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Topic: On book blurbs

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misfit avatar
Subject: On book blurbs
Date Posted: 3/16/2010 3:33 PM ET
Member Since: 7/15/2008
Posts: 4,035
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So, how much attention do you give them? Or do you give them a big grain of salt? Elizabeth Chadwick has just posted on her blog on blurbing books going forward I thought I'd share, http://livingthehistoryelizabethchadwick.blogspot.com/2010/03/thorny-matter-of-endorsements.html

I-F-Letty avatar
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Date Posted: 3/16/2010 4:26 PM ET
Member Since: 3/14/2009
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If it is a author that I respect I will give a book a second look if I am not sure.  Chadwick is one that would make me look as would Penman and Cornwell.  Case in point the Simon Scarrow book Youngblood's had just such and endorsement from both from Chadwick and Cornwell.  I very well might have put off reading a very well written highly informative book had it not been for the "blurbs" on the back cover.  I respect her for not indiscriminantly endorsing other authors works, it shows her integrity!  IMO.    I just consider the source.

answerquest avatar
Date Posted: 3/16/2010 4:29 PM ET
Member Since: 12/10/2005
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I agree with Letty. I was recently disappointed in a book endorsed by Bernard Cornwell. That's not to suggest his endorsement wasn't sincere. But I didn't think the author's writing resembled BC in any way except for the topic of the story.

misfit avatar
Date Posted: 3/16/2010 4:43 PM ET
Member Since: 7/15/2008
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There are a few names that I am constantly seeing on almost every one of the latest HF novels, and some of those I know for a fact that they are BFF.

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Date Posted: 3/17/2010 11:26 AM ET
Member Since: 6/16/2008
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I usually look askance at the endorsements and wonder if the motivation is genuine, frankly.

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Date Posted: 3/17/2010 1:23 PM ET
Member Since: 8/17/2009
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In the past, it's been a factor at times, a small plus in the quick assessment whether I may be interested in a book.  But it's been overdone lately, and I take it now with a whole spoonful of salt.  I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a negative but it doesn't count for much.