Jacket blurbs

If the author has no objections reading it, go for it! Why wouldn't a writer want something great written on the jacket covers from a fellow author. I'd do it in a second, but I'm not published yet. That's next years goal.
I don't know where they come from, whether requested by author, agent or publisher, but I want them. Lots of them.

I asked authors I know for all the blurbs I got for my novels-- sometimes they have to say "no," but many times they've agreed. As far as I know you can wait until you get a contract to search out blurbs, unless it's by a very well-known author and says something specific about your story.

(If you write non-fiction, I think you need more upfront blurbs before submitting!)

A commercial publisher should send your ms. out for blurbs once you've turned in the final revisions. But it never hurts to approach authors on your own. If you do, though, be sure you do it with a personal letter that lets the author know you're approaching them because you like and are familiar with their work. If the author thinks you pulled their name out of a hat, or are sending them a thinly disguised form letter, you probably won't even get a response.

- Victoria

I did contact some of my favorite authors. But they all turned me down.

azbikergirl said:

Where do they come from? Does the publisher request them? Is it considered poor taste/form for an author to ask another author to read her book and write a blurb?

I got my first one (and it rocks!), but I want more, More, MORE! Preferably from authors who write in the same genre.

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I think we need to distinguishe between the actual blurb and author comments?

I've never heard of other authors writing blurbs; usually, either the author herself or the publisher writes those. You know, where it says what the book is about.

My publisher asked me for names of authors I'd like to get comments from, and I gave them a few but either the authors refused or my publisher didn't approach them at all. They got their own sets of author blurbs; I only knew one of the authors who gave comments nad hadn't read any of them. One of them, Barbara Erskine, is quite famous. I made a point of reading all their books when I got their comments, but I was disappointed. I didn't like any of them.

The publisher then went and used the same comments for all my books, which was another disappointment because, having read these author's books and realising that they wrote copletely different books to mine, I felt they were inappropriate and would not really help sales. That must sound very ungrateful, but I think if fans of those authors buy my books because of the comments they'll bve disappointed, whereas those who MIGHT like my books but don't like Barbara Erskine etc won't buy them. It's important to get the right kind of author comments.

I still have Barbara Erskine's comments on my front covers: "A wonderful, panoramic storyteller."

Blurb

aruna said:

I think we need to distinguishe between the actual blurb and author comments?

I've never heard of other authors writing blurbs; usually, either the author herself or the publisher writes those. You know, where it says what the book is about.

My publisher asked me for names of authors I'd like to get comments from, and I gave them a few but either the authors refused or my publisher didn't approach them at all. They got their own sets of author blurbs; I only knew one of the authors who gave comments nad hadn't read any of them. One of them, Barbara Erskine, is quite famous. I made a point of reading all their books when I got their comments, but I was disappointed. I didn't like any of them.

The publisher then went and used the same comments for all my books, which was another disappointment because, having read these author's books and realising that they wrote copletely different books to mine, I felt they were inappropriate and would not really help sales. That must sound very ungrateful, but I think if fans of those authors buy my books because of the comments they'll bve disappointed, whereas those who MIGHT like my books but don't like Barbara Erskine etc won't buy them. It's important to get the right kind of author comments.

I still have Barbara Erskine's comments on my front covers: "A wonderful, panoramic storyteller."

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What other writers put on your book is the jacket blurb, and what you or the publisher writes is the jacket copy. What Barbara Erskine said is a blurb. From WordWeb dictionary. "Blurb" "A promotional statement (As found on the dust jackets of published books. Ex. "The author got all his friends to write blurbs for his book.)"

Jacket copy is the part where you, or the publisher, writes a brief synopsis to tell readers what the book is about. It probably comes from newspaper speak wherein "copy" means "A journalistic account," which is why newspapers used to have "copy boys," and why newspapers and publishers still have "copy editors."

I personally asked authors for reviews/ cover comments. The PR person said that a personal note was more likely to get a positive response than a cold impersonal request from a publisher. I found two "biggies" in my genre - one said yes, one said no.

And the yes came with the standard caveat - "if I don't like it, I can' recommend it". Well of course. And not everyone will like every book. I was just thrilled that this author, I'm a big fan, is going to at least look at my book! She even called me a collegue. (did I spell that right? It looks funny). Ok, done gushing.

Jamesaritchie said:

What other writers put on your book is the jacket blurb, and what you or the publisher writes is the jacket copy. What Barbara Erskine said is a blurb. From WordWeb dictionary. "Blurb" "A promotional statement (As found on the dust jackets of published books. Ex. "The author got all his friends to write blurbs for his book.)"

