This is such a fascinating conversation, especially as I just finished up the process of gathering all of the blurbs for my book. From an authors POV, it is a relief to see people you admire (friends or not!) reflect on what they took from the book. It's like, "okay, people actually resonate with what I wrote...I can do this. I can share my book with the world." Will it help sales? Maybe. Who knows? Do I buy books because of blurbs? Not always but sometimes they do pique my interest and encourage me to look deeper into a book if someone I respect/admire/trust blurbed it. I also would be honored if someone asked me to blurb their book, but that's just me :)
Like everyone, I've been burned by many a blurb before. And like you say, I begin to look much more at what the blurb is saying than at who blurbed it.
"Author X is a genius!" Yeah, okay. Geniuses can be exhausting.
"Frothy, fun, and feels like a warm hug." Good, lemme at it!
That's why for my debut, I dutifully asked everyone I knew who's big in the field to provide blurbs. They did, it was lovely, I felt great about myself. Then a friendly author went to my book launch and wrote a very sweet paragraph on Goodreads. I immediately asked for permission to use it as a blurb, and we put it on the front cover in all future printings. (My book was initially POD, it was easier.)
Her blurb that I pounced on? "The most fun you'll ever have reading a book of critical essays." That's what I wanted to convey to skeptical readers - it's not homework! It's an approachable good time! I like to think it was the right choice, since the book has done well... Though as you say, we'll never know.
A blurb! Kate offers wise advice, in bite-sized pieces, that you can act on right away. She's clear, direct and funny, and you'll feel like you're having a personal conversation with her.
Interesting! In Australia, we call the book description on the back the blurb. The 'blurb' you're talking about is known as an endorsement or cover quote. Personally, I would cry tears of joy if they went away. I gto tricked into reading a terrible book once just because i admire Emma Watson. ;)
As a historian and frequent reader of historical non-fiction and biographies I find blurbs incredibly useful. A glowing blurb by an author I respect can make a real difference. This is true, though to a lesser extent, when I am browsing novels as well. The content of the blurb, regardless of who wrote it, can give me a sense of what the book is about and whether I'm interested in it.
Blurbs have definitely gotten me to read /buy a book… and I think it’s almost the natural extension of the comp. Ie, If I see that Sally Rooney has blurbed a book I know I’m getting into something v different from a Lisa Jewell blurbed book or an SA Cosby or a salman Rushdie blurb etc etc.
In all my years of doing book publicity, blurbs have never once made a difference. Morning shows will not change their minds because of blurbs. It just doesn’t happen that way.
I was told by my editor that blurbs can help the bookseller and it’s also come up during cover art discussion if a blurb will go in a particular spot. I don’t see them going away but instead just off the plate of the publisher and onto the plate of the author/agent.
It makes sense to me if blurbs go away. They have lured me into buying a few books, but I don’t trust them anymore. Too often, halfway through the read, I’ve ended up wondering if the blurber is the writer’s close personal friend. Maybe his lawyer, or girlfriend? Like the book is objectively not “a searing prose freight train of human heart,” okay? Blurber, you should have just said it “feels like a Netflix limited series produced in Belgium.”
WRITE ON is a superb guide to publishing from industry expert Kate McKeon --Richard Donnelly, writer and Substack author
There, nailed it : ) Of course, you might want to use someone in your league. And I would imagine getting blurbs isn't that hard, since the blurb writer gets their name/book in front of the buying public.
One thing that I think is missing from the blurb conversation is that it gets authors to ACTUALLY READ the book (and do so in advance of publication). I know my own TBR is always at risk of toppling, and despite best intentions I don't always get around to reading books by internet mutuals in a timely manner (and sometimes at all).
If I've read it to blurb, I'm ready to talk about it at launch and promote it in a more specific way than "my friend did a thing." This might not apply to all authors, but I think especially in getting authors with strong platforms to act as surrogates, the blurb process works in a back door way to do that.
This is so interesting because I’m not sure I’ve ever chosen a book based on a blurb.
