Some honest thoughts on author blurbs
Another post that might get me into hot water but here we go anyway. The somewhat controversial topic of author blurbs. What do we think of them?
I’m not sure that, before I became a published author, I had any idea about the practice of author blurbing.
I guess I was aware of them, in the sense that I must have seen them on the back covers of books and sometimes on the front too, but I can honestly say that they have never influenced my purchasing decisions at all.
(Which is a point I will come to in more detail further along!)
Unlike a word-of-mouth recommendation from someone I actually know, which ALWAYS make me more likely to pick up a book.
What is an author blurb?
But first, let’s back up a bit. In case you’re not sure, then I’ll clarify exactly what an author blurb is.
A ‘blurb’ is a quote that an author gives to support another author’s book.
They are often used on the cover of books and also on online retailers’ listings.
You can’t fail to miss them on Amazon if you take a proper look at the page listing an author’s book, rather than scrolling right down to read the reader reviews instead (just me?!).
There are often at least one or two quotes praising the book by other authors, who (usually) write in a similar genre.
There might also be some quotes from newspapers or magazines in this same area, but we’re not talking about those today (and to be clear, I have no beef with these at all, because that’s literally a newspaper reviewer’s JOB).
Today we are talking specifically about the quotes that have been written by other authors to describe a book and basically support it, to help encourage readers to take a chance on it.
The other meaning of the word ‘blurb’ in the book world
Just a little aside here - the word ‘blurb’ is a bit confusing.
Like so many things in authorland (I really need to do a glossary of author terms one day!), a blurb can also mean the short description of the book - usually written by the publisher but with help from the author - that appears on the back of the book, and at the top next to the book’s cover when it’s listed for sale online.
Here’s the back cover copy for my latest novel:
This is the story of girl meets boy.
And then everything goes wrong . . .
Ever since they first met at university, Beth and Nick have circled in and out of one another's lives: supporting each other through grief, marriage, divorce, career crises and family dramas.
Fourteen years ago, when they were on the cusp of adulthood, they both survived a devastating fire that sent their lives in different directions. And they’ve been running ever since: from the pain, from the memories, and most devastatingly of all, from the guilt.
But no matter how hard they try, there's something else they can't run from. The inescapable, terrifying truth: they’re in love with each other.
But how can they move forward, when neither of them can stop looking back?
Sidenote: Interestingly these descriptive passages trying to sum up the book are longer in the US. In the UK we tend to keep them short and snappy.
But I’m not talking about that descriptive copy in this post.
I’m talking about endorsements from other authors.
I was lucky to have a lot of them for my first book under my pen name Charlotte Rixon. I have never had this many blurbs before or since, which is interesting (maybe people were just curious about my change in direction?).
You can see them here:
My author blurbs for The One That Got Away
How authors get blurbs for their books
I do not know of a single author who enjoys the process of trying to get other authors to read and blurb their book.
It is cringey and awkward and embarrassing and goes against most authors’ inherently modest personalities.
And yet if you want to have your book published by a traditional publisher, it is something that you will have to face.
The process usually goes something like this:
At around the same time as your book’s copy-edits are signed off, your editor will ask you to start thinking about who you might want to send an early copy to, in the hope that they will enjoy it and give a quote
You will panic and be unable to think of a single person you could possibly ask. It will set off a sense of existential dread that probably won’t leave until your book is actually released. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it 😆
Over the next few days, a few ideas of authors you could possibly ask will come to you
Perhaps someone will ask you to blurb their book, and this will give you the emboldened boost you needed to reach out to a couple of author friends. See, everyone’s doing it!
You’ll get excited by your initial list and before you know it, you’ll start throwing in pie-in-the-sky names like Gillian Flynn and Stephen Fry. Oh and surely Richard Osman has time to take a quick look?
Your editor may also come back to you with a list of authors that he/she knows (and has probably worked with) and will suggest that they reach out to them on your behalf. TAKE THEM UP ON THIS
You will reply to your editor with your own totally random list, made up of people in Facebook groups who you’ve chatted to a few times, perhaps some authors who share the same agent as you, and those world-famous authors you added when you were feeling those rare five minutes of unadulterated confidence
Your editor will suggest you contact these people directly. Except for the world-famous people. Unless your editor knows them, those suggestions will be silently ignored by everyone involved
If your editor is really organised you might even end up with a blurbing spreadsheet listing author names, dates they were contacted, whether or not they said yes, and any response!
Now, here’s where I want to stop for a second!
You do not need to contact the authors yourself.
If you feel too awkward or embarrassed (and I totally get it, I really do) then there’s absolutely no shame in asking your editor (or your agent, if more appropriate) to do the initial reach-out for you.
Yes, they will usually want you to contact people directly because you are more likely to get a positive response than if they do it on your behalf, however, by no means do you have to do this.
Editors and agents ask authors for blurbs ALL THE TIME.
They have rhino skins when it comes to doing this and while some of them may also find it a bit uncomfortable, they won’t experience the same emotional anxiety that you will about the process (especially if it’s your debut).
So if you can’t stomach it, please don’t be afraid to ask them to ask on your behalf.
I do this even now, and I’m eight books in!
