Who composes a Blurb for a book? The author, the publisher?
Who composes a Blurb for a book? The author, the publisher?
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I compose the blurbs in collaboration with my publisher; I come up with a draft, then we go back and forth until we get it right. I tend to let the publisher pick the tagline, because I figure they’re the experts on what grabs people. But with my latest book I wasn’t happy with the tagline so we removed it. Blurbs are so hard to do, as an author you’re never satisfied! I imagine with big publishers they are in charge of the blurb, which on the one hand must be a relief for the author, although I’m not sure I could relinquish that control!
Yep. This. For my indie work, I do my own. But I always have my beta readers help me make sure it fits the work and makes sense.
You don’t really compose blurbs, it’s more a case of clubbing them into submission.
If it’s an indie book, it’s all the author’s work.
I’m not going to name anyone but I have found with some books the blurb is misleading, they “suggest” something but when you read the book it’s different.
I have always written my own but I have finally succumbed and am paying a professional copywriter to revamp them all. The problem is that, as Bill says with a bit of humour, for authors the DIY job is very difficult, I think as we are so close to the stories we write. Distilling the essence of 100k words down to 150 is generally not easy for us!
Depends on the publisher I think.
As others have said, it depends whether it is Indie or mainstream. Whoever writes them, they shouldn’t be misleading. They may, of course, be open to interpretation. One person’s ‘gripping thriller’ may be someone else’s ‘big yawn’, for example 🙂
NIghtmare writing them.
Author with editor
My editor.
I’ve always given my publisher my blurb with my manuscript, they have then altered it as they saw fit.
@Alex me too
Depends, indie published its the author, published by a publishing company, it’s the copy-editor.
@Michael I write my own blurbs and design my own covers. Good or bad I’m a one-man band 🙂
Thanks for the like, Mel.
Penguin used to employ professional blurb writers (but then Penguin Blurb included the author’s biography on the flyleaf) and they used to get paid serious money. I know, as one of them became a teacher at my school, where he earned a lot less than he had working for Penguin. He eventually became a successful writer and broadcaster in his own right; Roger Deakin. Don’t know if he wrote his own blurbs.
I’ve been asked to write my own blurbs.
I write my own but my publisher usually tweaks it.
I write my own but publishers like to tweak it. It’s worse than writing a novel 😀 xx
@Sibel
Isn’t it just? ???
Totally! :O 😀 😉 xx
I write my own but condensing a one-hundred-thousand-word plot into a few compelling/inticing paragraphs, that potential readers will be teased by is tough to do! Key events without spoilers is the aim.
Cover copy is important and tricky. I work with authors to get it right.
I think that it should be like a menu displayed outside a taverna – is it enough to entice a person to enter?
I wrote three versions and my editor came up with the winner. I asked all my beta readers to help formulate a compelling blurb. Almost as hard as writing the whole book.