Skye from In the Good Books wrote an interesting and thought-provoking post on author quotes (otherwise known as "blurbs" on the front of books. To paraphrase her, she says that quotes from authors she admires will make her pick up a book that she might have previously overlooked, but a taglne along the lines of "Fans of Twilight will love this book!" are a deal breaker.
I found myself nodding in agreeance, because to be honest, sometimes I'll get put off books that have a quote from an author, or some other sentence urging you to "read this book!".
Sometimes I can't help but roll my eyes at really cliched taglines, for example, "you will devour this book" or "this book will leave you breathless". I mean, c'mon, really?! These words have been so over-used that they've kinda lost their meaning. I don't believe them for a second. And well, publishers are in the business of getting readers to buy their books, so of course they're going to praise the book. This doesn't mean that their opinion isn't valid; they obviously love the book so much, they've chosen to put their full support behind it and get it published. This just means that we have to take words from a potential source of bias with a grain of salt.
But what about blurbs from authors? Well...
a) If it's an author I have read and admire who has recommended the book, then I might be more inclined to pick up the book, for sure. But if I don't like the book, then the author is discredited in my eyes. I'd probably be less willing to trust their judgement.
b) If it's an author whose books I did not enjoy, then I'm even less likely to read the book.
c) If I do enjoy the book, the it will be because the author did a good job, rendering the blurb irrelevant.
Also, I know that authors are sent new releases from their publisher/editor/agent for endorsements. And this is where things get tricky. It's beneficial to an author to stay "in the good books" (terrible pun intended) of their industry connections by giving a positive endorsement, yet in blurbing a book, they put their own reputation with readers on the line. Declining to review a book will undoubtedly step on a few toes, and will be detrimental in the long run when attempting to forge new connections or ask for favours. Gee, aren't politics fun?
Anyway, blurbs I read are often quite vague and general; sometimes I can't help but be skeptical about the reliability of obvious and gushing praise, and I end up ignoring them, relying on my own reading of the book to give it a fair judgement. After all, reading experiences are subjective.
What I personally prefer is a book with just the title and author's name on the front cover. I often turn to my fellow book bloggers and my librarian for recommendations, and then I make my own judgements from my reading.
So the real question is, how effective is an author blurb anyway? Would you read a book based on another author's recommendation, or do you ignore them completely?Also, what do you think about book blogger reviews? Do they influence your book-reading decisions in any way?
Here's an informative and much more eloquent article I found, which explores this issue from a perspective of an author.
Also, thanks to Skye for inspiring this post!
Logging you in...
Naj · 707 weeks ago
Amber M · 707 weeks ago
tahlianewland 44p · 706 weeks ago
Lux · 706 weeks ago
Or take something like the Hunger Games. If they hadn’t been recommended to me by a girl who works at my local indie, I wouldn’t have touched them because of the Stephanie Meyer quotes on the front. It’s bad that I act this way, but I ALWAYS pay attention to what’s on the front.
Reviews from book bloggers have an insanely huge impact on what I read and when I read it. Almost my entire reading pile is books that have been recommended by people whose blogs I read on a regular basis. But that’s also why I write reviews, in the hopes that someone might find something that they wouldn’t have found or been interested in otherwise!
X Lux
Erin W · 706 weeks ago
@Jenababy13 · 706 weeks ago
SkyeHandley 41p · 706 weeks ago
I agree that a lot of the words and phrases in praise are so overused that they don't mean anything anymore. I look for really specific blurbs, because even if the author is just out to people-please, it has some root in truth. Like for Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies, a blurb described the main character was being surprisingly sympathetic, and having that so objective made it more believable and helpful than something like "I loved this book!" from a huge name author. Because really, Number 1 New York Times Best Seller, I don't care that you loved this book, I'd rather know *why*.
Nomes · 706 weeks ago
i usually roll my eyes at author blurbs.
but a few authors i geniunely trust (i have learnt the hard way that some fave authors of mine rave about any YA book in an effort to be positive and supportive, doesn't work for me)
and nice to see you around again :)
x Nomes
blueicegal 86p · 706 weeks ago
Stephanie · 706 weeks ago
TinaBookCouture 60p · 706 weeks ago
cass_wordsonpaper 79p · 704 weeks ago
Maybe with Gayle Forman or some other of my faves, I'd think the book may be worth checking out. Haven't really checked out that theory yet.