Blurbing Your Own Book Is Never A Good Sign
Mike Pompeo's PAC wants you to know that Mike Pompeo's book is a "thriller with stories from the heart" of Mike Pompeo
We’ve all seen blurbs on books and book advertising. Prior to publication, a publisher shares copies of the work with recognizable names and influencers who are respected by the book’s target audience. Those folks then read the book (in theory) and supply the published with a pithy endorsement of the work that can be used to market the book.
Mike Pompeo, former- Congressman, CIA Director, and Secretary of Swagger State, has a book coming out later in January. So one would assume that by this point, Broadside Books (his publisher and a division of Harper Collins, would have solicited a number of influencer blurbs for Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love. However, a recent print advertisement for the book suggests that effort might now be going well.
Here’s a picture of the advertisement in full:
It’s great to know that this book “reads like a thriller with stories from my heart” according to the author of the same book. In fairness, it’s possible that this advertisement had to be in before the publisher got any testimonials back. Still, it’s odd to see an author blurbing their own book.
That’s not the only thing that’s unique about this ad. At the bottom of it, you’ll see that this wasn’t placed by Broadside or Harper Collins. Instead, this ad was paid for by Champion American Values a political action committee. You might think that could be a reason that they didn’t have access to book testimonials (or a particularly good print layout designer either). However, if you look up the PAC, you’ll discover that its chairperson is, in fact, Mike Pompeo, author of this thrilling (according to this blurb) new book.
So we’ve got this straight: Mike Pompeo’s PAC wants you to know that Mike Pompeo’s book is a “thriller with stories from the heart” of Mike Pompeo.
All joking aside, Pompeo’s lack of book endorsement is an example of the challenges that former high-profile Trump Administration members with future political ambitions (this book could also be titled “Yes, I am planning to run for President!”). Not only does there appear to be little love lost between many of them, but many of them are also considering running against the former President. And the former President is well known for his high expectations around transactional loyalty. So there’s a good chance that people in Trump’s extended political circles, including right-wing media figures, may not want to offer praise for the work of someone who might be challenging the former President in the coming months.
In the meantime, I’ll keep an eye out to see who eventually endorses Mike Pompeo’s book… I mean beyond Mike Pompeo.
Oh, dear lord.
Since he has also dropped 90 pounds and looks pretty healthy I assume he’s definitely running. Gotta have that image.
My first awareness of Mike Pompeo was during the Benghazi hearings. When it was his turn to interrogate, the questions were tangential, banal, and all together forgettable. He was a lightweight. Somehow, he became SOS and remained a lightweight. Why he believes he should be President is a mystery. I swear, more and more, these political actors show increasing levels of narcissism bordering on sociopathy. Could they pass a psych test anymore?
@Scott: He is SUPER-impressed with Mike Pompeo. He never misses a chance to talk about how he graduated from West Point first in his class.
Gawd, these clowns.
The book can also only be pre-ordered from his own personal website, not from the publisher.
The best part of this for me is remembering that Pompeo and Trump surrendered Afghanistan to the Taliban and, as a result, released ~5,000 prisoners…all without including the Afghan Gov’t in the negotiations.
I’m 2 seasons into binge watching “Ozark”. So I’m guessing this has something to do with money laundering.
@Scott:
Going by his book blurb and what we know of the Cheeto, because he is a narcissistic egotist.
Laughably sad. Something tells me his campaign will land with a similar “SPLAT!”
@Scott: Funny sidebar…my father was in the military and always referred to chipped beef on toast–standard army fare back in the day apparently–as “SOS”–aka “sh!t on a shingle.”
Apropos?
Thanks for the chuckle, Dr. T. I wonder if Mucho Pomposo’s book delves into his search for, and failure to find, any classified emails from Hillary’s account. OK, I don’t really wonder. And I contest his claim that he has a heart.
