My pet peeve is when the blurb isn't even for that book, instead it's for another book the author has written. Like OK, so they wrote a good book before but what about this one?!?!

My beef with those is - why ruin the cover of a book with them dammit

Ive seen a blurb by Neil Gaiman floating around that was him apologizing for misplacing the book and never reading it

"This book will leave you undulating with joy."

"USA Today says fantastical. I'm so glad that this fantasy book is fantastical" hahah love that

I don't think I've ever considered the blurbs when deciding on books. For the most part I completely ignore them. Most of them to me feel like simply a checklist of possitive description words. 🤷‍♀️

Another thing that has been bothering (and I've been seeing more and more of it) is when the back cover is a bunch of quotes/reviews and NOTHING about the book! Even if the blurbs are great, I need SOME info about what happens in the book 😝

That My Dark Vanessa Blurb.... If I picked up a book because it was called "the hottest book of the summer" I would go into ut expecting either a light hearted adventure or an easy romance like, light beach reading.

I think the Neverwhere blurb makes a bit more sense in the context that the Neverwhere TV show came out before the book. I think Neil mentions there being things he wanted to expand upon and that certain things that he wanted to do were changed in the show. So the book was the way he intended the story to go.

I'm pretty sure that publications like "usa today" and the likes have a set of dice with words written on them. When they get a request for a quote, they roll the dice and that's the blurb.

“The most fun I’ve had all year!” -Murphy Napier on the book cover for Eye of Argon

“Younger writers are always looking for "blurbs," one of the few words that sounds exactly as awful as the crime it's describing.” ― Brian K. Vaughan, Saga, Volume 3

Sometimes a book is so filled up with blurbs that there is no place for a summary and I hate that. Cool that other people liked it but I still want to know what it's about

I've seen the English translation paperback version of a Korean bestseller that went and spoiled the big plot twist of the novel in the blurb right on the front cover, beneath the title of the novel. Why would I buy a mystery novel that has the twist on the cover?! Thanks for saving my time and money, but good lord. Actually felt bad for the author at that point.

I never look at endorsements! I have absolutely no faith that the people writing these endorsements have actually sat down and read the whole book. They are utter nonsense and not reliable for anything.

I'm a publishing professional, and part of my job is requesting endorsements. For books published with established publishers, at this point typically the publisher is requesting endorsements on behalf of the author. Let me know if i can answer any questions! I work at a large publisher so cannot speak to indie or self-publishing spaces. Also, different publishers do have slightly different practices around blurbs. As you note, there are generally two large categories of endorsement: quotes from reviews (Kirkus, NYT Book Review, journal reviews, etc) and quotes from people (usually larger authors and celebrities). We do not pay endorsers and this practice is generally looked down upon in publishing (for large publishers to do so). We usually offer blurbers a gratis copy of the book they're blurbing if they do provide a blurb. Believe it or not, they do seem to read the books before providing any endorsement language. I will say publishers generally value endorsements less than they used to. Data shows that they usually do not drive sales. The exception to that is obviously huge names, or reviews that make accurate comparisons to other books. That's why you see these endorsements that are substance-less, unhelpful, or seemingly random from big names. Those are the ones that tend to drive the most sales! However, for lower profile books some publishers are no longer having publishing professionals request endorsements on behalf of authors. In those cases, usually there aren't endorsements requirements, but the author is allowed to request endorsements if they'd like them. In academic publishing, I believe that's now just the standard practice. Definitely less common in trade publishing, but it's probably the way the industry is going since they are looking to cut costs at every turn. An aside: Lin Manuel Miranda endorsement on the back of the tenth anniversary edition of The Name of the Wind has always made laugh. It's about how no one writes about poverty like Patrick Rothfuss, and about how well he portrays that experience. Which is true! He really, really does write so well about that human experience. But I don't think The Name of the Wind is even a really good book ABOUT poverty. Like, Kvothe just smarts his way out of poverty on and off throughout the book. The experience of poverty is a part of the book, but it's not really the point of the book. It just seemed like such a random quote they used because it was Miranda.

