This is my second time begging asking for blurbs. It never gets easier–you are asking, in some cases, a virtual stranger, to drop everything and read your book, and implied in there is that they will like it and write a nice blurb–but now I have a larger circle of writer friends, so it wasn’t as painful as it was with Geography. While some of the ten writers never responded, a gratifying number did, with evocative prose that made me want to read all of their books (that is the point, isn’t it?)
What is entertaining to me about blurbs is that often they reflect more about the blurb writer than the actual book. Some people soared into philosphical discussions, while others wrote blurbs that were actual poetry. They were all good–there wasn’t any bad here, despite the title of this post–but I felt like I could have read these without knowing who wrote them and been able to make a pretty good guess.
Do blurbs make readers buy a book? I kind of doubt it, unless it’s someone highly published and even then…I feel like most readers look at the front, flip to the back, and ruffle a few pages to make their decision. But the publishing industry loves blurbs and so we have them. It actually is a win for the blurbers in many ways. I actually do look at blurbs and if one catches my eye, I may look up that book and that author. That’s the point!
At any rate, I’m glad that task is behind me. I have never been someone who feels comfortable asking for favors. And there’s always this–what if the blurber doesn’t like the book? I wonder about the three people who didn’t respond. Maybe they didn’t! Maybe they hated it! Because what would be worse than writing a gritted-teeth blurb of a book you didn’t like? An awful position to be in!
I won’t be sad if blurbs go away, but I doubt they will. You have to pull out all the stops these days. I think many people would rather listen to the audible version if they read books at all anymore. Isn’t it easier just to watch TV? I still love to read, though, and I have to believe other people do too. Bring on the blurbs, people!