Given the number of people who do it, although most obviously have no hope of success, I’m forced to believe one can make a good living running for president. Apparently Pompeo believes somebody’s going to buy up cases of his book to give away or discard.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Conservative agitator Matt Schlapp was recently accused of groping a Herschel Walker campaign male staffer. Somebody described Matt Schalpp’s name as sounding like two pork chops dropped on a linoleum floor.
@Moosebreath: Open question to anyone here who’d have reason to know: Does Harper Collins have a subsidy publishing/self-publishing imprint? Of course, it’s possible that someone orders it from MikePompeo-dot-com so that Pompeo can generate a list of
grifteespotential campaign supporters. But is it possible that Pompeo doesn’t really have a distribution deal with his publisher and that Harper Collins has agreed to take the book on subsidy basis so that he doesn’t have to publish it as “Mike Pompeo, desperate never was with no one who cares what he thinks?”@Rick DeMent: Oooh!!!! That’s a possibility that I hadn’t thought of. Good catch!
I hope everyone is waiting with baited breath for my book, entitled “Can We Launch This Asshole Into The Sun.” It’s a thriller from my heart about how we can launch various assholes like Pompeo into the Sun.
@Jen:
Same here.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Looking at that generic cover and the poor graphic design and typography of the ad, I had wondered the same thing. I did some research and Broadside Books is a legitimate imprint specializing in publishing conservative authors.
For more on them, see this article with their executive editor: https://slate.com/culture/2021/07/conservative-book-publisher-interview-editor-eric-nelson.html
I’d buy that Beth, especially if it has conceptual art.
@Scott: “Somehow, he became SOS and remained a lightweight”
The somehow is that he was nominated by a president whose sole criterion was how enthusiastically the nominee kissed his ass and a Senate majority who were going to give him whatever he wanted as long as he looked away while they looted the country.
@Just Another Ex-Republican:
The concept art is me with a cutout of the asshole in question, some item to reflect the approximate weight of said Ahole and increasingly bad and weird math.
Beth
I wonder if the blurb is by the same ghostwriter as the book?
(I would actually love to see one of these books with a blurb “the ghostwriter made my boring life of failing upwards sound exciting, without making it a parody” or something)
Thanks for the chuckle, Dr. T. I wonder if Mucho Pomposo digs into his failed investigation to find classified emails in Hillary’s account. No, I don’t really wonder. I do contest his assertion he has a heart.
Given the number of people who do it, I have to think running a hopeless campaign for prez is a good living. Looks like Pompeo thinks people are going to buy cartons of his book to give away at events or discard.
Stephen King blurbed my book. And I wasn’t even Secretary of Commerce.
Name-checked me in Entertainment Weekly, too.
And Tweeted the final line of my final series book.
Not even Postmaster.
Out of morbid curiosity, I went to the publisher’s website Mikepompeo.com, which coincidentally is the same name as the author. There was very little about the book other than a link for pre-sale purchases. No other books were advertised on the site. There were however, links actively seeking monitary donations. This is one of them below;
“CAVPAC TO CHAMPION AMERICAN VALUES
Honoring the U.S. Army Cavalry that sounds the alarm and rides first into the battle, Mike Pompeo, as a Cavalry officer himself, asks you to join him in the battle to stand for conservative American values against the increasing onslaught of socialist ideology.”
And for those that might not be afraid of socialist ideologues, there is a similar one promising to take the fight to the”woke”. Evidently an ally of the socialists but for some reason requires separate funding in the fight for “American values”, as it is solicited via the “cavfund” ( not to be confused with the “cavpac” above). The “cavfund” is claimed to be needed to finance a “campaign” in which he ( Mike Pompeo of course) “launched to combat the woke indoctrination in our military.”
There was no explanation as to
what the money was specifically needed for, or how it was to be spent, in his quest to save “American values”, and our purportedly gullible military. I’d venture to guess however, that it is to pay for more bloviating, pontificating, and fund raising. His dedication to the grift is absolutly virus like. It would be surprising if he wasn’t able to get a Trump endorsement somewhere down the road.