I very nearly dismissed one of my favorite authors because of the “just like Laurell” blurbage on the cover. I’m glad I gave it a chance (after being forced to do so by mr. xandra who ordered me to ignore the blurb). Mr. Xandra was right–this author =/= LKH.

It’s not an actual author quote, which I could take or leave as a single opinion, but more like a suggested classification, almost. As an author myself, I’m not sure how I feel about having a quote like that myself. On the one hand, I realize that it can be an effective sales tool, but on the other, I don’t want to be seen as derivative, a clone, or a “wannabe.” I like to think I have my own unique style.

Anonymous – oh jeez, cry me a damn river. Authors bitching about bad reviews is just so last week, don’t you know? Gerritsen’s poor widdle feelings and her angry supporters are old news. Move on, people.

As for DAM and her endorsing…I will admit seeing her endorse any author gives me a slight “ick factor” feeling because after seeing what she’s done for a 3 star review, how honest can she be?

I picked up Kim Harrison’s works based on the story blurb alone. If it sounds like it appeals to me, I buy it. If the blurb doesn’t catch me, I’m not buying no matter who says it’s great.

I usually read the reviews of the book and if the book blurb is good then I’ll pick it up.

Currently I’m reading Ann Aguirre’s book Grimspace and I am loving it. I read a summary of it in the Ro-Times but didn’t pick it up until I saw it discussed either here or SBTN (can’t remember where.) All I know is I’m glad I picked it up.

On the line of great author quotes from a book jacket my favorite quote is the following from Elizabeth Peter’s last Vicki Bliss novel.

“This time Elizabeth Peters has gone too far. The woman has been annoying me for years. She’s a fairly good writer, actually, and this is probably her best book. Per usual it’s funny and exciting, but this time she has gone overboard on the romantic stuff in flagrant imitation of me. This is actionable! I shall demand a share of the royalties!” – Barbara Michaels, author of Houses of Stones (and tons of other great books.)

You may know that Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels are both pseudonyms for Barbara Mertz. And a new Vicki Bliss novel is coming this summer!

I do pay attention to books that other authors say that they read out on their own personal websites. I have come into some really great books that way. Looking at Karen’s Rose site, lead me to Brenda Novak and hers led me to Cathy Ridgeway’s books. I have had the best luck that way.

Sometimes Amazon had led me to some really good finds, like if I am looking a book I bought then they have the books that other’s have bought like this one link. I will look at the reviews take it with a grain of salt and go to the half price book store and try them out. That way I am not out too much money and may find a great book.

My two cents on the Tess G. thing. I think that Tess should have just rode out the storm in a teacup and known that it would have passed without closing her forum. Because all that did was hurt her fans. I took her comments as they were presented as a tongue in cheek comment and didn’t give it a second thought. Keri

The point behind author endorsements or those “review blurbs” that are on the book are a kind of subliminal “come on.” In other words; someone read the book and took the time to make a remark about it. The theory goes that if someone went to all that effort AND praised the book, it should be worth buying :-).

I agree with another poster on this board — I can’t stand it when all of those blurbs take the place of a book’s summary.

And I’ll agree with a good swath of writers on this board — I tend to ignore the author blurbs (and reviews, for that matter). I’ll go with recommendations or familiarity with the author.

Now, as an author myself, there’s a little bit of gratified egoism in seeing nice comments about myself in print, LOL. But I’m not decieving myself that scads of people are going to buy my book simply because so-and-so wrote three complimentary lines on the cover.

I treasure the comment that one book store owner told me: “I have yet to see my store overrun by groups of readers demanding the book that was reviewed in this morning’s paper.”

Kinda makes you think…

Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t. I use blurbs as a “heads up” and then I go from there.

Whilst I would never buy a book on the sole basis of an author blurb, nor would I dismiss it. For me, it has zero impact.

Fine with me, Meriam. Personally I tend to form strong opinions about books and movies, and then hunt through the quotes and reviews, afterward, to see who agrees with me.

And I am definitely in favor of libraries and UBS’s, to sample authors, rather than making money-spending decisions based on a few lines of puff on the cover.

