The wise and wordy Jeri asks:
I guess a good question for readers would be, do cover quotes affect your buying decision in the first place? But that sounds like another blog topic altogether.
Fo’ shure, this is a blog topic on its own.
My personal opinion (and of course you asked for it!) is that it doesn’t make a huge difference, except for me thinking, ‘Hey, a quote from an author I like – that’s cool that she/he knows him/her’ – e.g. when PC Cast had a quote from Christopher Moore, I emailed her in hyperventilating fashion and said, “OMGOMG You know Christopher Moore? He is, like, So Super Kewlies!” and barely stopped short of artistically decorating my email with various symbols like ** and ~~ and ||||.
I also got a book to review recently with a cover quote from MaryJanice Davidson that literally made me laugh out loud. I don’t have the book with me, but it was to the effect of, “I’m so jealous I didn’t write this book myself!” That cracked my ass up.
But do quotes from authors I’ve heard of make me read a book? Honestly, no. I usually assume they are friends, or a favor was owed, or someone knew someone who knew someone else. The inside joke of Sherrilyn Kenyon/Kinley MacGregor cover quoting aside, the words usually ring so artificial and sound like so much PR-speak that I ignore them.
However – a quote from an author whose work I don’t like? Might make me question the quality of the book I’m considering.
That said, I’m more than ready to sell myself for cover quotes. In the spirit Darlene’s son’s review of Bela Fleck (which was spot on, by the way), I’ll tell the entire world that your book was so funny, I laughed until my episiotomy hurt.
Honestly, very rarely do I ever even read the quotes on the cover.
I generally try to ignore romance novel covers, b/c so many of them just scream bad taste (this fact has been shown time and time again here on Smart Bitches…) and like my 2nd grade teacher told me “Never judge a book by its cover.”
I belive that includes whatever recommending quote is on the cover as well.
Well… So far the only books that I’ve gotten on the basis of a blurb AND enjoyed are the ones from PBW.
IOW, everyone else’s, I take with a grain of salt.
Given the number of Romance authors who have said they would never publicly criticize another Romance author’s books, I view those quotes as completely worthless. Yes, I understand that there’s a difference between not criticizing and praising, but all the same, if those quotes are in any way solicited by the publisher, IMO, they’re PR for the book and nothing more. Plus, since I do a lot of spin myself for a living, I KNOW how to cut a quote to show it off to its best effect. And really, have you ever noticed how relentlessly vapid most of those quotes are anyway?
While I’ve (almost) never let the cover blurb influence me into buying a book (or even picking it up for that matter), I know that a lot of my customers do. I cannot count the number of times I’ve had someone come up with a book because they like the person who blurbed the cover. General consensus seems to be that if so-in-so liked it, so will I. Just last week I sold Rob Thurman’s Nightlife to a Simon Green fan because Simon had blurbed the cover.
Of course, if Christopher Moore’s name is anywhere on a book, I will pick it up. It’s a fangirl thing. You understand (and oh my GAWD, A Dirty Job is so good, Sarah. So. Damn. Good. I don’t want to finish it because I love it so much and then I’ll have to wait another fourteen months for a new book) and if you ever need anyone to help you stalk him, I’m your girl.
Basically what I’m saying is that blurbing seems to affect some more than others, and it always depends on who is doing the blurbing.
On a completely unrelated note, I’ve forgotten how to log in. Well, I forgot how to months ago, and now I just feel like a dork.
I like the cover quotes much more than the back cover blurbs. Somehow I still believe the author is genuinely happy to recommend the book, whereas if the publisher describes the hero as complex on the back cover, then I automatically don’t believe that he is.
I have bought book solely on the caver art + time period + author quote. (They have never been my favorites, but neither have they been wall bangers.)
I hate cover quotes from authors. Hate ‘em. They tell me nothing about the plot, and they take up space that COULD be telling me about the plot. If I pick up a book and it has nothing but quotes about how good the book is and no plot, I won’t buy it.
