Category Archives: blurbs

September 29, 2015   mhoogland   blurbs, chat, dialogue, how publishing works, Mike H, Publicity  
2

Blog ’bout blurbs

It seems that most book covers nowadays sport a blurb or two from well-known authors, but do you know who the first authors were to introduce the world to the blurb?

I didn’t think so. It was Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman (the former blurbing about the latter), according to this piece by NPR. The article touches on the origins of the blurb and its efficacy in persuasiveness. It’s certainly worth reading it in its entirety. Personally, no one has ever told me that they picked up a book because of the blurb on the cover, but the fact that booksellers appear to be taking them into account says something.

In fact, that blurbs have greater traction with publishing professionals behind the scenes rather than consumers in bookstores speaks to their continued pervasiveness. Because the truth is that it’s increasingly difficult to make a book stand out to the general reader, and if there’s even a chance that a blurb might cause a consumer to take a closer look, you take it. Same goes for generating any buzz you can pre-publication and arming your sales teams with as much firepower as possible.

What do our readers think? As a reader, do you take blurbs into account? How important are they to you as a writer?

September 26, 2011   Jim   blurbs, Jim  
22

Do blurbs matter?

Your manuscript is edited and off to copyediting. It won’t come out for another six or seven months, so it’s too soon to do much marketing. So you go for that traditional next step: sending it to any and every author acquaintance you have and occasionally some complete and total strangers in the hopes that they’ll offer a blurb that can go on your cover.

But does it ever really make a difference?

I don’t really know. Anecdotally, yes. Booksellers care, and if they’re excited by the blurbs, they’ll be more excited about the book. That’s what I hear, at least. I’ve never seen terribly compelling evidence that it’s true.

This came up because after I finished Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s The Language of Flowers (which was lovely), I read the blurbs on the back and saw that a couple of authors I think are tremendously overrated* had given their praise. If I had seen them before picking the book up, I wonder if I might actually have been less inclined to pick it up.

So really, by titling this post with a question, I’m wondering: when you’re book shopping, do you ever notice blurbs affecting you one way or another?

*No, I will not say which ones.

July 08, 2010   DG&B   blurbs, fun, Jessica, opinion, reading, reviews  
16

Effusive encomia

by Jessica

I’m a great believer in the value of blurbs, and I pay careful attention to who has weighed in on the cover copy of any given book, but, thanks to Galley Cat, I could not help but chuckle at The Guardian’s contest, which was spurred by Nicole Krauss’s glowing-to-the-point-of-incandescent endorsement of David Grossman’s new novel To The End of the Land. Grossman’s book is on my to-read pile, and I am now keen to see the degree to which I agree with Ms. Krauss rapturous praise.

To what degree do endorsements matter to you? Will you read a new writer based on the recommendation of a beloved author? Can you offer any examples?