Blurb
Definition
A blurb is a short, often promotional description that appears on the back cover or dust jacket of a book that briefly describes a book's contents via summary and potentially remarks from other authors or book reviewers. While blurbs vary in specific contents depending on the book they are analyzing, their aim often remains as a means to sell a book based on presenting the book generally in a positive scope for an audience to become interested in the book's contents on a greater scale.
Formation
Blurbs are typically developed by publisher of a given book and not by its author, though sometimes authors are asked to give a description of their book to then be revised by the publisher as a part of their advertising duties. As a result of blurbs most often being developed by the publisher, however, publishers often do not read the complete manuscripts of books before forming their blurbs and would rather focus on crafting general summaries and inserting quotations from prominent people with relation to the book's contents to bolster its image to its audience.[1]
Common Elements
In addition to a focus on summarizing a book through noting its main scenarios, characters, themes, and other subjects of interest, there are more specific elements of blurbs that have been found to be successful in drawing the attention of readers and therefore are typically emulated in the crafting of modern blurbs. Here are some examples of common elements of blurbs that have found to be successful:
- Describing the book in great detail (often by introducing its plot or topic to an extent beyond what is discussed in its first chapter)
- Establishing a niche that the book highlights to make it stand out to a specific audience
- Promoting the book, often through inserting positive reviews
- Providing the author's background (including professional and non-professional credentials)[2]
- ↑ Swick, Charles L. “The Book Blurb.” English Journal [Urbana, Ill., etc], vol. 28, no. 2, February 1939, pp. 140–42, https://doi.org/10.2307/805325.
- ↑ Neslihan Önder. “Generic Structure and Promotional Elements in Best-Selling Online Book Blurbs.” Ibérica (Castellón de La Plana, Spain), no. 25, January 2013.
