabaldon and Margaret George, who oddly describes it as "literary". I'd love to know why she thinks that. Nothing wrong with not being literary.

I don't know whether these marketing ploys will appear on the finished copies. I find them rather tiresome and somewhat insulting. Sometimes the puffs look like log-rolling to me - same authors puffing each other's novels. Diana Gabaldon's blurb sounds off-puttingly painful: "...so gripping your hands are glued to the book, and so vivid it burns itself into your mind's eye..." Fortunately for me, it neither glued nor burned.

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cw gortner
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Post by cw gortner » Sat October 9th, 2010, 10:06 pm

"So vivid it burns into the mind's eye"?!
Ouch. That's just so . . . overdone. It makes the book sound like an instrument of torture.
THE QUEEN'S VOW available on June 12, 2012!
THE TUDOR SECRET, Book I in the Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles
THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI
THE LAST QUEEN


www.cwgortner.com

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Sat October 9th, 2010, 10:21 pm

My policy now is only to endorse books that I have bought and read and love to bits. I've said this elsewhere, so I won't bang the drum again beyond that.

I do know a couple of well known authors who have endorsed books they didn't particularly enjoy, because it would have been awkward not to do so, and so they concentrated on the bits they thought were okay (making a silk purse out of sow's ear) in the novels and not the bits they thought were not up to scratch. The difficulty with the half-hearted approach is that readers are going to wind up being disappointed and the quoter's integrity will eventually be compromised.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

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