FROM THE BOOKSELLER:
Publishers 'missing a trick' with blurbs
11.06.10 | Victoria Gallagher
Publishers are "missing a trick" by not perfecting blurbs on jackets despite the fact they are "commercially valuable", delegates were told at The Bookseller Cover Design Conference yesterday. The importance of blurb and other copy on book jackets was highlighted at the conference held yesterday (10th June) at The British Library Conference Center, and attended by 200 delegates.
James Spackman, sales and trade marketing director at Hodder & Stoughton, said: "There is time and effort and strife that goes into finishes, foil and shine, etc - but think about how many books are sold online these days and this means nothing. We're missing a trick." He added: "The words are commercially valuable . . . We can afford to be positive about this, we have a chance to add value."
Spackman discussed research from Book Marketing Limited which found that the blurb makes 62% of consumers buy a particular book. He added: "It's a vital motivating factor in why people decide to buy a book and it is totally in control of the publisher."
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http://www.thebookseller.com/news/120660-publishers-missing-a-trick-with-blurbs.html.rss
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Sometimes publishers don't want a good blurb and try to dodge using it. My historical novel Snowbound, about Fremont's disastrous fourth expedition, received a great blurb from Larry McMurtry: "A haunting novel of hubris and its consequences." The packagers and marketing people used it minimally, obviously wishing they didn't have to use it at all, choosing to sell the book as Man Versus the Elements, rather than the story of Fremont's bad judgment grounded in his vanity.
Richard Wheeler
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