I just don’t like to see quotes working against authors, since we have so little control. I talked to someone recently, who got blurbed by Janet Dailey. She never asked for it. And since her editor seemed to think it was a gift, there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

So if someone got blurbed by DAM? It shouldn’t be a negative. It means nothing at all about the author, or the contents of the book.

It could be that quoting author is friends with
the publisher
the agent
a friend of a friend of a friend
or
the only one to say yes to a blanket appeal.

Or she could be someone who has read the book, and really believes in it.

Christine, indeed. No argument there. But you see, I hope, why I have become cynical about the endorsement?

While I'd never say ‘read the blurb-trust the blurb-drink the koolaid” I think it's kind of unfair to penalize the author for the people who end up on their book covers, especially if some of the blurbers turn out to be complete loons.

Whilst I would never buy a book on the sole basis of an author blurb, nor would I dismiss it. For me, it has zero impact. I buy a book based on a) the first couple of pages b) word of mouth and c) a positive review at a couple of my trusted sites.

The case of DAM is a little different because of the ‘clickie’ business. I’m a little sore about the whole thing and I just don’t want to give my money to an author who might have suppressed a review or hounded a reviewer.

However, if a writer has been endorsed by DAM but I’ve heard from other sources that she’s a great writer and ought to be read, (and she isn’t a complete loon), I would happily fork out. The DAM endorsement just means that I would double check before buying.

I know it sounds a little harsh… but. It’s my perception, and it’s my hard earned money and I don’t like to be mislead, so I’m going to take the sceptical view.

To be honest, an author endorsement just makes me think ‘ah, so Author A and author B must be friends.'

Just so you know, that may not be what it means at all. It could be that quoting author is friends with

the publisher
the agent
a friend of a friend of a friend
or
the only one to say yes to a blanket appeal.

Or she could be someone who has read the book, and really believes in it.

And while sometimes, authors have enough connnections to get quotes or enough moxie to ask strangers to blurb, sometimes they have no control at all of what gets put on the cover, because someone else has done the marketing, and made the choices.

While I’d never say ‘read the blurb–trust the blurb–drink the koolaid” I think it’s kind of unfair to penalize the author for the people who end up on their book covers, especially if some of the blurbers turn out to be complete loons.

We write the stuff on the inside. What happens on the covers is not our job.

As for DAM – the very definition of an anti-endorsement. I don’t have time to read as much as I used to, and I guess she provides a useful filtering mechanism.

I would have never heard of Ms. Kennedy’s book and that would be shame as I’m very much enjoying it!

On the other topic, anonymous, I followed that whole thing from beginning to end, and can tell you, that no one got nasty with or about Tess, until some of her folks came over here dripping vitriol. Yes, there was some discussion about her comment about DAM, and that was mostly, ‘Was she joking?’ or ‘She’s entitled to her opinion but I find that disappointing’. Even after her fans came over here dropping hate bombs, most of the defensive responses were polite.

I’d like to ask, anonymous, if you read the entire thread here at DA, or did you just read what Tess wrote and then made up your mind?

Also, writers are no more “sensitive” than non writers. Are you suggesting that we [non writers] need to pander to the oh-so-vulnerable writer person? I don’t know about anyone else, but I find that incredibly patronizing to writers.

-Randi

If I hadn’t been naive, I probably wouldn’t have been bothered by this. But I was and so I spent too much time thinking about it. Which led to me getting more critical than I had been in the past of the other 5′s books. I’ve stopped reading anything by any of them. I just can’t enjoy their books anymore.

I’d like to emphasize that this probably wouldn’t bother me now with another group of authors. But then it really bothered me.

I don't normally post here, but your post about author endorsements reminded me of something I was involved with years ago. I was acquainted with Author A, who got asked by Author B for a cover quote. “A” didn't have time to read “B”'s story, so she asked me and a couple others for quotes. Of course, we didn't read the story, but we could pull a few quotes out of the hat.

This leads me to wonder if these books are indeed read before zipping off an endorsement. It's just PR. Scratch my back and I'll return the favor.

Wasn't it Sherrilyn Kenyon who endorsed herself on one of her Kinley MacGregor's?

See? Now this is exactly what I mean.

Speaking of Linda Howard, I believe she also endorsed one of Holly Lisle’s books as well.

eta Beverly Barton’s too.