It’s a generosity that brings you to tears. How amazing is that? And this one somehow distilled the essence of my book into a single sentence. And she said this beautiful thing about it. Quotes begin to trickle in from one author at a time, and it strikes you: This person read my book. And some say no with such guilt and so many reasons why they can’t do it that you realize even your question has burdened them, just as you feared.īut some people, bless them, will say yes. And in the world of begging for blurbs, rejections sound like this: “I’m sorry, I have a no-blurb policy.” “Hello, I am so-and-so’s assistant and while he’s flattered, he just can’t respond to these kinds of requests.” Sometimes a writer says he doesn’t have the time, though you see him horsing around all day long on Twitter and Facebook. You wait as you did at the edge of the gymnasium, hoping someone might walk over and invite you to dance. You wait as you did in the center of the cafeteria, holding your lunch tray and hoping for a seat. Perhaps you asked so pathetically that you made it easy for the writers to say no. If I’m bothering you, please just tell me to go away and I will do it this instant. It’s for my book, the one you’ve never heard of.
You don’t even know who I am and I’m going to be asking you to do me a favor which will take up a lot of your time.
You feel like a nuisance-a telemarketer about to make a call. Staring at this new list is no less intimidating. And you build a new list consisting mostly of friends-of-friends-writers who are still stellar but not yet unlisted. You look at the list again and cross off Oprah, Harper Lee, Ellen Gilchrist. You: the writer who’s still a nobody, the person who hates to ask anyone for anything. You’re expected to find Oprah’s email and ask her yourself. Sometimes you are a slow learner, and what is only beginning to sink in is that the publishing house doesn’t actually get these blurbs for you. “Are you friends with Oprah?” “Do you have connections to this person and that person?” “Are you comfortable contacting them?” In a little while, carefully-worded, enthusiasm-suppressing emails come back to clarify what is really meant by “dream list”. Then you pass the list back to your editor and cc your agent, feeling like a pampered celebrity.
You list bestselling authors whose books seem to tap the same themes, and hopefully the same audience, as yours. How cool is this?! You start a list that begins with Oprah and goes on to include your literary heroes. “Come up with your dream list,” she says. Say your book is scheduled for publication and your editor sends you a note that it’s time to seek out blurbs.
0 kommentar(er)
