NoFactZone’s Balls and Blads Contest
The wonderful gang over at NoFactZone have been in touch with the publicity people at Hachette Book Group USA (parent co. of Grand Central Publishing) about Stephen Colbert’s upcoming book, I Am America (And So Can You!).
Due to the tireless efforts of DB (founder of NFZ, the most comprehensive Stephen/TCR site on the Web, far better than the “official” Comedy Central blog/fansite), she has been given three blads to give away in a no-purchase-required contest as publicity for the book. A “blad” is a publishing term for “book layout and design”; it’s kind of a preview of an upcoming book, with the cover, table of contents, chapter excerpts, artwork, etc., included.
Here are some amazing pictures, courtesy of NoFactZone, of the blad. It looks like this book is going to be hi-lar-ious. Also, it’s scheduled for a “one-day laydown” on its release date of October 9. A “one-day laydown” is a publishing term used to describe when a book is released in mass quantity on one day, with booksellers and distributors under firm agreement to not sell until that date, to ensure that nothing is leaked in advance. It’s usually used only for huge releases like a Harry Potter book, so the fact that Stephen’s is scheduled for this type of distribution means Hachette/Grand Central must be expecting a phenomenal success of it.
Pictures! EDIT: I did have pictures of the blad posted but unfortunately NoFactZone’s contact at Hachette was not able to secure permission to publish photographs. So they are down, but the contest is still on!
This is the cover, obviously. (N.B. There used to be a picture of the cover here. I’m leaving my descriptive text in anyway. Yeah it’s confusing. Deal with it.) You can’t see the very top line but it says “From the author of I Am America (And So Can You!)” - which is funny because that’s this same book! That Stephen is such a joker.
Chapter 5, entitled “Homosexuals”: where “Stephen” is sure to insist he has absolutely no repressed homosexual desires. (In case it’s not clear, or you don’t watch TCR, it’s a recurring theme on the show that “Stephen,” as his right-wing conservative character, rails against homosexuality while at the same time fighting to keep himself from giving in to his innermost secret yearnings for Tad his building manager, George Clooney, and a young Sean Connery, among others.)
Planned publicity & advertising: Hachette/Grand Central seems to have a pretty big campaign planned. TV, radio, print media, Web promotions, local author signings (I presume that means NYC only), and more.
There were some other pictures posted originally at NoFactZone, which have now been removed with the others, including one of Stephen with a squirrel (very Exit 57-ish) and one with a mustache straight out of “The Strangers With Candy ‘Chuck Noblet Rock Star Fantasy School.’” It’s REAL! 
(SWC fans will understand this immediately. The rest of you will have to watch.)
Click here for full contest rules and entry instructions. It’s easy–you just need to send them an email. This is a fantastic contest and the winners will have a collector’s item.
If you are planning to buy this book, you can pre-order now through Amazon. There is the hardcover and an audiobook, which is sure to be read by Stephen himself. You might consider ordering through NoFactZone’s Amazon link: DB runs and pays for the site on her own and a click-through to Amazon will at least earn her a few credits with them. Click-through links are below, which will credit her (not my) account at Amazon. It doesn’t cost the buyer anything and will help support NoFactZone.net.