Blurb Book Quotes & Sayings

So I picked the book up and did my usual 123 test. I don't bother reading the blurb on the back, or the first page - the writer's obviously going to be trying their hardest there, aren't they? It's how they're getting on by page 123 that's the real test. If they're crap at writing or bored with their story then you can bet they won't be making any effort at all by that point. — Siobhan Curham

To carry timber into the wood.
[Lat., In silvam ligna ferre.] — Horace

It was amazing to me then, and still is, that so many people who wander into bookshops don't really know what they're after
they only want to look around and hope to see a book that will strike their fancy. And then, being bright enough not to trust the publisher's blurb, they will ask the book clerk the three questions: (1) What is it about? (2) Have you read it? (3) Was it any good? — Mary Ann Shaffer

To some extent the shorter the writing assignment is, the harder it is to accomplish, and a blurb is 200 words max. Blurbs are meaningless, and actual people who are buying the books don't care about them at all. — Emily Gould

people (to quote the researchers) had achieved an astonishing amount (Kell et al., 2013). They had become high-ranking politicians, CEOs of companies, high-ups in government agencies, distinguished academics, journalists for well-known newspapers, artists and musical directors. They had been awarded patents, grant money and prizes, and had produced plays, novels, and a huge amount of economic value. They had, in other words, made incalculable contributions to society, for everyone's benefit. — Stuart Ritchie

Aspiring authors, get this through your head. Cover art serves one purpose, and one purpose only, to get potential customers interested long enough to pick up the book to read the back cover blurb. In the internet age that means the thumb nail image needs to be interesting enough to click on. That's what covers are for. — Larry Correia

I recently published a new book. It's a Christian urban fantasy about mad science gone wrong. And then after I'd written that in a blurb I thought to myself - when does mad science ever go right?! — Greg Curtis

Of course, the character of my garden is also determined by things beyond any human decision, mine or anyone else's. — Allen Lacy

The cover or jacket protects the book, identifies the author and title, and carries the blurb. The ISBN and bar code enable ordering. — Giles Clark

I'm revoking your warrior status," he says as he watches Clara and her family.
"I had warrior status?"
"For about thirty seconds."
"What heinous crime did I commit to lose my exalted status?"
"A true warrior would have retrieved her sword first before doing personal business."
"I'm all about personal business. Every battle I have is personal."
"Hmm. Good answer. Maybe you'll eventually regain your status."
"I won't hold my breath. — Susan Ee

I've now interviewed a couple hundred researchers in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and China. I visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where I met brain-injured veterans. I went to the San Francisco offices of Lumosity, the biggest online provider of these cognitive games aimed at improving intelligence. And I met twice with the guy who leads the funding in this area at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, or IARPA. It's a government intelligence agency, like DARPA for spies. — Dan Hurley

Based on hundreds of tests conducted, a good headline can be as much as 17 times more effective than a so-so headline. And this is with exactly the same body copy! — Ted Nicholas

Writing blurbs for books means you have to read the book, and it cuts into the business of bookselling. So every time I get a blurb from a bookseller, I try to write a thank you note. — Gabrielle Zevin

The etiquette of blurbs means it's not hard to not blurb something (if it's not by a friend, or student): everyone knows how many books you're deluged with. You can just say you never got to it. — Jim Shepard

My experience in India had a profound impact on me, shaping my entire life in many ways. I begin the book in 1969 in the Peace Corps and close it with a return to my India family in 2003. The novelist Peggy Payne (Sister India) says in a blurb on the back cover, "India sojourns, vividly recounted, are the bookends for the story of one man's profound and inspiring change. — William Finger

It's one of those things that hits you when you're not even looking for it. It's a moment when you find those words surging through your mind - "I feel so alive right now." There's varying degrees of it. Acting definitely makes me feel so remarkably alive. Sitting on a beach or walking through nature makes me come alive always. — Ian Somerhalder

I'm dying and all I hear are insults! — Charles M. Schulz

The terrible part of this looming catastrophe is that people have been working on solutions for years and have developed concrete steps to massively reduce our energy use, while stimulating whole new industries and technologies that are more efficient and affordable. — David Suzuki

Speak well of the law. Take care of your chest and voice, my good friend, and leave the law to take care of itself. I give you that advice — Charles Dickens