Blurb quest

I’m a week away from having to turn in my blurbs. A blurb is that endorsement on the back cover or (in the case of one provided by someone Big Time) on the front cover, which an author or authority writes praising a book.

So far, I have one. But it’s one that I’m very pleased to have.

John Bowe author of Nobodies was kind enough to give WAIW? a read and offer up several different endorsements for me to choose from. Alas, none of them say that my book changed his world or that it was the best book ever written, but they are much more sincere. It is obvious that John read the book, thought about it, and gave his genuine opinion on what he liked about it.

Personally, I would be more interested to know what he didn’t like about it. At this point in my writing career I’m much more into criticism than praise. Although, I suppose that anti-blurbs wouldn’t play well on the cover of a book: “Timmerman will likely never progress much beyond underwear journalism. But I guess the book was okay.”

The same goes for my shopping habits on Amazon. I skip right past the 5-star reviews – likely the reviews from the author’s friends and family anyhow – and go straight for the 1-stars. I look for reasons not to buy a book. I’m glass-half-empty that way.

I was at a writer’s conference once where a fella who was both an author and an agent said that he often wrote the blurbs himself and then sent them to people for approval. This way the blurber didn’t even have to read the work or take the time to write a few sentences about a book they probably didn’t read anyhow.

I’m not sure how much stock I put in blurbs before, but after that it dropped considerably.

John’s well thought out blurb has somewhat renewed my faith in the practice. I hope someday someone asks me to blurb their book so I can return the favor.