Yeah, it'd be a bad look for a self-publisher, but it seems like traditional publishing has enough indirection that it could work... and compared to the sausage-making that drives "book buzz" it's relatively mild.
For traditional publishing the publisher is a suit magnet; Stephen King's lawyers would have a field day. Bette Midler won big damages against Ford when they asked her to endorse a product, she turned them down, so they hired an impersonator:
I don't think misrepresenting others and premeditated lying for personal gain are at all "relatively mild".
Just because the scope of the lie is relatively small and unlikely to cause significant damages, doesn't do enough to counter the extreme brazenness and tastelessness of this.
