Blurbs

 

 

How much weight we should give to blurbs or recommendations for a novel from other authors.

 

I see so many blurbs for any given novel that are by writers from either the same agent's or the same publisher's stable.

 

** you're an anomaly in that you notice these things. Most general readers do not.

 

While I understand, and do believe, that authors most often do genuinely love the works of fellow authors (and are rooting for them), I sometimes wonder whether pressure is put upon them to say something positive about their stable mates regardless of how they really feel about the book. And even if an author doesn't share an agent or editor/publisher, isn't asking someone to blurb a book kind of like putting them on the spot/in a corner?

 

**asking for blurbs is an art form. When I go hunting for blurbs, I know I'm asking for a huge favor, not just their reading time but also lending their name/endorsement to something.

 

And if the writer doesn't like they book, they are under NO obligation to lie/obfuscate.

 

I see this mostly from the other side: my authors asked to blurb a book that turns out to be something they do NOT want to do.

 

That's why I have my writers run blurb requests through me. If they don't want to blurb, I am the one to reply with an artful decline.

 

 

 

I can only assume that if an author politely declines to blurb (does this ever happen?)

**hell yes

 

it would make them seem ungenerous and mean.

**no it does not.

 

I know that if I were in that position, I would fabricate something nice to say about a book I didn't connect with or thought was lacking.

 

** your agent will smack you on the snout should you reveal this to them.  Your name and endorsement have value. The last thing you want to do is undercut that value by endorsing a book you do not love. Chances are your reader won’t love it either.

 

It's not a big deal. I have worked in marketing (outside of the literary world) and understand the whole "process". But in the regular marketing world it's quite out in the open that X (celebrity) is being paid Y (amount of money) to endorse Z (product or brand). In the literary world, I wonder if authors are being constantly put upon to deliver positive blurbs for books they might secretly dislike.

 

**PAID??? Authors are not paid for blurbs. Not now. Not ever. Never.

Celebrities aren't paid to endorse books either.

If someone offered my clients money to endorse a book, I would tell them of course but I'd recommend saying no.  For starters being paid has to appear in the ad. The FTC requires that now. And it completely eliminates any value for the blurb.

 

 

As to your first question: how much attention should you give blurbs?

As much as you want to. Authors aren't paid to write them, and generally do not blurb books they don't like. Sure, there's some sense of obligation to blurb a book if it's edited by your editor, but savvy successful writers are pretty deft about not doing things they think will harm them.

 

 

But if the research holds, blurbs aren't worth much for gaining readers. The number one way to build sales and visibility is still word of mouth. People you know talking about books they liked.

 

That's one of the reasons I'm heartbroken that Twitter is in intensive care. It was a great place to see people talk about books they loved.

 

Some of that is still there but it's waning as the algorithms play havoc with what tweets are visible and people leave for other platforms.