I worked in publishing. Usually, you will ask one of your big-name authors to read an ARC of another of your authors (who is writing for the same or a similar audience) and give you a couple lines of endorsement. You don't pay them for that; it's a courtesy.

I think the Neverwhere blurb is referring to the fact that Gaiman first wrote it as a TV series and then later adapted it into a book. Great video! :)

The only author blurb I've ever actually appreciated is Neil Gaiman's blurb of Black Leopard Red Wolf. It's extensive, informative, actually accurate and was more than one adjective

(I'm an author) I can't remember where it came from, but an article detailed why blurbs are the way that they are - they're not actually for readers, but for booksellers and they look at the AUTHOR who blurbed it to know where to put it on shelves. I didn't even know that, so I started to be more intentional about who I asked for blurbs

I'm French and the worst blurbs I saw on a book was by an other (famous here) author saying "I hope you will like this book as much as I did". I was like "Wow. That really doesn't help me AT ALL" 😂 I mean it wasn't even "You will love it", it was "maybe you will like it". Well, thanks for the recommendation I guess 😅

Omg, i remember the amount of short essays i had to write on book blurbs n ESL. A shortened description of a shortend description. AHHHH!

I hate it when you have ... in a blurb, when they have cut stuff. It is always concerning. This book was really ... good

“Magnificent video! Must watch!” -Some Dude-

I actively dislike cover blurbs because honestly, when I'm looking at the cover of the book, I'm probably enjoying the art that went into making that cover. And while publishers are usually pretty reasonable about placing the title and author's name in a reasonable part of that picture, it feels like the cover designers just...print that out, pin it to a dart board, tie their blurbs onto darts, and then just play darts and let providence decide where the blurbs go. If they had any consistency with being descriptive enough to convey meaning while still being short enough to be usable on a cover...sure, that's fine. Especially if you've decided to put it in the text box on the back where the cover artist has provided a space for it. Even better is when they put the descriptive teaser on the back, and save the endorsements for one of those usually-blank pages just inside one of the covers.

So much advertising, promotion, and packaging makes a lot more sense to me when I remember that it's designed to appeal to the emotions rather than to the rational mind.

Pretty sure the Neverwhere blurb is related to the fact it was a tv miniseries devied between Gaiman and Lenny Henry and was then later released as a novel. So it's more, "the show had to cut things out but now you can read the full story as a book."

Blurb requests can borderline drown authors, so sometimes the blurbs might be rushed or faked because they simply don’t have time to read them all but still want to help an author (or to look like they did for networking reasons.) An effective and probably real blurb (or just a good blurb) actually talks about the qualities of the book in a way that actually tells prospective readers something about the story - fast-paced, twisty, evocative, deeply romantic etc. The bad, potentially fake blurbs are just generic. “Astounding.” “Sensational.”

Merphy's most random video ever XD

"Be a good little consumer and buy it! Now, preferably!" -- Blurb Writer

This is the perfect example of why we can not judge a book by its cover. Even the blurbs can be misleading.

I am so incredibly susceptible to these blurbs that I have a section on my book shelf called: "books with blurbs by Neil Gaiman" lol

The best endorsement I have read from an author (and the only one I can remember) is for 'More than this' by Patrick Ness - John Green simply wrote "JUST READ IT" - and I am glad I did!

I couldn’t even guess which of my favorites have these quote blurbs on the cover if my life depended on it😂

All I can think of is the episode of Castle where he rattles something off and says "see, I don't even need to read the book to do a blurb" :D

I usually don't take the blurbs to seriously. The only times I actually look for them in a book is to get confirmation on the genre.

FANTASY AS IT OUGHT TO BE WRITTEN ....umm, George? This is a science-fiction book... SCI-FI AS IT OUGHT TO BE WRITTEN

Incredible! Truly an audiovisual experience!

