How To Get Blurbs For Your Book

Really, all you need to do is send an advance copy of your book to an influencer, and ask.

“I have seen the future of horror … and it is named Clive Barker.” — Stephen King

With that single mid-80’s blurb, the King himself veritably made the career of one who would, in short time, become another master. The scepter was not passed down so much as shared.

The importance of this cannot be overstated. Stephen King was and is among the most popular authors in the United States, if not the world. He is a veritable living legend with an output second to none, who was in his heyday when he wrote that blurb. In the midst of a remarkable run with “Carrie,” “Salem’s Lot,” “The Shining,” “The Dead Zond,” and “The Stand,” King did not have to promote anyone, much less a potential competitor.

As for the newcomer to the scene, consider that “Hellraiser’s” Pinhead may never have existed as a horror film icon if King’s praise didn’t come so forcefully, and so early, in Clive Barker’s literary career.

Reality Check: Prepare To Do The Work

Blurbs can be more important than publication to a writer. A book can always be published, but if it gets no attention … what then?

This is the equivalent of a filmmaker’s conundrum. All of those thousands upon thousands of movies you have never heard of, hidden in the nether realms of Amazon, Netflix and Hulu? Teams of people spent weeks or months of their lives on these projects, if not longer. The projects were filmed … and then summarily dumped onto streaming media as the producers could not find proper distribution. Three people may make the time to see these films. 10 if luck intervenes. Maybe 20 if the families and friends of those responsible tune in.

The films had no real advantage going in. Winning an award at some obscure film festival few have heard of is no advantage at all.

Blurbs are the advantage for books.

Successful books (and authors) are a function of prudent marketing, which includes not only attaining blurbs but also a willingness on the part of the writer to continually self-promote (and maybe use new blurbs for future editions; it’s an unending process).

Most importantly, the quality of the writing is key. Now, before you toss your copies of “Twilight” and “Fifty Shades of Grey” at me with shouts that quality means little and storytelling means more … perhaps there’s an argument to be made.

(No, I am not personally casting shade on either. The fact remains that neither series was critically acclaimed. And also, yes, I am aware that the latter series was conceptualized as fan fiction for the former.)

Be careful with that last statement, however, especially if you are self-publishing your work. Though there are always exceptions, if you happen to self-publish, be aware your book will be prejudiced from the beginning, primarily due to past self-published authors’ carelessness with all or some of the following: the writing, the editing, the formatting, the cover.

To be clear, Andrew Weir’s “The Martian” was self-published so understand there are no hard and fast rules in this regard. Well, maybe one: Your book needs to be immaculate before it’s released to the world. Your future depends on it.

Regardless of publishing mechanism, however, when great writing meets spectacular story, or, in Barker’s case, stories, you just may capture the attention of a major cultural influencer like he did.

So How Do You Do It?

First, a disclaimer. I am friendly with several prominent New York Times bestselling novelists. I will not use the article to namedrop, so I will not include their names here. I will, however, explain what I’ve been taught in this regard, frequently with their help, and what I’ve utilized from those lessons.

There are several ways to attain blurbs for your soon-to-be-published book:

Social media networking. When one of my favorite authors, widely considered a cultural icon, posted on her official Facebook page that she purchased two copies of my first novel, “The Chronicles of Ara: Creation,” I used some of her kind words to my benefit. How did I attain her attention? I posted some random online articles to her Facebook page, which at the time was followed by well over a million readers. I was able to use some of her words as a blurb for later editions. I asked her, “How do you get such great blurbs for your books?” Her response? “I ask my friends.” A minute later she verified a dirty little truth: writers do favors for writers, without always reading the material. One needs to have those writer friends, but one can also attain them moving forward by haunting social media. Rely on your moral compass to determine your comfort level, there.

Another popular author, an old family friend, informed me that regardless of marketing budget and past success, an author always has to get out and promote both the work and themselves. I was surprised, as he has been published by a major for many years. “They will only do so much,” he said. “Book tours aren’t everything.” I asked him for a blurb. I had one over my email a week later. To date, in all sincerity, I have no idea if he really read my book.

Attend book and author conferences and trade shows, and increase your network. Send your new contacts a kind email, and ask if they would take the time to read your book if you send a copy to them. The mistake most newer authors make in this regard is that they’ll never believe anyone of any prominence will take the time. Let me dispute that. If you send 100 queries for a book blurb to popular authors, and you get a single response agreeing to check out your work — which is statistically very likely — that’s half the battle. If they like your book, chances are that 1% return rate was a success. Your odds have not only now substantially increased, but you have also proven to yourself you can capture the attention of someone who could impact your career. If you get no responses at all, or the writer did not care for your material, ask them why, and learn. If digitally printed, you may want to tweak your work, and then send out another hundred queries. It only takes one. Why give up?

Pay for a Kirkus review. You are taking a chance, though, as Kirkus will post a full review on their website. But if that review is positive …

There are several other online services that review books in exchange for payment. I am not keen on this approach in general, but some do have reputations for honesty and integrity. Do your research.

Send books to bloggers. Many who blog are social media influencers themselves. A good review can be excerpted as a blurb and work wonders.

Lean on your real life and social media friends. You never know who knows someone unless you ask.

Once you attain your blurbs, post the most powerful among them on your book’s front cover if you can, post some more on the back and inside, and share them on Amazon and anywhere else you find prudent to market.

If you have but one, post it on the front cover.

Remember, the power of the ask will always be your difference-maker. Blurbs help to sell books. Simple. Without asking for a blurb, none of what has preceded here will make a whit of difference.

Hopefully, I’ve made a whit of difference.

Thank you for reading.

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