Thread by @PomericoD

My favorite part of editing is:

Reaching out to other authors for blurbs,

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#wednesdaythreadsday

When trying to get people excited about a new book, publishers often want quotes from names readers recognize to entice them to take a look. In the US, we call those blurbs (in the UK, the blurb is the cover copy itself)

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Now, how well these blurbs work in doing that is debatable—there is no easy correlation between number of blurbs/specific authors blurbing/quality of the blurb and sales

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That said, there IS a corollary between blurbs and accounts (bookstores, libraries, etc) putting in orders. This NPR article discusses that better than I can on Twitter: npr.org/2015/09/27/429…

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Blurbs also help build up that in-house buzz that gets a book from being the passion project of a single editor to something the whole publishing group can get behind. And that enthusiasm can spill outside, and create great word of mouth.

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Ultimately, the goal is for a blurb is for readers to say “Oh, [author X] likes this, and I like [author x], so maybe I’ll like this, too!”

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And so we go after them. And by “we,” I mean “editors.”*

*(Authors also go after blurbs themselves, as do their agents. In all cases, I figure the experience is roughly the same)

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What this looks like is usually:

“Hi, Giant Author! I’m someone you don’t know, and I have a book you’ve never heard of? Please read it, love it, and endorse it!”

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(And nowadays, there’s the further caveat of “Oh, and after we get a quote from you, we’d also love if you could then do something about it on social media as well, directing people to pages where they can buy this book.”)

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Now, if we've built up relationships with agents, other editors, and authors themselves, this becomes a little easier. But often it’s a blind query—and more often, it’s a blind query to an intermediary (the agent or editor of said author), rather than the author themselves.

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If you’re starting to see similarities to this process as with the querying-for-an-agent or submitting-to-a-publisher process…you’re right!

(And yes, that means editors go through rejection, too!)

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Because lots of times the people you really want to blurb are also the writers that are super-busy. Or, their agents/editors NEED them to be super-busy, and so don’t want to even give them the option (oh, yeah, that’s a thing). And sometimes you just don’t hear back.

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When you don’t hear back on the request, that’s bad enough. Even worse, though, is when you DO get it into the writer’s hands…and then don’t hear back.

Did they not have time?

Did they not get the galley?

Did they…

hate it????

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Meanwhile, as an editor, you’re on some hard deadlines to get the quotes on the cover—you might be able to get the printer to add a quote from someone like Oprah or the Pope at the last minute, but don’t count on it.

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And all this without statistical evidence of the efficacy of these blurbs?

Yes!

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Why? For a number of reasons.

1)We’re trying to show that there’s a community of readership out there. That if you have three blurbs, you potentially have three groups of author’s readers willing to at least consider this new book.

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2) We’re trying to establish that this new author “plays” at the level of established authors; that having their names on this book means they’re all part of the same club:

Professional Writer

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3) We’re trying to get all that in-house and account enthusiasm we mentioned above. I may love a particular book, but I need others to love it and actually SELL it. So now they don’t have to just take my word as the editor, they have others they can rely on, too.

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4) We’re trying to make the author feel good!

And don’t discount this—it might be the most important part. As an editor, we’re building a relationship with the author, and it’s great to be able to give them these moments of confirmation.

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All of this is to say: this is not a fun process. It’s tedious, it’s time-consuming, and there’s no way to point to evidence that it actually sells copies.

But you get even just one great blurb, and, well—that’s really fun!

Fin

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Some quick, fun stories:

Once didn't plan on going out for blurbs (it was book 2). The author did (and told me he was going to). Figured "Great, we'll use on social media and whatnot."

Giant names came through with blurbs. Past the print deadline.

Now I owe Production drinks.

Another:

Reached out directly to an author. Wrote my letter, pitched the book, felt great.

Had copy-and-pasted letter I had sent to another author for the same book.

Didn't change the salutation, making my "you're the first I thought of" line feel just a BIT off.

Another (and a common one):

Me: "Hey, will you blurb this book?"
Writer; "Sure!"
*Weeks later*
Writer: "Really liked it. What do you want me to say?"
Me: *writes out the exact blurb I want*
Writer: "Great--put my name on it!"