John Scalzi Profile picture
11 Dec, 6 tweets, 2 min read
1. An email I received from a business planning, I guess, to disrupt the book blurbing business.

Pro tip: If you're paying for book blurbs, you're wasting your money. If you're taking money for book blurbs, you're an awful person. In both cases it undermines the goal of blurbs. "I'm reaching out on b...
2. Personally, I give book blurbs for one reason and one reason only: I read the book and I liked it. There is no financial incentive offered or implied, it's one author paying forward to another. That's all, that's it.
3. The process of blurbing as enough cynicism and misunderstanding around it without some people (or companies) trying to find a way to monetize it. A paid blurb is worthless, and it degrades the value of sincere blurbs in the process. So, lose/lose for everyone.
4. It's clear that this business will be targeting self-pubbed folks, as traditional pub has its own process which works perfectly well. I'm for making it easier for self-pub people to connect with blurbs, but this ain't it; it's just extracting more money out of self-pubbers.
5. In any event, in case it's not clear, I won't be participating in this thing, nor do I suggest any other authors do so, either. If you're curious how I do field blurbing requests, it's on my site, as it has been for years. Simple.

/end

whatever.scalzi.com/about/publicit…
PS: This was my response to the email. "No. This is an absolu...

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More from @scalzi

13 Dec
Reminder: Nearly every movie you loved from the 1980s is worse than you remember. Yes, there are exceptions. We're talking on average here. Pre-screen them before you show them to your kids. You'll save on a lot of "pausing and explaining" later.
(Also every single Disney animated film before ooooooh, let's say, 2000)
Incidentally, this is not me telling you that you can't ever enjoy your 80s favorites. Just to be aware that, especially if you haven't watched them for a while, they will likely vividly remind you the culture has, uhhhh, *moved on,* especially if you decide to show them to kids.
Read 5 tweets
2 Nov
GOOD MORNING. It's the day before election day in the US.

Did you vote by mail? Track your ballot: usvotefoundation.org/wheres-my-ball…

If you still have a mail-in ballot DO NOT MAIL IT, DELIVER IT IN PERSON. Here's how to do that: usvotefoundation.org/ballot-return-…
You may still vote early in person in some states today! Here's information on early in-person voting by state: vote.org/early-voting-c…

And of course you can vote tomorrow. Find your polling place here: vote.org/polling-place-…
Worried about voter intimidation and being challenged as a US citizen about your ability to vote? If you're registered, you have the right to vote, and it's illegal for anyone to try to stop you from voting. Here's information on that:

vote.org/election-prote…
Read 4 tweets
1 Oct
1. Yes, but also, here's a thing: I am not ignorant, nor am I uneducated, nor am I malign on these issues, AND STILL I got waaaay too far along in my adult life thinking systematic racism wasn't still as active, and endemic and as pervasive as it actually is...
2. ... and at this point, as much as I am aware of it especially thanks to the last four years, what I'm even more aware of is that I am still largely insulated from its realities and in most ways will not ever experience its depths. And ALL of that is for the same reason...
3. ...which is that a salient feature of systematic racism is its ability to mask from its beneficiaries (including mostly liberal, mostly educated, mostly not ignorant white people, like me) how bad and pervasive it STILL is at every level.
Read 8 tweets
16 Sep
Today is the 18th anniversary of Krissy's starting day for the company she works for. It's also the 18th anniversary of her first promotion at the company she works for, because SHE IS JUST THAT GOOD, and the company was smart enough to recognize that very early on. It's Krissy! In glorious bl...
That was an interesting conversation to have, incidentally:

K: So, I don't have that job I started today anymore.

J: Uh-oh.

K: I got promoted.

J: Wait, what?

K: Yeah, they thought I'd be better at this other job that pays more.

j: Awesome, you'll VP by the end of the week.
She was not VP by the end of the week, but the company paid for her to finish up her college degree so that she could take a still different job with the company, which she did 15 years ago. We like this company, and like that they saw value in Krissy and her work right away. Krissy with her bachelor's ...
Read 4 tweets
15 Sep
Our tomatoes are coming in nicely. The tomato is this picture ...
Meanwhile, the hibiscus bush, perhaps sensing the coming of autumn, is putting on impressive show of late. Three very large hibiscus b...
Please also enjoy this lily. I mean, you don't have to. But I hope you do. The lily is white and purpl...
Read 4 tweets
15 Sep
1. I had a friend note to me today that they were not sure that trans (and non-cis authors) in general were aware my site's Big Idea feature was open to them to promote their newly released works. So, to clear up any confusion: It totally is.
2. Here are the guidelines for pitching to The Big Idea -- if your book fits those criteria, pitch away! Because of the quarantine times we're in, I've been running more Big Idea pieces than before, to promote authors and their new work. So there's space.

whatever.scalzi.com/2013/09/07/big…
3. Also, the Big Idea feature is not bounded by genre or author type -- it tends to get more SF/F because I'm me and the community knows about it, but it's open to all genres and all people. Don't be shy about making a pitch; if there's space available, I want to promote authors.
Read 5 tweets

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