Since I'm currently working on Naked Truth by Amy J. Fetzer, I hopped over to her web site. Imagine my shock, and utter disbelief, when I saw this quote (right on the home page I might add):
“It's a page turner. . . . She's a saucy writer …"Rush Limbaugh, Doctor of Democracy
The Rush Limbaugh Show.
OK, I'm not going to touch the "Doctor of Democracy" bullshit. However could someone explain to me what the purpose of having a Rush Limbaugh quote, promoting your romantic fiction writing, on your web site would be? Shouldn't authors NOT want to polarize potential readers?
Now before anyone starts calling me names (I prefer bleeding-heart-liberal-hippy myself), let me say I would be just as put-off if Fetzer had a quote by Al Franken or Michael Moore on her site.
What next, Ann Coulter pimpin' for Nora Roberts?
What do any of these pompous blow-hards have anything to do with a fiction book? It's a military romance for cripes sake - was Suzanne Brockmann too busy to toss her a quote?
It's bad enough I'm bombarded by these assholes' books at work (Why Liberals Need To Be Shot and Why Conservatives Can't Find Their Ass With Both Hands) - but the last thing I need is to have them invade my favorite leisure activity.
Get the hell away from my fiction books assholes. Shoo! Or I'm turning the can of Raid on you.
8 comments:
I totally agree. Not much more to add, but I prefer the term Gushing-Heart Liberal. Or Ms. Softy Liberal-Pants.
Like you say, what makes a recommendation from Rush (or Al, or Janeane Garofalo, or Tim Robbins) mean anything? Maybe Rush loves Cassie Edwards.
OMG my sides hurt from laughing!! You made my day - I despise them all!
Buuuut... if you have a positive quote from a well-recognized name, it's hard not to use it. The fact is, it's a good line and you know who said it. After that, it doesn't have to mean anything. If it was from Kermit the Frog, you'd probably still post it, as silly as that would be, simply because it's recognizable. And he's green.
I think the idea is that he mentioned how much he loved the book on his talk show once. So it's saying that someone who wouldn't ordinarily like romance really liked the book.
Oh that does give me a laugh. A politician or any political figure is the very LAST person I would want promoting my book.
Still chuckling over that.
I read romance to get away from the mess of real life and politics -- especially since I live with a C-SPAN junkie -- so a quote from a political figure or pundit is more likely to send me in the opposite direction than make me buy the book. And, yeah, Limbaugh, Franken, Moore and Coulter top the list of edorsements that don't make me want to read.
Before websites and blogs became big, I would have said that I generally didn't let what an author said affect my decision to buy or not buy their book; the only cases where it had happened involved some personal contact and animus.
Now, though, it is affecting my reading choices because there really are so many books and so little time and I need to cull the want list somehow. The quote by Limbaugh doesn't necessarily put her on my "do not read list", but it does shove her down desireable scale several notches.
I think it's funny that Rush reads romance.
What the heck do endorsements mean anyway? If the ladies over at Squawk Radio endorese each other's books, should we be surprised. They're best buds after all. Maybe Rush is a friend of Ms. Fetzers??
As a general rule I don't pay any attention to cover quotes. I'm sure they're lovely for the author to get, and I know publishers push for them.
But to me, Rush Limbaugh is the LAST person of the face of the Earth that I would want "endorsing" my writing. To the casual browser it would appear "Well Rush likes this woman's books so she must be pushing a right-wing agenda."
To me having the Rush quote is too "polarizing." Readers should walk into a book with an open mind, and for some, seeing that Rush quote will mean they won't take that walk period.
But hell, I feel like shit and I could just be plain wrong.
And for the record - I'm really, really enjoying Naked Truth....
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