The Insider World of Book Blurbs

Posted on May 28, 2008

Those book blurbs wouldn't be there on the cover if they didn't matter. A New York Post article says that a good blurb can help generate book sales. If you have a well-known author or celebrity blurb your book people will notice it and it may help tempt them into purchasing it. To get these blurbs it is often all about who you know. The Post article also suggests that there is a supposed controversy about whether former book publicist Sloane Crosley used her insider clout to obtain blurbs for her book, I Was Told There'd Be Cake.

And I meant every hyperbolic word of it. See, sometimes you can judge a book by its blurber.
"I have no idea at this point how many books I've blurbed," says humorist Jonathan Ames, who is approached frequently to dish out book-jacket praise.
"It may be about 50. It might make some long, strange poem if I was to collect them all."
In fact, one of his blurbs was even declared "best blurb" by New York magazine for "The Only Bush I Trust Is My Own," which Ames notes, "on the title alone, deserved a great blurb."
While he tries to blurb honestly, he does admit, "Once I promised someone that I would blurb their book, and then I read it and didn't feel so strongly about it. This was years ago. But I blurbed it anyway, and then a fan e-mailed me and said they bought the book because of my blurb and were sorely disappointed. I felt bad about this. But I guess it shows that blurbs actually do work once in a while."
Oh, they totally work. Even if it's just to generate an article about blurbing.
Publicist - and now best-selling author - Sloane Crosley (who, yes, has a blurb from Ames) has seen press from Radar to New York magazine about her bevy of notable blurbs as a first-time author, the question being whether she "cheated" by using her publishing clout to secure out-of-sight blurbs.

Book publicity is hard work. Sloane Crosley probably made many contacts during her years working as a book publicist and she used them to help get blurbs for her book. Whether or not the blurbs justify the book is ultimately up to the readers. If an author unfairly praises a book with an over-the-top blurb readers will notice and it could come back to haunt them - especially if they do it frequently.