The time is fast approaching when I'll be asking some admired writers for blurbs.* The other morning, lying in bed during that hazy, semi-conscious zone between slumber and full lucidity, a few potential blurbs scrolled before my eyes:
"DIAMONDS FOR THE DEAD is the best book I've read since…
the last one."
"Orloff is a writer like no other."
"The words turned into sentences turned into paragraphs turned into chapters. Mesmerizing!"
"I thoroughly read this book..."
What's the best way to go about soliciting blurbs? Luckily, I found some excellent advice recently. Here are two blog posts that sum up the whole "asking for blurbs" process better than I ever could:
Louise Ure at Murderati goes over some etiquette and provides a list of Do's and Don'ts. Ignore them at your own peril! Click here.
Guest blogger Lauren Baratz-Logsted (subbing in at Nathan Bransford's blog) provides a rundown of the whole blurbing routine, and she also has some fine Do's and Don'ts. Click here.
Wish me luck!
Footnote
*This isn't the first time I've thought about getting blurbs (nor the last, I'm sure). See earlier post here.
Posts
9 comments:
Hope it goes well!
I didn't do any of these things...and I have no blurbs! :) I've got to get over my problems contacting people (maybe before the next book comes out?)
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Oh, Alan, fret no more, my friend. This is easily solved. Remember the Where do You get Your Ideas Post? My answer then was, I steal them. No problem.
Now, if I’ll steal ideas, I’ll for sure invent a quote and attribute it to some famous person…like they’d ever be reading the back of my book! Ha. So, for book two…if it ever sees the light of day…you can count on seeing blurbs from…well, just fill in your favorite big name. See? Easy.
Oh, do you really have moments of “full lucidity”? That’s pretty tough to believe.
Best Regards, Galen
Imagineering Fiction Blog
Elizabeth - With gnomes as awesome as yours on the cover, you don't need blurbs!
Galen - Author identity theft (or maybe just temporary appropriation). I knew there was a reason I like you. And it should have read "fuller," not full.
Alan, you are a funny, funny guy. Is your book comedic. Sorry, I should probably know, but don't.
Galen
One of the funniest blurbs I've ever seen was on one of Stephanie Bond's body movers books from MIRA a year or two ago: "This is the best book I've ever read!" Attributed to 'Stephanie's mom.'
Funny!
(BTW, do you happen to have the email address for Stephanie's mom?)
Alan, I don't. ;( You have a mom, though, don't you? Or a dad? Or a wife?
What kind of book is it? What sort of authors are you looking for to blurb it? We have some pretty heavy hitters at ITW, you know; among the debut authors over the past few years, as well as the general membership.
Ah, yes ... the humiliating, hat-in-hand process of going to famous authors for blurbs. Here's my advice from seeking blurbs for No. 1, MAMA DOES TIME: Grovel, beg, offer to buy them drinks ... and if all else fails, cry like a little girl. Good luck!
I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it. More power to the authors who are willing to ask for blurbs, but I honestly could not make myself do it. All I've got to show for my bashfulness (or whatever it is) is a gorgeous bookcover with no extra text messing up the artwork. Sigh.
Post a Comment