Sunday, October 31, 2010

Back cover quotes -- do I need them?

This was to have been the weekend I formatted the text, but after looking over the draft back cover of the book next to a row of published books from well known publishers my husband pointed out what was missing from mine.....quotations from respected writers. I would like to have used some of the quotes from publishers who did not choose to publish it, but I have written to  two of them for permission and not heard back. I guess it is a no-win situation for them -- if they agree then they look a) stupid for not having published it or b) stupid for associating themselves with a book they praised but did not publish. Anyway, without losing momentum, I am going to try to find a couple of writers to read the book and provide some pithy comments for the back. Since there still seems to be a bit of a stigma attached to a self-published book, perhaps this will help obviate some of that discomfort among potential readers. My first choices are some of the writers who have been on grant juries who have recommended my writing.....and also writers whose work I like and respect. Next blog -- ISBN numbers and barcodes, latest technical hiccup. Any thoughts?
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 31, 2010 at 5:45 PM

    fake them... nothing is real anyway...
    here's one for a start

    "if I was reborn again... and had to write the perfect liyerary piece... this would be it!"

    then sign it with your favourite dead author
    (nobody checks this stuff abyway)

    cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dave MartinNovember 2, 2010 at 12:45 PM

    For what it's worth, I think Roddy is right. It wouldn't hurt to have some nice quotes on the back from recognized writers. On the other hand, if they're hard to get, I don't think it's that big a deal if you don't have any.

    For my book, as I recall, the ISBN and the barcode were easy but I think that's because I chose one of Lulu's stock covers. Since you're doing your own cover, I think you have to insert those things yourself. Hopefully the design person can do that for you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dave MartinNovember 2, 2010 at 5:14 PM

    Sandra - I forget if I mentioned about Lulu's distribution options. I did everything on the cheap and opted for ExtendedReach which gave me a listing on Amazon.com and didn't cost anything. However, in your case, you may want to consider GlobalReach which costs $75 and gets your book listed in databases which allows bookstores to order it.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)