New audiobook narration? Is that Hello Future Me’s next book? I bet it is the next Game of Thrones if it’s genre 🤣

Love you making a video on this, I raged about this so often! Another thing I dont like os having the same blurbs about the first book as of a series on every book (Malazan for example).

I like the new camera angle. I was getting frightened when you video from your swing outside. I keep seeing an unusual man peeping around that shed in the background.

OMG I had always had the SAME ideas but had never uttered them out loud. I feel SO seen ♥ Thanks, Merphy

The Never where one's funny, plus the positive blurbs portion actually made me want to read a few of the books mentioned! Great bookish video Merph!

I’ve never thought of this before but your spot on haha

You're definitely not alone. I will point out a good blurb in my review if it really encapsulates the book well, because I've run across some that say it much better than I could have.

NGL Murphy I don't read book blurbs I just get my book suggestions from you because 9/10 times, I end up loving it lol 💙

This conversation is SO EXCELLENT lol

-Another satisfying video from a renowned booktuber. 10 out of 10.

I’ve seen books that have 2 or 3 pages of blurbs at the beginning.

I do not read book blurbs but apparently I need to start 😄

Merphy assigns her own blurbs to blurbs. 🤣

Brilliantly presented. Whilst watching I came to the realisation that I've been completely writing off these blurbs for years. They're so often complete nonsense but it took your focus to make me realise it's a big problem and how subconsciously I'd written them off. I pay far more attention to other readers' reviews on Audible and Amazon when deciding whether to purchase. Way more trustworthy and inciteful. Thx Merph. Keep up the great work.

I've never heard of a writer paying a writer for a blurb.

I really liked the setup of this video. I think that having the host in sharp focus and the background in soft focus is quite calming for me. I actually thought that the background was a green screen until you grabbed a book off of the shelf. As per your other videos this one is entertaining if not so informative as your others. "This video is in colour!!" - John Specht

I've seen so many generic blurbs that I just stopped caring about them. It's so hard to find a good one.

I don’t mind the book blurbs most the time. I hardly ever read them. I’ll read the description on the back of the book if that is an option. What makes me not want to buy or a read a book is if there is only a publishers blurb and no other blurb that tells me what the story is about. If I can’t find what the story is about idk if I’ll be interested or not

I came for the book reviews I stayed for rants like these

Agree! As long as they're going to replace a synopsis with blurbs, at least have ones that explain some of what the book is about.

Had a quick flick through my bookshelf and Kings of the Wyld has fantastic blurbs; they actually make me want to read it more

Pausing 30 seconds in because I didn't know u did audiobook recordings, and now I'm on a hunt for a good fantasy read by you hahaha.

I don’t even find the good blurbs helpful because I never know if they’re good until after

Whenever this comes up, I always go back to my favorite review, for the movie Akira, where the commercial quoted a review that said: "Makes Blade Runner look like Disney World!" I'm sorry sir, what now?

I honestly cannot remember ever reading a book blurb !

Love blurbs...I hope you get a blurbs in that audiobook.

i have literally put down books back on the shelf of the bookshop when the blurbs are that unhelpful

Throughout the video I imagined Merphy standing alone in the desert shouting about blurbs into the wind! 😁 And no I don't give a blurb about the blurbs although sometimes I can't help but read some that are on the front page and usually they're of the "thanks-my-life-is-so-much-better-now-that-I-know-exactly-as-much-about-this-book-as-before-I-read-this" kind.

I completely ignore blurbs, they're sadly usually not helpful. But I love your game of reading them after reading the book, might try that :D

From what I know, most of the times authors will request a blurb as a favor to another author. Never heard of an author asking for money for that

I read the blurb for And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer, and was inadvertently spoiled, Not by the blurb itself, but by who wrote the blurb, and her book and Blackman’s being about the same topic.

