(Sorry-the photo here has nothing to do with the topic today. I just realized I should be offering something other than the little typewriter picture every time I write!)

There was an article on Facebook this morning about book blurbs. These back-of-the-book passages used to be teasers about the story and the characters, but increasingly, they've become a list of authors (usually from the same publishing house) who say what a great book this is and what a great talent the author is.

When I signed my first contract, the publisher told me to find an author to blurb the book. First I had to look up the word, having never heard it before. Second, I tried to figure out how I might do that. I didn't know any authors, and I doubted any famous one I contacted would spend hours reading my book when they could be working on their own.

I was scheduled to go to a conference though, and luckily my daughter went along. She went outside for a smoke break, got to talking with an author of modest renown, and asked if she might be willing to blurb the book. For some reason, she said yes. I sent it along. I think she probably read the first chapter or so, and she sent me a nice blurb about how clever the premise was and how much readers would enjoy it.

Yay for our team.

Later, as the author of several books with a small publisher, I got a message asking me to read another author's work and write a blurb. It was sci-fi, not my thing, but luckily, the book was well done, so I could in good conscience write a positive piece. Then they asked for another blurb, this time for a spy-type adventure. Again, it was well done, so I wrote the blurb, though it wasn't a book I'd have chosen for myself. I was beginning to get the idea. Authors with a little bit of pull are supposed to help their publisher get attention for other authors in the stable. A rising tide and all that. 

Over the years I've talked to other authors about the blurb thing, and they all kind of dread it. What if you don't like the book? One author expressed relief that she liked a book her publisher "asked" her to blurb. "I kept thinking, what if I hate it?" she told me. "What if the author hates what I say? I'll have to move house and go into hiding!" (Yes, she's from across the Pond.)

Blurbs are time-consuming for writers (if you actually read the book). They often seem formulaic and insincere; I mean, how many times can you claim a new book is "ground-breaking" or "scintillating?" As a reader, I don't care what some NYT best-selling author reads in her spare time. Maybe other people do.

What I actually like is a taste of the story on the back of the book. Pull me in. Tease me with a few intriguing sentences. If I like what I read there, chances are I'll buy the book.