I thought my blog subscribers and visitors should know. I just received an uninvited e-mail (SPAM?) about a new service that offers to save you the work of getting blurbs (endorsements). They will do it for you at a price.
Mmmm. Does an endorsement that you paid to get have any credibility? What if someone finds out? What if they make a big issue of it nationally when you become famous? I know it's a temptation but it's not frugal and, I don't think, very smart. Maybe not even ethical. It's not wise to fool Mother Nature--or the reading public!
I didn't check out the cost. I don't think it's a good deal at any price.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal." Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
6 comments:
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Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assessment about paying to get blurbs. Somewhere, it will come back as a negative for the author. Particularly if the person gains name recognition and a following. Writers/authors are better off developing a network of authors and contacts, particularly from writers conferences. Then it is relatively easy to ask for a blurb or to ask if someone would consider providing a blurb.
Thanks for the "heads up."
Pat Harrington, Mystery Author
Bridget O'Hern series and coming, the Aunt Amelia Winthrope, Golden Age detective series.
I agree, Carolyn, I don't think it's a good idea. The same with paying for reviews, it doesn't do your credibility any good at all.
ReplyDeletetake care,
Annette Gisby
It wouldn't sit well with me -- but then, neither does using a submission service, a practice, which, when I think about it, would appear to be perfectly legitimate.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn, it wouldn't sit right with me, either -- but is it really unethical? Would one be paying for the service to do the footwork (legit, but makes me uneasy) or paying for the endorsements (not legit).
ReplyDeletePat, the reason I suggest that it might be unethical is that people who read blurbs assume they are "real" blurbs, FREELY given. That seems a bit dishonest to me. But ethics are interesting. It's all in the eye of the beholder.
ReplyDeleteThank you for coming by, Pat.
Best,
Carolyn
Carolyn...I agree that paying for an endorsement doesn't give one much credibility.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Donna