Well, I really don't want to beat it to death, but in the
original message
I wasn't offering a defense of all blurbs. I was responding
to a point Dave
made about "blurbs for strangers." I took it a step further
and was talking
about blurbs for first time authors, offering the example of
someone who is
going to be well blurbed because people responded to his
exceptional
writing. (It would have been hard not to).
My point was that these are the blurbs I do pay qualified
attention to.
Most writers, honestly, aren't sitting around waiting for the
chance to say
clever things about someone they've never heard of before,
who can't write
well and probably won't have a career that's long enough to
return the
favor. (Save your cynicism for when the hypothetical new
writer succeeds
and returns the favor several years later).
It does take some interpretation and understanding of why
someone may or
may not have blurbed a new book and a recognition of who the
usual suspects
are for this publisher. If four of publisher X's authors are
praising
publisher X's new author, well...
New first books frequently don't have buzz or reviews and
their shelf life
may not be long enough to get either. Some great books die
out there. If I
want to buy them, I have to make judgements based on blurbs,
cover copy
(which can also be cynical), and reading the opening pages.
There's not
much else to go on.
Sometimes I miss because someone praised a book much more
extravagantly
than I thought was it's due. Of course, it could have been a
difference of
opinion too. That's life!
My last word on the subject. I promise. Be happy to
email.
Fred
----
Down on Ponce a novel by Fred Willard
http://www.mindspring.com/~fwillard
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