A potential blurber seeks cash for his labors …
A “well-known name” asked for a $1,000 “honorarium” to give a blurb for a book, author David Macaray claims on the site for the Poynter Institute, the Florida school and resource center for journalists.
Horse-trading has existed in blurbing for as long as I’ve been following the publishing industry, and I’ve posted examples in the “Backscratching in Our Time” series on this site. But until now I haven’t heard of anyone asking for cash for praise for a comment that would appear on the dust-jacket of a book or elsewhere — which isn’t to say it it hasn’t happened. A hat tip to Bill Williams for letting me know about this one.
One-Minute Book Reviews 
I’ve never purchased a book because of a blub, but I can guarentee that if I found out who that person is, I would boycott any book that had his/her name on the book out of principle.
Comment by Chad Aaron Sayban — September 8, 2009 @ 2:13 pm |
Even some of us who have covered publishing for years were shocked by that item on Romanesko.
Comment by 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — September 8, 2009 @ 4:35 pm |