But. That quote from MaryJanice Davidson- I recognize what book that’s from. THAT quote is what sold me on buying the book (well, it also had a back blurb on the plot), because if THAT author thought it was funny, it must be, right?
I will spare you the details on my reading of the book, especially since you’ll be reviewing it yourself. I will just say that I will NEVER EVER AGAIN take a quote by another author into consideration as to why I should buy a book again. NEVER.
Hmmm, I used to pay a lot more attention to cover quotes, but then I noticed the “buddies quoting buddies” thing and realized that most of it was a load of crap. That being said, there are some authors I love who rarely quote, and when I see a glowing endorsement from them I pay attention. (PBW, for instance.)
Another way in which I use cover quotes is often as a tie-breaker. That is, a new book by a new author and I have heard a few good things but am not quite convinced to spend my money. In a case like that I will often check out the cover quotes, not so much to see what is said, but to see who is saying it. Often times you will see a trend in the types of authors quoting. For instance, if there is a new urban fantasy author out there with glowing recommendations from LKH, Wen Spencer, and Rachel Caine, and I was on the fence about trying her? I’d buy it, based on the fact that I like the three authors that quoted the book, and that I assume her style will appeal to readers who like these authors. Have I been burned using this technique? Occasionally. But far more often I find it works.
That being said, I would never buy a book based solely on who is cover quoting it. The storyline and plot have to appeal to me to.
I blogged a little bit about this maybe a month or two ago, after reading a book that had an odd combination of cover quotes. I picked the book up based on a recommendation, not the quotes, but looking at the combination of them made me wonder about the marketing department of the publisher. Were they smoking crack when they paired up those authors for cover quotes?
I’ve learned to avoid book selections based on cover quotes and even author recommendations. I picked up a book by Virginia Ellis that Suzanne Brockmann touted. Waste of my time. Picked up a Feehan book because of her blurb on an MJD book—yuck—I wanted to be paid for the time I wasted on that book.
LOL, I have a comedy coming out this summer, lol, I could use an episiotomy busting quote, lol! (Esp since a woman goes into labor in it, but that’s beside the point, lol)
At any rate, I always assumed it was a buddy/buddy thing, so the value is only there for me in lateral stalking skills, lol.
Going to have to look up Christopher Moore now, just to judge the hotness.
Smooches,
Dee
I was pondering whether or not to buy Forbidden Magic a while back. It had a cover quote by Lynsey Sands in which she said the book was a mix of Charmed (the WB series) and Kim Harrison’s books. KH is fine but I couldn’t sit through an episode of Charmed if you glued my ass to a chair.Then there’s the fact that I read LS’ books and felt let down, ripped off, annoyed. I put the book back. I did finally buy it but that was based on other readers reviews.
Sorry, a little wordy here. Coffee is fresh in my system. What I mean to say is that cover quotes normally make absolutely no difference when I’m thinking about buying a book unless I don’t like who’s doing the quoting. There. I usually go by back cover reviews and gut feeling.
Speaking of back covers, that reminds me of a pet peeve I have. Mostly with Queen Nora. Am I the only one in the world who resents authors who, instead of using the back cover to describe the book, put pictures of themselves there? Why would they do that? I don’t need to know what they look like. I hate that. I always put the book back and move on. She’s messing with procedure.
Maybe I’ll stop at the first cup…:-)
If an author whose style I don’t like endorses a book it definitely makes me less likely to read that book. Otherwise, they are pretty meaningless.
I usually don’t really notice them. But I almost didn’t read Melusine becuase a blurb compared it to Kushiel’s Dart. I was thinking, “Great, another pretentious load of drivel full of fade to blacks and lousy would-be kinky sex? No thanks.”
Fortunately, I was convinced to read it and it was good. For one thing it had characters and well-thought out world building. And the sex scenes were erotic or creepy or unpleasant as appropriate.
