An eagle-eyed Smart Bitch reader has noticed that Kinley MacGregor’s Sword of Darkness has a pretty prominent blurb by Sherrilyn Kenyon on it.
Given that MacGregor and Kenyon are the same person, I don’t know whether to give the ole girl a pat on the back for her ingenuity and bronze balls, or laugh and cringe at the tackiness. The wording on the blurb is pretty damn clever. I imagine MacGregor WOULD write fantasy in much the same way Kenyon would….
Tacky or not (TACKY!!!) at least I know not to read it for sure. 🙂
Man, if I ever write a book of reviews? I’m giving myself a cover blurb: “Sarah reviews books just the way I would!”
I am just giggly at the audacity.
Seriously, if I ever do get to give a cover blurb, I’d say something like, “This book is so good, you’ll shit your own pants.” And if I get to give cover blurbs to my alter-ego, well, that’s a lot of crap filled corduroys to clean up.
Tacky or not, it’s pretty funny. And if you say I’ll shit my pants, I’ll believe you too!
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books: If we say you’ll shit your pants, for God’s sake, do as we say!
I’ve noticed a few instances in the Dark Hunter books where Sherrilyn Kenyon had the characters reading the “latest Kinley MacGregor book” or something like that.
I don’t know that I’ve read books by either of her. (I’m just going to let the horror of that sentence stand.) But I think it’s meant to be an inside joke, and I’m going to buy this one just because she must have a wacky sense of humor. 🙂
Shan
I just think it’s funny, and quite hilariously so. And it’s true. It shows that she’s not taking herself too seriously, and that she’s having a good time with it all. Plus, it is name recognition and promotes a possible crossover of readership. Only readers who know her as both writers are able to get the joke.
I mean, if she’s the same person, doesn’t she write the other’s genre the way that she would? Um, they would? Um. Shit. You know what I mean.
Hell, that entire last paragraph was a completely sad and rubber-neckable trainwreck if I ever saw one.
IMHO, this is one of the ways that an author with multiple pen names/identities can have a bit of fun with the concept. I think it’s all pretty harmless and is extremely savvy and smart of her to do publicity this way.
And it’s just a blurb. It’s not like she reviewed the book she wrote herself or anything…I’m quitting while I’m ahead before I have another train trauma on my hands.
Well, it’s either an endorsement or a warning, isn’t it?
Tacky or not, I am glad Kenyon warned me. I’ve read some of her books. They make me ill. I’ve never read any of McGregers’, now that I know they’ll make me puke also I can avoid them.
Phewwww
I think it has to be a joke.
I almost missed the blurb altogether.
Clever in that it warns readers away…
I’ve never read her and am not about to start now.
It’s very funny actually. I admire her balls. I’ll go get a copy –
I’m going with the ‘tacky’ vote, although I’ll admit she’s got balls. She may well have a sense of humour, but after I followed the links to her Dark Hunter books and read what she’d got up there, I know for sure I ain’t going to like her stuff.
So, leaning somewhat toward being convinced by the ‘hey, she’s honest’, and ‘hey it’s a clever marketing ploy and it’s a cute injoke’ arguments. But pure and simple, I think I would buy her stuff only if it was marked down cheaper than the kindling I use currently.
LOL! I love it. I think it’s a hilarious in-joke for readers who know KM = SK. What does it hurt?
Barbara Michaels had a blurb on an Elizabeth Peters book some years ago (or was it vice versa?). Anyway—it was the same sort of thing. I laughed my butt off. (figuratively, damn it)
Yeah, but the difference is that Elizabeth Peter/Barbara Michaels/Barbara Mertz actually KNOWS how to write.
I’m going to let my son write my blurbs. Anyone who can say Bela Fleck “was so awesome my asshole exploded” has a future writing cover blurbs.
“Yeah, but the difference is that Elizabeth Peter/Barbara Michaels/Barbara Mertz actually KNOWS how to write. “
Ah yes, but SK/KM knows how to SELL. And thats all part of the book trade too.
I say its Tacky!!! but … well that’s what she writes, isn’t it?
It’s a joke, y’all. She’s not trying to hide that the two names are the same person—her web sites are linked to each other. She has sold 50 books. If I had sold 50 books I would giggle too.
She is hilarious. She’s a member of my local RWA chapter. At our readers’ luncheon last year, we were going to have bare-chested men serve the barbecue. When they backed out at the last moment, Sherrilyn/Kinley agreed to be an alternate spectacle. She is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and she came in her Elizabethan outfit and brought her SCA friends (link, scroll down). She did not serve barbecue tho.
