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Having been through this as an editor, there is an issue where, for instance, how do you get blurbs for a book? You ask people the author knows, people you know
by Finnucane 5y ago
Having been through this as an editor, there is an issue where, for instance, how do you get blurbs for a book? You ask people the author knows, people you know, people your colleagues know, if you can thumb-wrestle an address out of them, etc. There's a chain. On the other end, any moderately-successful author is getting a lot of such requests, so they're going to filter in reverse.
- freddyym 5y agoA large portion of blurb quotes come from people who haven't read the book... [0] 0 https://www.the-fence.com/issues/issue-9/in-the-beginning-was-the-blurb https://www.the-fence.com/issues/issue-9/in-the-beginning-wa...
- 21723 5y agoSemi-troll, semi-serious question. What keeps people from getting blurbs from people with common names that also belong to famous authors--such as Stephen King? I can't imagine it's illegal to get a blurb from Stephen A. King, schoolteacher in Idaho, and use it sans middle initial. So why aren't more people doing it? It may be Saul Goodman-esque, but if blurbs actually drive sales, it makes sense.
- not2b 5y agoExcept that when you're found out (generic "you", not the author of the comment), you are disgraced: everyone soon knows that you're a fraud. And social media will expose this kind of fraud very quickly. Doesn't matter if it's legal: the Internet then identifies you as the idiot who tried to pass off a schoolteacher in Idaho as the famous Stephen King. That will tank a career.
- 21723 5y agoYeah, it'd be a bad look for a self-publisher, but it seems like traditional publishing has enough indirection that it could work... and compared to the sausage-making that drives "book buzz" it's relatively mild.
- not2b 5y agoFor traditional publishing the publisher is a suit magnet; Stephen King's lawyers would have a field day. Bette Midler won big damages against Ford when they asked her to endorse a product, she turned them down, so they hired an impersonator: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-24-ca-4461-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-24-ca-4461-s... You really don't want to try this kind of fakery, it could be costly if you have assets to go after.
- DiggyJohnson 5y agoI don't think misrepresenting others and premeditated lying for personal gain are at all "relatively mild". Just because the scope of the lie is relatively small and unlikely to cause significant damages, doesn't do enough to counter the extreme brazenness and tastelessness of this.
- ipaddr 5y agoUsually books include a bit about the author.