Getting great blurbs for your book

As soon as your manuscript is finished, before publication, send it to people known as authorities in your field. Ask them for some short comments you can use for “blurbs” for the cover of your book. As a self publisher, great blurbs will add credibility to your book -- particularly if the person quoted is an expert on your topic.

Don’t be shy about asking for blurbs from prominent people you don’t know. Leaders in your field want to hear from up-and-coming writers. The worst thing that can happen is you won’t get the blurb. But if you get a great blurb, it could prompt bookstore buyers to take your work more seriously, and order more copies.

But remember, the person giving the blurb must be well known to your reader, or at least have a relevant credentials you can mention briefly under the blurb. A blurb from a nobody adds no weight to your product.

Some self-publishing writers who maintain a Web site or blog even ask their site visitors to submit blurbs. Some self-publishers even host blurb contests, letting their readers compete to offer the snappiest blurb.

The origin of the word “blurb” dates to 1907, where it appeared on a book by humor writer Gelette Burgess. A "Miss Belinda Blurb" offered outrageously flattering comments on the book’s contents.

My two nominations for the greatest blurbs of all time:

“This is just the book to give your sister if she's a loud, dirty, boozy girl.”

-- Dylan Thomas on the dust jacket of At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O’Brien.

“Don’t leave the Solar System without it!”
-- Robert Forward on the cover of “The Starflight Handbook” by Matloff and Mallove.




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