Books and Publishing: The Truth About Blurbs
"The book of the decade! You won't put it down!" Can you trust the blurb? Are they paid for? Just favours for friends? Here's the truth... plus a confession.
Today, in the first of an occasional series in which we delve into the reality of publishing, we're talking about blurbs, blurbing, and whether you can REALLY believe those comments on the front of every book. It's something you won't want to miss, and as a reminder, Paid Members get full access to this and every other post, along with a treasure trove of premium content. Upgrade now to savor the complete COMPENDIA feast! You're just one step away, and it’s easy to unsubscribe at any time.
Dear friends!
So, did I really read ALL the books I blurbed? Does everyone else? Can we really believe those quotes on the front of a jacket, or are they done as favours? Paid for, even? And at the end of the day, do they actually matter?
One of the things I wasn’t expecting, when Before I Go to Sleep came out, was the sheer volume of yet-to-be-published books I’d be sent. These are known as ‘proofs’ in the UK, and often ARCs in the States (which stands for Advanced Reader Copies). They usually have the same basic jacket design as the eventual, published, book, and will generally have been edited but possibly not proofread. So the words will be the right ones and in the right order, usually, but the odd error — a typo, for example, or a reference to the smell of a flower that has no odour1 — might remain.
I can still remember the first proof I was given — DBC Pierre’s Lights Out in Wonderland — and my disbelief when my agent (who is also his) handed it over. ‘This is for me?’ I said, incredulous. ‘And I don’t have to give it back? I can keep it?’
Back then I didn’t realise that, to a greater or lesser degree depending on the book, proofs are abundant, sometimes seeming almost to proliferate throughout the industry. They’re sent to and passed around between bloggers, reviewers, journalists, celebrities, event organisers and the like. Anyone in fact, who might be helpful in generating that all important ‘buzz’ for a new title. And no, those people don’t have to give them back (so what do they do with them? Well, that’d be telling…2) and neither do they haver to pay for them.
They’re also sent to established authors, too, in the hope that they will read them and give a line or two of fulsome praise that can be printed on the eventual jacket when the book is available to buy. These are usually called ‘blurbs’ (in the UK at least), or sometimes ‘puffs’ (from ‘puff piece’) or just the rather more mundane ‘quotes’.
In fact, I’ve heard rumour that one author, who ‘blurbs’ a lot of books once called a novel ‘utterly unputdownable’ and claimed to have read it ‘in one sitting’, only to then describe it as ‘rather boring in the latter half’ when he reviewed it some months later in a newspaper.
You know the ones. They usually involve adjectives (one of the very few times authors will use an adjective, in fact) and those adjectives will usually include ‘fantastic’, ‘gripping’, ‘heart-breaking’, ‘addictive’ ‘compelling’ and ‘brillant’. Sometimes so many adjectives have been crammed into the blurb that it can read rather like the author has been paid per adjective (and more on that later, too3), and it’s not unusual to find the same author has called anything up to four books ‘the best thing I’ve read this year’). In fact, I’ve heard rumour that one author, who ‘blurbs’ a lot of books (so many in fact, that I find it hard to believe that he can read them all, as well as write all the ones he manages to) once called a novel ‘utterly unputdownable’ and claimed to have read it ‘in one sitting’, only to then describe it as ‘rather boring in the latter half’ when he reviewed it some months later in a newspaper. Oops.
Now, if I sound cynical, then I’m sorry. I don’t mean to. I’ve benefited greatly from some wonderful quotes from my fellow authors, especially for my debut. I’ve also quoted on a fair few books myself (and yes, I have my favourite adjectives too, and they tend to be ‘compelling’, ‘unputdownable’ and ‘page-turning’). I don[t giveq quotes for anywhere near all the books I’m asked to — at one point I was getting something like 10 or 15 proofs a week, which is lovely (free books!) but also impossible (far too many to actually read!) — but I have done a fair few over the years.
So, did I read all the ones I blurbed? Does everyone? Can we really believe the quotes on the front of a jacket, or are they done as favours? Paid for, even? And a the end of the day, do they actually make any difference? Let’s dive in.