My favorite is always GRRM "_______ as it ought to be written". But why should it be written like this lol. I never read any of the blurbs

This is a really fascinating conversation. I don't read much genre fiction so I very often encounter books out in the wild of the second hand bookstore with no real clue why I should take note of them. For example, I bought "More Than This" by Patrick Ness as the front cover had John Green, an opinion I respect, say "Just read it." Green has a longer blurb too on the back that conveys that he really genuinely liked it. Now, I don't expect it to be anything like a John Green book, and I really don't want that. But I know Green and I look at the world in a similar way, and so if it moved him, it could resonate for me (that said, I haven't read it yet haha). More recently I picked up The Cactus League by Emily Nemens because Chris Bachelder, who I love, praised it in an insightful blurb that mentioned how it addresses the "complex ecosystem of professional sport." I even think there's a place for the one-word little information blurbs. Say Nothing sees The Economist call it "Masterly...A searing reflection of the Troubles and their aftermath." That's not much, but it's still kind of nice to see it cosigned by a less literary minded publication. It highlights the scope. Great video.

Plus I enjoy from readers comments as other authors mentioned that are gems !

Agree fully, i want to get key words to get vibes. IDK what these places are trying to do or tell me

As understand it Kirkus reviews are the once librarians take note of the most. A librarian that runs the mystery book club told us during the last meeting about reading a review from them for the a James Patterson book which noted that at least it didn't have any grammar of punctuation mistakes this time.

I was just thinking about this the other day! It's not helpful at all if it's "Amazing", "Instant favorite", "Loved it" that's both subjective and not enough! It's crazy how some people are paid to write just that or how authors write just two words, it makes me think "wait, you wrote a whole book, can't you write something better for the blurb?". I guess there's people who buy a book because there's a blurb of X author or organization, but I wish the back was mostly the book description over a pretty design.

I honestly can't remember when I last read a burb, and I read 80 or so fiction and 50 or so non-fiction books a year.

kind of always thought they were paid for so I never cared for them

I don't mind reading the blurbs before reading a book because I may be the factor that makes me want to read it. Reading them after is a treat because I'm definitely talking to the book (myself) agreeing with the blurbs or disagreeing with them.

My gripe with book blurbs is when the back of the book is ALL book blurbs and not a single word about what the friggin' book is about. This happens more often than not with hardcovers, and if you go to one of those fancy (wasteful) bookstores that wrap the damn book in plastic, and you know nothing of the book in question, you've nothing but the cover and some random words on the back to decide whether to pay a considerable amount of money for something you don't know you'll even like, but that has a pretty cover. Hence why about two thirds of my personal library is mass market paperbacks or paperbacks; they may not be as fancy, but at least they have the good sense to tell your what the heck you're getting into with a proper synopsis on the back.

patiently waiting for "Fantasy as it's meant to be written"

I don't like blurbs because they take space away from the cover art and binding. In order to choose a book I usually read a few random paragraphs in the book and see if I am curious about learning more.

I rarely look at quotes on covers and the first inner pages (especially if I haven't read the book yet). They're not going to change my mind or convince me to read or not read a book. I just need an accurate but not overly detailed synopsis. I also find they just clutter covers. Sometimes I'll get older editions on purpose because they're likely to be just the cover art, title, and author. I hate all that extra stuff on covers!

So glad you are shouting about this. My best friend and I had a rant on it awhile back because theres no longer summaries on the back of the books!!! Also I think @alyssamastic has a video on on this and the costs and such. Shes a fantastic resource.

I always notice when the blurb is not from a major publication. Tends to mean the main critical reviews were poor.

This is discussed in the writing groups I'm in and it's complicated. Using blurbs in promotional stuff seems fine, but the back of the book is weighted towards not being helpful if it takes the place of something that talks about the content of the book. The only way it's deemed worthwhile by itself if it's a top dog in the genre promoting it.

Nah, I'm pretty much the same as you! I don't put much stock in blurbs as far as informing whether or not I should read a book, but I do often enough make a bit of a fun game out of judging whether I think the blurb did anything good for the book or not after reading it.😂😂😂🤭💖💖😁

Delightfully entertaining video!

