Book Blurbs, My Latest Book Review, My Latest Author Interview, and More

Book Blurbs

Seems the latest things that folks in the writing and publishing communities are complaining about is book blurbs. You know, the glowing recommendations from Stephen King or Margaret Atwood or whoever that declares, “This book is immaculate! Luminous! A page turner!” Two excellent articles in Esquire and The Atlantic talk in-depth about this: the blurb fiasco, the broken system, the publishing industry plague. And in some cases, the authors of these articles are right. In other cases, they are off base. Look, I feel blurbs are important; many people feel they don’t matter at all. But if they weren’t important, then they wouldn’t be highly sought after. They wouldn’t be put on books at all if they didn’t matter. In the weird calculus of what makes a book attractive to a potential reader / buyer, an excellent blurb along with a beautiful cover and a compelling book description can move books to the cash register or shopping cart. So why are people crapping on book blurbs? Because the system can be rigged.

Where the argument in these two articles seems to make sense is at the big publisher level where big corporations with lots of money to gamble on big sales do seem to have the system rigged. When books like American Dirt come out with glowing reviews from all the top authors and review outlets, then it seems like this book is the greatest thing since who-knows-what, until it isn't. Many felt this novel appropriated Mexican culture by a white author, and that’s when all the authors who blurbed this novel backpedaled, many even claiming that they didn’t even read the novel in the first place. The curtain was quickly pulled back. Many screamed that the system was rigged and that blurbs were suspect. In this case, they were absolutely right.

But in my experience, this isn’t the case at all. I have almost no connections in the traditional publishing world. I don’t have an MFA. Until this year, I had only self-published my books. I did have a few publishing credits with literary journals under my belt. I had been a published cartoonist. But I didn’t get my first book contract with a traditional publisher until the spring of 2022. I didn’t sign with a literary agent until the fall of 2022. I’m 52 years old now and have been writing fiction for over thirty years. So, when I reached out to my favorite authors for book blurbs for my new novel, it wasn’t some “Hell Mary” pass. I had read their books and felt a deep connection to them and their work as it was reflected in my own new novel. I had interviewed some of them for my show Austin Liti Limits or met them through writers groups I belonged to. I didn’t have an agent at the time when I requested these blurbs or a publicist or an editor with deep industry connections. I made these “author friendships” on my own and asked nicely. I explained the connection I saw with them and my novel. I gladly agreed to wait for up to six months for them to read my novel and write a blurb as most of them were very busy with their own writing careers or day jobs like teaching or editing. And once the blurbs came back to me, these authors explained in detail what they liked about my book and really wanted to stand behind it and me, show their support, so I knew that they read it and enjoyed it. And I’m so very appreciative of that. Their blurbs gave me a real boost because I admire them and their work. My hope is that their blurbs will be part of the overall package of publishing my book, giving it validation to readers who may not know me, but know the authors who’ve blurb my book. If that is the ultimate reason they plunk down money for my book, then I will be forever grateful.