I was aghast when I read that she blurbed her(other)self, until I read the quote, which cracked me up. I think if she had written generic praise, trying to masquerade as a disinterested author, it would be tacky, even unethical. But as written, it’s pretty funny.
That being said, if people don’t know SK = KM but still know that Kenyon is a big famous writer, they might be impressed enough to take it at face value, which means they’ve been suckered.
In the April issue of Romantic Times, Kenyon interviews MacGregor.
I personally find it pretty hilarious. Very tongue in cheek.
And way better than when you see good buddies (and famous writers) blurbing other good buddies. Here’s a tip, new authors who have thier mega-best selling critique partners provide quotes for them—when you also name them in your dedication as providing invaluable assistance to you, it kinda takes the value away from the cover quote.
There’s an urban legend in SF circles that an author asked George Alec Effinger to blurb the author’s girlfriend’s new novel, which was horrific. Effinger wrote “She’s done something no one has ever done before!” because it was the least painful and most truthful thing he could say.
I think its pretty hilarious. ‘Course, it also means I’ll avoid the KM books because I’m not a Kenyon fan at all, but still…
My vote is on funny. Maybe it could start a new trend “This book is the breakout novel of the year”- says author’s mom. “I’ve never seen anything better” – author tells self.
>>That being said, if people don’t know SK = KM but still know that Kenyon is a big famous writer, they might be impressed enough to take it at face value, which means they’ve been suckered. <<
How the hell would that qualify as being suckered?
If somebody knows who Sherrilyn Kenyon is AND likes her books, they’d certainly like a book by Kinley MacGregor, wouldn’t they?
The blurb is clearly done in fun, and for people who aren’t in on the joke, it’s a way to reasonably associate the two names. It passes the ethics test, if you ask me.
Shit, ya’ll are harshing on Sherrilyn. Makes me think no one here has ever read liquid shit like “Who’s The Daddy?”
>>That being said, if people don’t know SK = KM but still know that Kenyon is a big famous writer, they might be impressed enough to take it at face value, which means they’ve been suckered. <
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>How the hell would that qualify as being suckered?
If somebody knows who Sherrilyn Kenyon is AND likes her books, they’d certainly like a book by Kinley MacGregor, wouldn’t they? <<
Just because they know who she is doesn’t mean they have read her books. I know who she is, that she’s well-liked by a lot of people, but I’ve never gotten around to reading her. If I didn’t know the KM connection, I might be impressed: “Hey, Sherrilyn Kenyon liked it, and she’s so famous she must be too busy to blurb many books, so this must be really good.”
I think we overestimate the average reader’s knowledge of the in-jokes and trade secrets of the genre. Most people are just looking for a good book.
I’m not harshing on her (I did say it cracked me up), but I think in-jokes might alienate readers who aren’t in.
Just my opinion. I tend to look at both sides of every issue (hey, maybe I should have my own alter ego so that I’d be internally consistent).
Sorry, Jeri, I didn’t mean that YOU were harshing on her. I was refering to comments like “but the difference is that Elizabeth Peter/Barbara Michaels/Barbara Mertz actually KNOWS how to write.” Yikes.
I have to say about SK that I’ve read some of the paranormal books, and my impression is that she really, really writes for her fans. No way would anyone be able to keep up with one of the later books if they were walking in cold. I heard her speak at a conference, and she confirmed this impression. She talked alot about her fans and how grateful she is to her readers. So I think she’s sort of in that mindset, especially in regards to the inside jokes.
Here’s a tip, new authors who have thier mega-best selling critique partners provide quotes for them—when you also name them in your dedication as providing invaluable assistance to you, it kinda takes the value away from the cover quote.
Absolutely true. OTOH (here I go again, arguing both sides), there’s a certain etiquette and courtesy involved. If your mentor has helped you in many ways, including offering you a cover quote, you’d be a dickhole not to acknowledge them.
Besides, if someone’s your mentor, they probably genuinely like your work and aren’t doing it out of pity.
I guess a good question for readers would be, do cover quotes affect your buying decision in the first place? But that sounds like another blog topic altogether.
Btw—off topic—I just love that some Smart Bitch had the balls to advertise an Amnesia Book over to the right. Even after that WHA? contest! Brava, sista!
IF Nora Roberts can co-author a book with JD Robb then why can’t Kenyon/MacGregor make an insiders joke on her book cover?
