I actually almost reflexively stop looking at a book if it’s covered in blurbs without any real information about the book. I need summaries, not flattery to inform my interest in a piece of writing. I will only go a step further and look up info about a book if something about it has particularly grabbed my attention, but that is almost never because of a blurb.
Blurbs are like Amazon reviews and (like it or not) affect sales. I always glance through the blurbs and see what the authors I know have to say. For example, if Michael Hyatt has something good to say about your upcoming book, I'll likely pick it up.
I'm on a mission to exile as much marketing-narrative-falsehood from my life as possible so from that perspective: no blurbs.
Not saying *yours* would be false, just that it's an ecosystem of falsehoods and misdirection.
Incidentally, that puff of gas about the Joan of Arc book would be a negative endorsement for me. As though we need more remaking of historical figures as people of "our time." Feh. Hard pass!
I saw that piece. I mostly agree. Blurbs are the publishing industry's equivalent to someone signing your yearbook: occasionally sincere, far more often akin to "you rock, dude." They do seem to have some utility for the average buyer, but if most readers knew how most blurbs come about, they might be more hesitant to make a purchasing decision based on a quote.
Nonfiction needs blurbs. Even if the blurbs themselves are vacuous (and they aren't always!), who they're from conveys information about what the book is like.
As someone who has both solicited blurbs and been solicited for them, I'd say that the biggest problem is that publishers don't give busy people time to read the book. The best way to get blurbs likely to be useful to both you and potential readers is to send the earliest reasonable form of the manuscript to people you know and would like to get blurbs from. When I haven't done this, I've regretted it. (I just got galleys for a promising looking book by someone I don't know from a publisher who wants a blurb in a month. If I had nothing else to read or do that would be plenty of time. But...)
I don't know if you should blurb your book or not. Personally, I can't recall ever purchasing a book based on a blurb. I have, however, purchased a book based on a review. If you do choose to blurb your book make sure the blurbs actually reflect the purpose/theme of your book. I once ghosted a book for a client and one of the blurbs missed the point entirely. To make matters worse, the publisher used that blurb, more than any other, in all its marketing. (Makes you wonder whether the marketing department even knew what it was marketing. But that's another story for another day.)
As an aside, though related, the novelist Katherine Ann Porter, in a letter to Matthew Josephson (January 7, 1931), said this about blurbs: "I love that word like a hot baked stuffed potato full of butter."
But only if you agree to include the negative ones as well ;) (you'd be an innovator!)
When I look at the blurbs, I look at the names I might recognize, and only read those. If the blurb from a recognizable person is beyond meh, then I consider reading or buying the book.
On a side note: more than once now I have encountered an audiobook that begins with the narrator rdg aloud the pages and pages of blurbs at the beginning. WHYYYYYYYYYY.
Since the vast majority of books are blurbed, the lack of a blurb suggests the book failed to attract any blurbers. Even just one or two is enough to prove it is blurb-worthy. You could also be witty and have the blurbs be from your spouse, mom, child or editor.
Well I guess I am sufficiently intrigued to see what you do - if it has a dust jacket then the précis on the inner flaps is usually where I look. I hope you can get significant input into the content of this. All the best with your work.
Bookstore owner here. Based on my experiences watching people browse, I have very mixed feelings about it all. I can count on one hand the number of times someone has said to me, “oh, well, {insert blurber} liked it so I’m getting it.” All of those times were Ann Patchett blurbs. It seems to me that the main value of blurbs is less to drive actual sales but to imply to the reader what kind of book it is. Oh, so-and-so blurbed it, it must be like his/her book.
Blurbs leave me cold, to be honest. What clinches it is an introduction/preface/afterword by another author I admire. Especially when the latter is mildly critical.
Thank you for asking. Looking over my library, the most significant books have nothing more than author, title and publisher. I’ve bought many based on reviews, very few on sight and none on blurbs. You have a name, recognition and audience. It is worth a try.
You could have satirical blurbs making fun of blurbs. That would get people's attention.
