r ranson wrote:Sometimes books have a bit at the start written by someone famous. How do you go about getting that? Do people usually pay for it or is it something done out the kindness or because the person loves the subject matter so much?
I think it has been sorta covered but here goes. Publishers of previously unpublished authors will get someone known to read the manuscript and if that person likes the book they usually write either the forward or they write an inside the cover blurb.
It is usually the author (once they have become known) that requests the second book or they already know someone that is well known and they ask them "would you please write the forward for my new book? I'll be happy to give you a copy to read first".
If you go hang out in a book store you will see a lot of people pick up a book and go straight to the forward, read it first then they either put the book back on the shelf, flip to the first few pages of the first chapter or just purchase it because of that forward.
If they were not powerful sales tools, there would be fewer of them and they would be shorter in length.
The back cover is usually an About the Author bit, and most book readers will check that out unless they are already familiar with the author.