Simon & Schuster’s New Blurb Policy Ignites Debate in the Publishing Industry
Simon & Schuster’s new policy to stop soliciting blurbs from other authors has sparked debate in the book publishing industry, highlighting the practice of log rolling and the importance of authentic blurbs from qualified individuals.
Simon & Schuster rocked the book publishing world when it told its authors to quit soliciting blurbs from other authors, a practice that has existed practically since the Gutenberg Bible first rolled off the presses.
The publishing house was trying to attack a serious problem that’s afflicted book publishing for decades, even though no one was ever willing to admit its existence. It’s this: most people who blurb books (give those positive, pithy quotes you see on back covers) never read the book in the first place.
It’s called log rolling—you blurb my book, and I’ll blurb yours. Better still, you write the blurb that you want me to put my name to on your book, and I’ll do exactly the same for you.
Blurbs are a critically important part of the buying decision for book buyers and book readers. First, you look at the title. Is this intriguing? Then you look at the subtitle. What exactly will I get from this book? What’s the unique value proposition the book offers?
Then you check out the name of the author. Have I heard of this person? Or does his or her job sound important enough and relevant to the subject of this book?
If a book checks all of those boxes, the natural tendency is to flip it over and look at the blurbs on the back cover. Typically, there are three to five blurbs, sometimes fewer, sometimes more. All of them are from people who, at least in theory, ought to be able to judge the value of the book.
If you are not handling the book in a bookstore or library, chances are you are looking at it on Amazon or one of the other book-selling platforms. In that case, you will find the blurbs right at the top of the page, because publishers and authors want those positive statements to influence your buying decision.
Whenever I see a series of blurbs for whom the only indication of qualification is “author of” some other book in the field, I’m wary. I assume that we’re just looking at more log rolling, more fake blurbs, and there’s no way to know if the book is actually any good or not.
So what’s an author to do?
Very simply, if you want readers to benefit from the social proof that blurbs offer, don’t ask other authors for blurbs. Readers aren’t stupid. They won’t be fooled by the fact that a bunch of authors praised your book, even without checking whether you praised any of theirs.
Instead, there are just two qualifications for blurbs that make them worth taking up some of that valuable real estate on the back of a book.
Number one: is the blurber famous enough that readers will stop in their tracks and say, “Wow! Bill Gates or Marco Rubio or Dr. Jill Biden loved this book. Wow! It must be good!”
Number two: the blurber may not be famous, but the job title of the blurber is impressive to readers of this book.
As in, “Wow! The CEO of [insert name of big tech firm/investment bank/movie studio] likes this book! It must be great!”
Anyone who doesn’t fit into one of those two groups is simply not worth having blurbed your book.
If you got a review in a major news outlet, or if a top social media influencer said nice things about you, that goes on the back of the book. Otherwise, there are no exceptions.
So now the question becomes how to get blurbs from those people, especially if you’ve never met them.
I’ve been a practicing ghostwriter for 35 years, responsible for more than a thousand books. Here’s the Unique Blurbing Strategy I share with my clients:
1. Make a list of six to ten influential people in your world, either whose names or job titles will be impressive to your potential readers.
2. Make a list of three to five key benefits that your book offers readers.
3. Write blurbs containing those benefits.
4. Get the email addresses of the people you are looking for. Email addresses can frequently be found online.
5. Send each of those people a note like this: Dear Dr. Smith, attached is the manuscript of a new book I’m writing called “How To Make A Billion Dollars And Meet The Person Of Your Dreams” [or whatever it is called].
I’m a huge admirer of yours and I would be honored if you would give it a blurb along the lines of…and then include the precise language of the blurb you want the person to approve.
I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, your name.
And then attach the entire manuscript (not just a selection) to the email and send it off.
This way, those people who want to do their full due diligence and read the entire manuscript can do so.
Those who just want to dip in here and there and make sure that the manuscript seems to match up with the blurb you are asking for can do just that.
And others, of course, won’t even respond to your email.
But if you send an email like this out to enough potential meaningful blurbers, you will get the blurbs you are looking for. Sometimes those folks will just be making a deposit in the “Favor Bank.” Other times, they will have read and resonated with what you wrote. Either way, you’ve got a great, influential blurb that highlights one of the unique benefits of your book.
Then, when you publish the book, make sure that the language expressing those key benefits is boldfaced so that the reader’s eye jumps right to it.
The beauty of this system is that you can get blurbs from big-name people in a day or two, instead of waiting months and months, most likely postponing your publication date, to wait for folks to read your entire manuscript.
Is it legit? They do have the option of reading the whole book, which is a lot more than the authors I mentioned earlier did when they blurbed their friends’ books.
Blurbs matter enormously even today. The space on the back of your book is incredibly valuable real estate because there is so little of it. If you use my Unique Blurbing Strategy, you will quickly receive the blurbs you need to give readers the social proof they desire to make a commitment to you and your book.
And you can quote me on that.