Blurb It Forward, by Jess Lourey

I have a question of much urgency: if you are an author, what is your policy on writing blurbs for other authors? If you are a reader, how much credibility do you give book cover blurbs? If you are an ethicist, what is your stand on being nice over being honest?

Here’s why I ask: just this week, I’ve been asked to blurb three books by first-time authors, all three published by small regional presses. I’ve been in their shoes, not knowing anyone in the business, needing that snippet of praise to put on the cover of May Day in 2005 so it didn’t look like the self-published loner in the corner. And you know what? I found out that the mystery community is incredibly supportive. Some of my favorite authors agreed to blurb me, an unknown writer, and thanks to their kindness to a stranger, I was able to break into the business with a fighting chance. I’d like to pay that forward, and as such, I’ve blurbed every booked that I’ve been asked to since then. Some were very good and some were just okay, but I could find something honestly nice to say about all of them.

But this time is different. One of the books I’ve just been asked to blurb is bad. Truly, irredeemably awful. In the off-chance that the gentleman reads this blog, I won’t use any direct quotes, but here are representative lines taken from “The Top 15 Bad Romance Novel Opening Lines”:

“Claire felt swept away by this dark stranger, a helpless dust bunny in the roaring cacophony of his gas-powered leaf blower.”

“"The heaving waves on the vast, ink-black ocean sent a salty spray over the proud bow of the three-masted ship, leaving beads of water on the exposed alabaster skin above the bodice of the tall, raven-haired woman who stood sobbing on the deck, her salty tears mixing with the storm-tossed sea."

"Gentle cascades of vermilion poured over Daphne's heaving, lily-white bosom. 'Call 911, Scooby,' she breathed."

Yup. Throw in a lot of product placement (I counted three businesses mentioned on one page alone: Wal-Mart, Applebees, and Starbucks, as in the main character had to stop at all three and tell us what he bought/ate).

Besides weak (over)writing, frequent grammar and spelling errors (it is an ARC), this one book I’ve been asked to blurb lacks any plot. Supposedly a mystery, I was on page 172 of 212 before a dead body appeared. Most everything to that point was a summary of the backstory peppered with sex scenes too bad to read but not bad enough to be funny.

So what do I do now? This gentleman worked hard on this novel, I know he did. He is also kind, polite, and intelligent. With a good editor and more practice, I don’t see any reason why he can’t improve his craft. And you know what? My first novel sucked, too. It was so bad, in fact, that I never found a publisher for it (thought it was because I was ahead of my time; in retrospect, it was just a shitty book). I want to encourage his dream and his discipline, but I don’t want to mislead an innocent shopper into dropping $15 on this sad puppy. Oh, and he needs the blurb by Friday. Help me! (WWJPD?)

Asking for Blurbs Never Gets Easier

I'm at the point in the publishing schedule for my March, 2011 Midnight Ink release, Deadly Currents, where I'm asking for blurbs from other mystery authors. This was terribly hard for me to do for my first published book, A Real Basket Case, and it hasn't gotten any easier. At least this time, my editor and I are sharing the workload. We brainstormed a dream wish list of Western and/or outdoorsy-oriented mystery authors and divvied up the list between us according to who had the best contacts with each author.

One wonderful author came through with a stellar blurb, shown below, just this afternoon. (PS. I love her books!) Two other authors have agreed to take a look at the manuscript, so please keep your fingers crossed for me that at least one more likes it!

"If you’ve wondered what white water river rafting is all about, get ready for a wild plunge into Colorado’s Arkansas River with Mandy Tanner, river ranger extraordinaire and dauntless sleuth. Beth Groundwater gets the mountain town of Salida and its cast of river denizens just right. Hurray for Deadly Currents, a heart-racing debut to a new series with as many twists and turns and unexpected upsets as a ride through the rapids itself."
---Margaret Coel, author of The Silent Spirit.

Asking established authors for blurbs is an imposition on them, a request for a huge chunk of their time to read your manuscript. There's no way I would ask such a large favor of an author that I have had no contact with and done nothing for on my part. The best way to help this process along is to start doing favors for the authors you may want to approach for blurbs in the future. Show up at their signings and buy their books. Post complimentary reviews of their books on bookseller websites and mystery discussion groups. Recommend their books to friends. Do other favors for them, such as putting them in touch with experts they need for their current research project, volunteering to help on their latest MWA or SinC project, etc. That way, you've established a professional networking relationship with them, and asking for a return favor is not such an imposition.

Also, don't assume or imply that once they read the work, they should think it worthy of a blurb. When I ask established author contacts to blurb my book, I ask them if they would be willing to read the manuscript and IF they like it, to consider giving me a blurb. I ask them at least 6-8 weeks before the blurb is required by my publisher and state the deadline clearly, so they can determine if they have time in their busy schedules to read my manuscript. And timing the request is important, too. If the author is working toward a looming manuscript deadline or is out on the road promoting a new release, it may be best to wait a few weeks before asking. That may mean the blurb doesn't make it into the catalog, but it may make it onto the review galleys/ARCs and the back cover of the published book.

Thankfully, for A Real Basket Case, four fellow Colorado mystery authors graciously read my manuscript and crafted glowing blurbs: Kathy Brandt, Margaret Coel, Christine Goff, and Maggie Sefton. I think their words of praise definitely helped my sales. I thanked them--in writing--for their efforts and gave them each a small gift basket, put together with advice from my gift basket designer protagonist, Claire Hanover. Many authors give their blurbers an autographed copy of their book once it's published, and that's a fine gift, too.

I've got my thinking cap on for thank you gifts for my Deadly Currents blurbers. Anyone got any ideas? A miniature whitewater raft full of chocolates? A gift certificate for a whitewater rafting ride near where they live? Smoked salmon and bagels?