I actually almost reflexively stop looking at a book if it’s covered in blurbs without any real information about the book. I need summaries, not flattery to inform my interest in a piece of writing. I will only go a step further and look up info about a book if something about it has particularly grabbed my attention, but that is almost never because of a blurb.
Blurbs are like Amazon reviews and (like it or not) affect sales. I always glance through the blurbs and see what the authors I know have to say. For example, if Michael Hyatt has something good to say about your upcoming book, I'll likely pick it up.
You could try writing your own blurb - a sentence or even a half-sentence as to why a potential reader might want to become an actual buyer.
I'm on a mission to exile as much marketing-narrative-falsehood from my life as possible so from that perspective: no blurbs.
Not saying *yours* would be false, just that it's an ecosystem of falsehoods and misdirection.
Incidentally, that puff of gas about the Joan of Arc book would be a negative endorsement for me. As though we need more remaking of historical figures as people of "our time." Feh. Hard pass!
I saw that piece. I mostly agree. Blurbs are the publishing industry's equivalent to someone signing your yearbook: occasionally sincere, far more often akin to "you rock, dude." They do seem to have some utility for the average buyer, but if most readers knew how most blurbs come about, they might be more hesitant to make a purchasing decision based on a quote.
Nonfiction needs blurbs. Even if the blurbs themselves are vacuous (and they aren't always!), who they're from conveys information about what the book is like.
As someone who has both solicited blurbs and been solicited for them, I'd say that the biggest problem is that publishers don't give busy people time to read the book. The best way to get blurbs likely to be useful to both you and potential readers is to send the earliest reasonable form of the manuscript to people you know and would like to get blurbs from. When I haven't done this, I've regretted it. (I just got galleys for a promising looking book by someone I don't know from a publisher who wants a blurb in a month. If I had nothing else to read or do that would be plenty of time. But...)
I don't know if you should blurb your book or not. Personally, I can't recall ever purchasing a book based on a blurb. I have, however, purchased a book based on a review. If you do choose to blurb your book make sure the blurbs actually reflect the purpose/theme of your book. I once ghosted a book for a client and one of the blurbs missed the point entirely. To make matters worse, the publisher used that blurb, more than any other, in all its marketing. (Makes you wonder whether the marketing department even knew what it was marketing. But that's another story for another day.)
As an aside, though related, the novelist Katherine Ann Porter, in a letter to Matthew Josephson (January 7, 1931), said this about blurbs: "I love that word like a hot baked stuffed potato full of butter."
Blurb.
But only if you agree to include the negative ones as well ;) (you'd be an innovator!)
When I look at the blurbs, I look at the names I might recognize, and only read those. If the blurb from a recognizable person is beyond meh, then I consider reading or buying the book.
No blurb. I read books cover to cover. When I read blurbs I take them with a grain or two of salt. Blurbs do not entice me to read or not read a book.
On a side note: more than once now I have encountered an audiobook that begins with the narrator rdg aloud the pages and pages of blurbs at the beginning. WHYYYYYYYYYY.
Since the vast majority of books are blurbed, the lack of a blurb suggests the book failed to attract any blurbers. Even just one or two is enough to prove it is blurb-worthy. You could also be witty and have the blurbs be from your spouse, mom, child or editor.
Well I guess I am sufficiently intrigued to see what you do - if it has a dust jacket then the précis on the inner flaps is usually where I look. I hope you can get significant input into the content of this. All the best with your work.
Bookstore owner here. Based on my experiences watching people browse, I have very mixed feelings about it all. I can count on one hand the number of times someone has said to me, “oh, well, {insert blurber} liked it so I’m getting it.” All of those times were Ann Patchett blurbs. It seems to me that the main value of blurbs is less to drive actual sales but to imply to the reader what kind of book it is. Oh, so-and-so blurbed it, it must be like his/her book.
Blurbs leave me cold, to be honest. What clinches it is an introduction/preface/afterword by another author I admire. Especially when the latter is mildly critical.
Thank you for asking. Looking over my library, the most significant books have nothing more than author, title and publisher. I’ve bought many based on reviews, very few on sight and none on blurbs. You have a name, recognition and audience. It is worth a try.