The term blurb has been around for just over a century. It is attributed to the American humorist Gelett Burgess. He provided a drawing of an appealing woman whom he named "Miss Blurb" to be printed on the back cover of his book alongside a promotional text. Thereafter. the concept of having a blurb to promote a book stuck with publishers, in text form at least.
Back Cover Blurb
Publishers will often ask authors to write a back cover blurb although the final text will normally be done in conjunction with a publisher's marketing department.
This promotional text is normally around 100 words long, and will probably be more difficult for any author to write than the writing of a whole book.
The back cover blurb is in some respects a synopsis of the book, but it has several functions:
- to describe the story without giving away the ending
- to convey the genre, type, or style of the book
- to entice the reader to buy the book
- to highlight the book's unique qualities
Often authors find it difficult to "sell" their book in the way that marketing experts would like and so normally the author will provide a short synopsis. The publisher's marketing department will then get to work on the synopsis and turn it into a promotional blurb. After this is done, authors will normally receive the text for approval, and will discuss various changes if they feel that the blurb doesn't reflect properly the tone or content of the book.
Book Review Quotes
The term blurb is sometimes applied to the book review quotes which appear on the back of a book, on posters, or on advertisements for a book. Phrases or sentences such as "'a riveting page-turner' - New York Times" are extracted from a review and used to give a good impression of a book. It is a well-known fact that sometimes these phrases are pulled out of context e.g. the full sentence in the New York Times may have read "If you are looking for a riveting page-turner, don't buy this book". It is for this reason, that the word blurb is associated with any text used with the sole purpose of promoting sales of a book.
Self-Published Authors
Writers who take advantage of the latest Print on Demand technology to self-publish, are required to provide their own blurbs. Writing a blurb should never be tackled as an afterthought. The blurb is a reader's first contact with a book, and in 100 or so words, it might be their last contact with a book: therefore writing a blurb is a difficult and important task, not to be tackled lightly.
The Perfect Blurb
The ideal blurb should be:
- appealing – attracting the reader to the book
- intriguing – making the reader want to know how the story unfolds
The ideal blurb should avoid:
- hyperbole
- blatant advertising
The blurb is potentially the most important piece of writing that any author will ever do. Any writers considering the self-publishing route, should make a point of doing some research into the back cover blurbs of books in a similar genre or style - noting what works for them, and what doesn't - before tackling the writing of their own.
Read more articles about the basics of freelance writing.
Janice Hally - Janice Hally has written more than 300 broadcast hours of prime-time TV drama in the UK, as well as fiction and non-fiction books.