>>“Hey, Sherrilyn Kenyon liked it, and she’s so famous she must be too busy to blurb many books, so this must be really good.†<<
Point taken, Jeri. I kind of get that.
On the other hand, you can’t deny that the blurb is absolutely truthful. She didn’t say, “It rocked my world.” or even “This is GREAT writing!”. She just said, “This is how I would write historicals.” Ha! It still makes me laugh.
A couple of weeks ago LLB posted a question about this one on the AAR message boards. The general response was that it was supposed to be a jokey, tongue-in-cheek kind of thing.
My personal take—there’s nothing out & out wrong with it, but it doesn’t pass the sniff test for me. If I were marketing myself professionally, would I give myself a quote to use on my website or other products? No, absolutely not…but my profession is finicky about advertising, so what do I know? But she couldn’t find anyone else to say nice stuff about her Kinley MacGregor books? Blurbing for yourself is almost as lame as having your mom blurb for you.
(Disclaimer: I don’t like her SK books and don’t have any plan to try the KM books.)
Clicked on “Submit” too soon.
I saw a free standing book display outside the bookstore at the train station this morning for the new book. The cardboard display clearly says that SK = KM. It was holding the book with the SK blurb for KM. I even checked the back of the book—the bio clearly says that KM = SK. So I’m guessing that KM/SK is winking and asking us to laugh with her.
I still think it’s kind of lame.
IF Nora Roberts can co-author a book with JD Robb then why can’t Kenyon/MacGregor make an insiders joke on her book cover?
I used to really enjoy the Robb books, but to this day have not been able to make it through a Roberts opus. So if the Kenyon/MacGregor blurb is intended to inform potential readers that the writing is very much the same, perhaps it’s both clever and relatively straightforward marketing on the part of the publishers (after all, it wasn’t until near the middle of the Robb series that Robb’s “real” identity was revealed, via some really calculated marketing hype). Since I have no expectation of class in Romance publishing, I generally try to discern intent: if the marketing seems intended to exploit Romance stereotypes or fool readers, I tend to dislike it. So for me, the question here would be whether the publisher assumes that most readers picking up the MacGregor book would know the connection. What strikes me the most about the quote is that it doesn’t pimp the book as a quality read, which makes me think it’s it’s aimed at existing Kenyon/MacGregor fans.
IF Nora Roberts can co-author a book with JD Robb then why can’t Kenyon/MacGregor make an insiders joke on her book cover?
Posted by J-me on 03/17 at 08:21 AM
The packaging of the Roberts/Robb book makes it completely clear that it’s by the same author. I’m looking at my paperback copy and it has two photos of Nora Roberts: one as herself and the other in her ummm “goth” look (or whatever that is). The back blurb etc also make it clear. So it’s not a similar situation.
>>So it’s not a similar situation.<
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But:
>>The cardboard display clearly says that SK = KM. It was holding the book with the SK blurb for KM. I even checked the back of the book—the bio clearly says that KM = SK. <<
Seems to me that this blurb is maybe just a piece of a marketing campaign outing her as SK. Not in a J.D. Robb kind of way, because the books aren’t that big. But I’ve been reading SK for a few years and had no idea who KM was (never heard of her) until a friend told me. Maybe they’re just trying to tie the two together now.
If the bio on THAT BOOK says it, the websites say it, the promo stuff says it, I don’t think anyone can argue that she’s trying to get away with something tacky here. Ill-advised, maybe, if you don’t think it’s funny. But tacky and underhanded? Some of you are being really unfair just because you don’t like the woman’s writing.
Oh, and I think most of us here enjoy the kind of humor that is sure to offend a certain percentage of people. Awesome work, SK!
:coolsmirk:
Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick used to do the same thing for years on end.
I haven’t read one in a long time, but a lot of the Quick books used to have quotes by Krentz on them.
I love it. I don’t see how it’s offensive because the quote is so. . .odd.
I had no idea they were the same woman. A few days ago, someone pointed the quote out to me and we wondered together why on earth the author would want to have that on her book? Snort. I LOVE it.
Oh, and I think most of us here enjoy the kind of humor that is sure to offend a certain percentage of people.
This is exactly why I have found some Bitches’ objection to the quote so disorienting. In the past I have considered the Bitches the last, best hope of earth.
I go for joke. The books I have of KM all clearly state in the author blurb she is KM too, except one first print of Master of Desire? maybe one of those. There was a tie in thing in the RT mag where SK interviews KM.
And really even if the above wasn’t true, the quote is right. How often does that happen?