Or, You Know You Love Me.Damn, Gossip Girl already had dibs on that line. ;)
This is a strange and kind of awkward post for me to make, but I'll make it anyway. And I want to preface it by saying it was someone else's idea, not mine. :) Brief version of the sales pitch: Who wants to have their words appear in my next Finding Lost book? You do? Then read on!
I'm sure y'all know what a foreword in a book is, but just in case, a foreword is like a preface to a book, but it's written by someone other than the author. Usually someone with some sway in the community to which the book is aimed. Like, when I convinced Neil Gaiman to write a foreword for a book I edited a couple of years ago. Do you know how excited I was to be the first person in the world to read something he'd written? SO excited, that's how excited (and then J.J. Abrams gave me an endorsement quote for the back cover... yep, greatest book ever to edit). That book is here if you wanted to check it out, by the way. If you love the original Twilight Zone, buy this book.
ANYWAY... so far, I haven't had any forewords in my books. Not that I went out of my way not to have them, but I never really thought of who might want to write such a thing. Typically my books are written to the fans, for the fans, and I tend to stay away from official interviews (the one time I broke my own rule was for the Angel book, when I interviewed many people in the cast, but then again, that came out after the series was finished so they ended up being more like tributes to the show). But then yesterday one of my readers -- a reporter for a newspaper -- emailed me with a wonderful suggestion:
What about having you guys write my foreword? He suggested my publisher could solicit quotes from my Nik at Nite readers saying why you enjoy the Finding Lost series and/or my blog, and then put them into the book. I responded saying it was a great idea, but exactly how would I word the post? It's a little difficult to do it modestly. I ran it by my editor and she loved the idea, and said she's sure I wouldn't rub anyone the wrong way. So here goes:
*Cough.* That didn't work. Let's try again:
Man, this is harder than I thought. One more try:
Hey guys, you know how I've been blogging on Lost all season and we've been having all these great discussions and it's been so much fun? I'm wondering if you might help me out a bit by writing up something saying how much you've enjoyed reading my commentary, or, if maybe I've helped you come to a different understanding of the show either through my blog or my books, maybe you could say that? It would be a huge help! And I feel like we've become like a big happy family, so I would love for you guys to be a part of my book. And if you decide not to, that's OK, too.
Seriously, if anyone is interested, what my publisher is looking for are just a few sentences saying why you think my writing is helpful to Lost fans. Matthew, the guy who came up with the idea, is going to write a brief intro of a paragraph or so, and then we'll run your quotes underneath one after the other. It'll be like those pages of endorsements from various reviews that you see at the beginning of books, only mine will be from the important peeps who watch Lost with me! For me, it's far more meaningful to have nice words from you guys, the people with whom I've really bonded over Lost discussions, than to turn to a media person or something. Not that the DocArzt quote wasn't wicked on my season 4 book; I was so thrilled to have that from him. But you guys are really special to me, and I'd love to have your words in the book, too!
Anyway, if anyone is interested, my publisher will need all of the accolades/praise/deep love by July 15, and you can send an email here. If you want to put something like, "Nikki Foreword" in the header, that will help set your email apart. The quotes that are chosen will run in the book under Matthew's introduction, along with whatever name you provide to run with it (feel free to offer your real name and screenname, or just one or the other; whatever you're most comfortable with). Thanks, everyone! Man, that was one of the most ego-driven posts I could have written, eh? I feel kinda dirty.