Jacket copy is the part where you, or the publisher, writes a brief synopsis to tell readers what the book is about. It probably comes from newspaper speak wherein "copy" means "A journalistic account," which is why newspapers used to have "copy boys," and why newspapers and publishers still have "copy editors."

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I think it must be defined differntly here in the UK, james; my editor always referred to the "jacket copy" as a blurb, and referred to the comments as, well, comments... oh well, doesn't matter.

Google defines it both ways:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-08,GGLD:en&q=define%3A+blurb

Christine N. said:

She even called me a collegue. (did I spell that right? It looks funny). Ok, done gushing.

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"colleague" looks better, doesn't it?

azbikergirl said:

Thanks for the replies. I figured I'd approach a few of my favorite writers whose work I like (thinking maybe they'd like mine, too). I just didn't want to if it Wasn't Done.

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Please hurry up and become a famous author so you can write a killer blurb for my book. Thanks.

Nateskate said:

Please hurry up and become a famous author so you can write a killer blurb for my book. Thanks.

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Oh yes, indeed! That goes for all of us here!

aruna said:

I think it must be defined differntly here in the UK, james; my editor always referred to the "jacket copy" as a blurb, and referred to the comments as, well, comments... oh well, doesn't matter.

Google defines it both ways:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-08,GGLD:en&q=define%3A+blurb

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Interesting. But I think the web screws everything up, given enough time. The editors I've had in the UK have always used the traditional defintitions. They really need to be kept separate, else there's no way of knowing which someone is talking about.

go to a lot of book signings and conventions and get to know other authors. That's how I've got two published writers to agree to giving me jacket blurbs when my book gets out there.

Christine N. said:

I personally asked authors for reviews/ cover comments. The PR person said that a personal note was more likely to get a positive response than a cold impersonal request from a publisher.

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For a smaller publisher without name recognition, this may be true, but if you're with a larger house, a request from your editor is far more likely to get a response than a request from you.

- Victoria

Bear in mind that I'm talking about nonfiction books here (since I have no experience with fiction): when we are in the manuscript editing stages (the authors are under contract, have submitted a mansucript, and we're all rolling along), we send out review copies of the manuscript and blurb requests to selected authors, experts in the field, or other appropriate potential blurbers. I always ask my authors either for a list of potential contacts we can send the manuscript to, or if they are comfortable and prefer it, to do it themselves. We've had great success obtaining comments from well-known experts simply by asking nicely. I emailed James McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian at Princeton and told him we had a new Civil War book for kids that I hoped he'd take a look at, and he was incredible--reviewed the entire thing, made some suggestions for revisions and additions, and gave us a really terrific blurb. Tom Wolfe and some pretty big Sports Illustrated guys helped us out on another book, too.
I'm not sure it matters if your blurbers are fiction authors or simply people who are in a position to comment appropriately on the book:scientists, politicians, historians, etc. are also really good sources.

Aruna, the reason your publisher may have used the same quotes for more than one book is that they could have gotten a bit jammed up and didn't get the new book out for blurbing in time before they needed to go to press. We've had that problem occasionally, and I've re-edited longer blurbs about an author to fit a second book when I didn't have a specific good quote ready for her new one. Publishers usually cover themselves by saying, "Praise for XX's writing" and then listing the earlier book title and the quote, or simply using a quote that comments on the author's general writing style. It's better to have a recycled quote than no quote at all.

For Jenna's latest book, she asked for--and received--terrific blurbs from all sorts of respected experts in the field, and had a response far faster than any we could have received. I'm sure we'll get some great reviews from the trades, too.

Sometimes authors reach a little too high for potential blurbers or they are looking in the wrong places: we had an author who wanted the head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to endorse his book. Well, me too, but since neither one of us knew this person and the author's book wasn't especially relevant to anything pertaining to the Met, I wasn't going there.

I'm with Aruna. I've never heard the brief synopsis called anything but a 'blurb'.

I met an author at a book signing (what a sincerely nice person he was). My husband is my best PR/bragger for me, and had the guts to ask this author if he'd be willing to read my novel and offer a blurb. Keep in mind, I don't even have a published novel yet, but that's my hubby for you.

Anyway, he was very kind, and directed us to send the request through his editor. My hubby followed up with an email, and the author did confirm that the request was acceptable.

I only hope he remembers me by the time I actually have a darned book.