Right now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s carry on with our step-by-step guide to author blurbing:
If you’re reaching out yourself, you’ll send a super cringey message to the author which will DEFINITELY include the words ‘totally understand if you’re swamped!’ or ‘absolutely no pressure of course, I am sure you are overwhelmed with requests like this’ (this is part of the process, editors also say this, do not deviate from this script 😆)
Nine times out of ten the author will reply saying of course they’d be happy to read, but also add a caveat that they have quite a few proofs in their TBR so ‘please don’t be offended if it takes me a while to get to it’ (again, part of the script, most authors are nothing if not polite!)
You breathe a HUGE sigh of relief, thinking that you’ve finally done something towards marketing your book! Go you! Even though when you sat down to write it and dreamt about yourself as a writer having to do this kind of thing never even crossed your mind
Weeks of tumbleweed will roll by and you will be convinced everyone who got an early copy of your book hated it. When the truth is that none of them has even opened it yet
Eventually, you may or may not hear back with a blurb. Whether or not you do really has more to do with a) how busy that author is; b) how hyped your book has been by the literary scene; c) how many other books that author has to read; and d) whether or not you actually know that author in real life (do you have their phone number? If so, your chances of getting a blurb just went up massively - and not because I suggest you stalk them over the phone, but because it means you actually have an established relationship with them already, and, understandably, most authors want to support their friends!)
Your publisher will be ‘thrilled and delighted’ to share the blurb with you, they will truncate it and cherry-pick adjectives from it that they think will grab the most attention from readers / booksellers / reviewers and before too long, it’ll be slapped everywhere that your book appears
Someone at your publisher will probably even make you some social media assets with the blurbs on them
No-one will know whether any of this has made any difference at all to your book’s sales
And that’s it.
In my opinion, the whole process is awkward and it sucks.
But it is what it is, and there doesn’t seem to be much chance of it changing any time soon.
Why author blurbs matter
What is the point of this painful process you may wonder?
Especially as, for the majority of authors, it tends to be mates blurbing each other’s books over and over again.
Well, the argument made to me was that the more authors blurb a book, the more enthusiasm the literary ecosystem will have for it.
It all helps contribute to that weird thing that is SO important in an industry that has no way to guarantee success: hype.
And of course, securing a blurb from a big name author, or someone who has had a lot of recent success, can have an impact on… something. Maybe even just your publishers’ faith in the book?
It adds a little bit of reflected glory, I guess.
However, I am not wholly convinced that readers care much about author blurbs unless they are blurbs from the top-tier superstar authors.
I could be wrong though, and as ever I’m happy to hear counter arguments?
Please do share below - as a reader, do author blurbs make a difference to you?
My thoughts on author blurbs
I promised you my honest thoughts on author blurbs, so here we are.
The whole system stinks, and if we had a Room 101 for authors, it would be the first thing I’d fling in there.
The blurbing process itself is very awkward and uncomfortable for almost everyone involved, because:
Most authors do not get enough time to read
Most authors have huge TBRs, and also books that they need or want to read for their own writing career
Some authors can’t read fiction while writing their own fiction (I am one such author!)
BUT most authors desperately want to support other authors
Most authors hate saying no to blurb requests. They will often accept a proof even if they know they won’t have time to read it (guilty!)
Not getting a blurb from an author rarely says anything about the quality of your book, but it can be so crushing, ESPECIALLY to debuts
It is tough for everyone involved.
It is also much easier for authors who are well-connected to get blurbs (the same goes for press reviews, but I’ll rant about that another time).
As ever, the playing field is very uneven.
I have also heard authors describe the process of blurbing books as ‘free labour’ - because it does actually take time to read a book, digest it and come up with a description that both does the book justice and is original and thoughtful.
This is all work, whether or not it seems like it at first.
And it’s work authors are not paid for.
Not that I think we should be paid for it, because I think that would make the playing field even bumpier, but it is something that I wish more people talked about.
It is seen as being a good citizen of the literary world, but again, it is incumbent of authors to spend their time (which is not free) to help market a book, when really that should be the publishers’ job.
And there are so many awkward stories that abound when it comes to blurbing:
Authors being rude or entitled in their approach, sending unsolicited proofs to authors they don’t know, along with a deadline to read and review (!!)
‘Smaller’ authors seeing their carefully worded quote being removed from the cover of a book in favour of one from a ‘bigger’ author (always good to be reminded by that lovely publishing hierarchy exactly where you stand!)
Authors making up blurbs for books they haven’t actually read, to save time
Authors blurbing books they didn’t actually enjoy, but that they think it might benefit them to support (ick ick ick)
Big-name authors only blurbing other big-name authors (what’s the point guys? Your books are going to be bestsellers anyway!)
Authors requesting proofs they have no intention of blurbing just to scope out the competition
The chronic overuse use of the expression ‘whip-smart’, which SHOULD NEVER BE SEEN IN POLITE SOCIETY AGAIN 🤮 I DO NOT WANT MY WRITING TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH WHIPPING THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Ahem.
How not to be a dick when you get a book deal →
The whole system is awkward, and crap for everyone, and I wish it would STOP.
So yes, that’s my honest thoughts on author blurbs. Enough. Make them go away. I hate them 😆
How do we make this happen, publishing people? Help!