This is such a fascinating conversation, especially as I just finished up the process of gathering all of the blurbs for my book. From an authors POV, it is a relief to see people you admire (friends or not!) reflect on what they took from the book. It's like, "okay, people actually resonate with what I wrote...I can do this. I can share my book with the world." Will it help sales? Maybe. Who knows? Do I buy books because of blurbs? Not always but sometimes they do pique my interest and encourage me to look deeper into a book if someone I respect/admire/trust blurbed it. I also would be honored if someone asked me to blurb their book, but that's just me :)
Like everyone, I've been burned by many a blurb before. And like you say, I begin to look much more at what the blurb is saying than at who blurbed it.
"Author X is a genius!" Yeah, okay. Geniuses can be exhausting.
"Frothy, fun, and feels like a warm hug." Good, lemme at it!
That's why for my debut, I dutifully asked everyone I knew who's big in the field to provide blurbs. They did, it was lovely, I felt great about myself. Then a friendly author went to my book launch and wrote a very sweet paragraph on Goodreads. I immediately asked for permission to use it as a blurb, and we put it on the front cover in all future printings. (My book was initially POD, it was easier.)
Her blurb that I pounced on? "The most fun you'll ever have reading a book of critical essays." That's what I wanted to convey to skeptical readers - it's not homework! It's an approachable good time! I like to think it was the right choice, since the book has done well... Though as you say, we'll never know.
A blurb! Kate offers wise advice, in bite-sized pieces, that you can act on right away. She's clear, direct and funny, and you'll feel like you're having a personal conversation with her.
Interesting! In Australia, we call the book description on the back the blurb. The 'blurb' you're talking about is known as an endorsement or cover quote. Personally, I would cry tears of joy if they went away. I gto tricked into reading a terrible book once just because i admire Emma Watson. ;)
As a historian and frequent reader of historical non-fiction and biographies I find blurbs incredibly useful. A glowing blurb by an author I respect can make a real difference. This is true, though to a lesser extent, when I am browsing novels as well. The content of the blurb, regardless of who wrote it, can give me a sense of what the book is about and whether I'm interested in it.
"Big if True" made me laugh, thank you. Nice break from The Horrors.
Blurbs have definitely gotten me to read /buy a book… and I think it’s almost the natural extension of the comp. Ie, If I see that Sally Rooney has blurbed a book I know I’m getting into something v different from a Lisa Jewell blurbed book or an SA Cosby or a salman Rushdie blurb etc etc.
JD Salinger said, "If you really want to hear about it, read Katie's book!"
“If you want to be in the know in publishing, you simply must read Agents + Books “— 😜
In all my years of doing book publicity, blurbs have never once made a difference. Morning shows will not change their minds because of blurbs. It just doesn’t happen that way.
I was told by my editor that blurbs can help the bookseller and it’s also come up during cover art discussion if a blurb will go in a particular spot. I don’t see them going away but instead just off the plate of the publisher and onto the plate of the author/agent.
It makes sense to me if blurbs go away. They have lured me into buying a few books, but I don’t trust them anymore. Too often, halfway through the read, I’ve ended up wondering if the blurber is the writer’s close personal friend. Maybe his lawyer, or girlfriend? Like the book is objectively not “a searing prose freight train of human heart,” okay? Blurber, you should have just said it “feels like a Netflix limited series produced in Belgium.”
Article published today; worth a read: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/books/review/simon-and-schuster-blurbs-books.html
WRITE ON is a superb guide to publishing from industry expert Kate McKeon --Richard Donnelly, writer and Substack author
There, nailed it : ) Of course, you might want to use someone in your league. And I would imagine getting blurbs isn't that hard, since the blurb writer gets their name/book in front of the buying public.
One thing that I think is missing from the blurb conversation is that it gets authors to ACTUALLY READ the book (and do so in advance of publication). I know my own TBR is always at risk of toppling, and despite best intentions I don't always get around to reading books by internet mutuals in a timely manner (and sometimes at all).
If I've read it to blurb, I'm ready to talk about it at launch and promote it in a more specific way than "my friend did a thing." This might not apply to all authors, but I think especially in getting authors with strong platforms to act as surrogates, the blurb process works in a back door way to do that.