What I learned from this video: “blurb” is one of those words that when you say/hear it enough it quickly loses all meaning.

I rarely read the book blurbs lol it actually annoys me when they cover the entire back cover when I am looking for the synopsis. 😂

I don’t even read book descriptions because so many of them are just plain wrong/purposely misleading for marketing purposes. That, or they spoil too much of the story for me. This video is great, made me think about what the usefulness of paying for generic blurbs really is.

I usually really don't care about blurbs and mostly agree with what you said. However, I can't not mention a blurb, more like just a sticker, actually, probably changed my life when it said "from the Douglas Adams of fantasy" and got me to buy my first Discworld book. Can't imagine my life without pratchett.

One bad blurb I still remember was something like this: "This is one of the better books in this genre" so not even one of the best?? 😂 What an endorsement

I actually hated when this became a thing because I prefer the summary (still do) but if it's a good helpful blurb, I'll take it. I love the ones on the series that I'm finishing currently. The Illuminae series. I recently finished the second book that i never had time to read before and the blurbs on it and the last book are good.

Blurbs and covers are pretty superficial. In the end the best way is to try the ebook sample. A friend used to call it "speed dating".

One of my favourite blurbs was for Seafire: another YA author said "I have such a crush on this book!" I don't know what that means but it makes me smile 🙃

I've never paid much attention to book blurbs myself, but a couple of years ago I did learn what they're for: they aren't for readers who are choosing what book to pick up for themselves, they're for the friends and relatives of readers who want to buy gifts for the readers in their lives but have only a loose grasp on what "their" readers actually like. Thus when a relative saw me (re)reading _Mistborn,_ a couple of months later I was gifted another fantasy book, by a different author, which had a blurb from Sanderson on the cover. Also: blurbs are _sales copy._ Anytime I see anything described as "the hottest _x_ of the year" in any sales copy, my default assumption is that they're referring to salability rather than salaciousness. It certainly could be the case that the full _NY Post_ review of _MDV_ goes all in on describing the story as erotic, in which case they probably _did_ intend "hottest" to mean titillating; but without reading more than just the blurb I would never assume that.

I might consider a book an author that I like recommends, but the description of the book is what matters to me.

I chuckle when I see GRRM's "[genre] the way if ought to be written" on Robin Hobb books and The Expanse books. Idk if it's on any other books but I'd love to find more.

I pretty much only care about a blurb if someone I respect is the endorser. I don't typically read blurbs or descriptions before reading a book because they're so often spoilery or overhyped.

There was a point in time when I was hardline no spoilers. I've eased up on my expectations these days. To illustrate why I appreciate concise and economic blurbs, I have considered writing my own deep packet inspection for my home routers to remove HTTP content two to three paragraphs within the occurrence of blacklisted words e.g. Anything mentioning the title of another SOIAF book would be censored from my computer. Once the blurb is out there, there is some chance I might read it. If I were to read that Lovecraftian type story you mentioned, I would prefer to experience the story how I experience it rather than wonder if the blurb influenced my perception of the book. I do have the ability to not look at the back of a book before I read it. But, as another example, when MLB TV was first released, the Jays games were blacked out for broadcasting rights. I'm good with that. It is excellent to see people at the ball parks enjoying the games. However, the extent to which I had to avoid the news in order to enjoy watching the game the next day was far too complicated. There is definitely a point at which information about media content is so saturated within the public sphere that I have to consider becoming a hermit to enjoy cultural content. Bookborn has some excellent videos where she handles spoiler content well using video sections and timed warnings within her content that helps in this regard. I am now considering what I put in my comments as well, which does impact the speed at which I communicate. I've seen Discord servers with a spoiler feature that allows content to be marked as a spoiler before being posted. This sort of feature needs to be implemented per platform, so any spoilers can be hidden without user intervention. I'm better about spoilers these days though, so I'll make it to the next video even if the pull request for that fix isn't done by then.