Adventures in Book Blurbage

I’m at the stage in the publishing cycle at which we (the editor and myself) go casting about for cover (and inside cover) blurbs, those quotes you see on books by famous authors and other such folks designed to trick you into reading the book.

This can present challenges for the first-time novelist as, well, he’s a first-time novelist and no one’s read his work before. I’ve had a few people in mind from the get-go and two of them have agreed already, so I’m psyched about that.

You’ll have to pick up the book when it comes out to see who’s actually blurbed it, but so far my blurbers include a former NYC drag queen and a newpaper columnist from the Midwest. (Sweet!)

Here’s where it gets goofy. As I’ve said before, the title of the book is The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival. For the uninitiated, there is a Grand Prairie in Louisiana and, once upon a time, there was a Rabbit Festival in Grand Prairie. But this book is not about that. This book is just a bunch of lies and such. Still, when I announced the title on Facebook a while back, I got a note from a Facebook friend announcing that she was the Queen of the Rabbit Festival and worriedly asking just what this book was about. I assured her that it doesn’t have anything to do with her reign as Rabbit Festival Queen and the book does not touch on pageantry (though talk about missed opportunities!).

Earlier this week, though, when casting about for more blurbage, the editor had a stroke of genius. “You should get the real Rabbit Festival Queen to read the manuscript and blurb it.”

BRILLIANT!

I was a little worried she’d be nervous, but happily she’s agreed, adding:

Me nervous? Come on.. I traveled around Louisiana with a banner across my chest that said, Le Festival du la Lapin and I also walked along side a float in a parade that I was suppose to grand marshal … but my co-marshal happen to be David Duke! Nerves of steel baby!

Yeah. That David Duke. Better yet, this particular Rabbit Festival Queen has an Asian background. So how did the former Klansman respond to co-marshalling with a non-whitey?

David said something to me like “I find Asians interesting.”

Awesome.