This Slate article is amazing. It discusses new practices not just in self-publishing, but in purchasing blurbs and reviews. The audacity is jaw-dropping.
This kind of thing has been going on for years, with a twist. Example: for years, whenever a new book on the JFK assassination came out, the New York Times would assign Priscilla McMillan to review them. But McMillan was not a disinterested party. She'd written her own Oswald-acted-alone book. And what the Times didn't know (actually, they probably did) was that McMillan was literally a "witting asset" of the CIA, as a document from her personnel folder at CIA stated.
When Jim DiEugenio and I had our book published, I was shocked that people thought we had written the blurbs supplied by others. I hear that's a common practice too. But gosh, we actually got our quotes and didn't rewrite them. And we sure as heck didn't pay for them!
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This kind of thing has been going on for years, with a twist. Example: for years, whenever a new book on the JFK assassination came out, the New York Times would assign Priscilla McMillan to review them. But McMillan was not a disinterested party. She'd written her own Oswald-acted-alone book. And what the Times didn't know (actually, they probably did) was that McMillan was literally a "witting asset" of the CIA, as a document from her personnel folder at CIA stated.
When Jim DiEugenio and I had our book published, I was shocked that people thought we had written the blurbs supplied by others. I hear that's a common practice too. But gosh, we actually got our quotes and didn't rewrite them. And we sure as heck didn't pay for them!
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