Maguire’s mapping of the blurb economy supports Manning’s belief that book blurbs tend to emerge from a culture of favouritism and mutual backscratching, but it also shows that influential authors are, on balance, generous in their support for novices in their fields.
Why Simon & Schuster is getting rid of book blurbs The decision could herald a radical upheaval in the book world.
The protracted derision that followed Nicole Krauss’s effusive blurb for David Grossman’s novel To the End of the Land in 2010 (“David Grossman may be the most gifted writer I’ve ever read; gifted not just because of his imagination, his energy, his originality, but because he has access to the unutterable, because he can look inside a person and discover the unique essence of her humanity”) might serve as a cautionary tale.
Some lucky writers will get a second printing of their book, which will include favourable quotes from reviewers — but blurbs from other authors are seen as vital.
According to Levinovitz, the first example of an endorsement being added to the exterior of a book comes in 1856, with the publication of the second edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.