I think if cover quotes are going to be used, there should be a rule that they have to be used in entirety. For example, a book I recently saw had a blurb (from some other author I’d never heard of) saying, “The author… has written a mind-altering book” or something to that effect. Do they not get that the ellipses are a dead giveaway that the quote was cut up, or taken out of context? I mean, the original quote could have been, “The author shouldn’t be allowed to breathe the same air as someone who has written a mind-altering book.” Big difference in intent…
Also, thanks for giving me a new author to catch up with. I’ve never heard of or read Christopher Moore, but a quick Amazon search turned up such gems as Island of the Sequined Nuns… I can’t resist!
Oops, mistyped that title – Island of the Sequined *Love* Nun is even better!
. Am I the only one in the world who resents authors who, instead of using the back cover to describe the book, put pictures of themselves there? Why would they do that? I don’t need to know what they look like. I hate that.
I think what you’re seeing there is the difference between Romance author and authorial celebrity.
The back pictures annoy me as well, especially if I had to flip among the pages to actually find, you know, the actual synopsis of the book. I wouldn’t mind if publishers got rid of the “author photo” idea all together…
but to answer the question I am completely indifferent to positive blurbs from authors I like or am unfamiliar with, but will hesistate (or avoid the book entirely) if its by an author whose works I deem mediocre or crappy. I would probably never have read “Shadow of the Wind” bc of the Stephen King quote if a friend hadn’t given it to me.
Oh yeah, not to mention the fact that very often the same blurb from author/book review that was done for Book A is splashed on the covers of books M-Z.
I’m with you, Robin. I’d rather see less author and more back cover copy. Unless it’s that Perfect Storm dude Sebastian Junger. Posing without his shirt.
It’s true that many romance writers won’t publicly criticize another’s books. BUT I have heard of authors turning down requests for quotes because the book in question didn’t fit their brand.
Elena
Can we also make an exception for the back cover of Neil Gaiman’s latest books? They’re just giving us what we want. Or at least what I want. Yum.
Once again I hit submit too soon. I want to second the really annoying thing about the same blurb being on every cover of a writers books. Looking at my Julia Quinn shelf, 6 of them say ‘Delightful’ – Nora Roberts, 3 of them say ‘Oh so delightful!’ – Jill Barnett and 2 say ‘Smart, funny’ – Time magazine. I quite agree that they are smart, funny and delightful, but I don’t need to be hammered over the head with it quite so much.
What I do sometimes enjoy greatly is the several pages of write-ups you find in the front of books sometimes, with long blurbs by an array of authors and critics. When someone has 3 pages of that stuff, and alot of it is from authors and sources I respect, I do tend to take note of it.
When it comes to cover blurbs I mostly blow them off unless they are from an author I really don’t care for. Though actually, there are some authors I will certainly pay attention to. If Neil Gaiman gave me a ‘pretty much perfect’ blurb ala Robin McKinley’s Sunshine, I would absolutely shit my dog’s pants. Of course she is way beyond needing that blurb, but it still has my two favorite author’s names on the cover and that is damned cool. Honestly I think I only have like 5 names I can come up with that would really make me consider a purchase: NG, Robin McKinley, Kinsale, Jo Beverley and Jenny Crusie. To my mind they have to have to be the most spectacularly glorious writers, ones who rarely misstep (imo of course).
Cover quotes: Never read them
Back cover quotes: Never read them
Quotes anywhere: Never read them
Back cover photo: Annoying, I’d rather see a synopsis. If a photo must be included, the inside of the back cover is a perfect place for it.
The quotes, to me, are just fluffery and not all that instructive because with very few exceptions, they’re *always* flattering—why wouldn’t they be? I get irked when a synopsis, which tells me what the book is about, is wholly absent or hidden because the back cover is splooged with praiseful quotes.
LC
From an inside perspective, cover quotes = lotsa angst among authors. I sell category, so haven’t had to go through the process, but as a fly on the wall, I can say this – the publishers frequently put the monkey on the back of the author to get cover quotes. Sometimes it’s done through an agent, and sometimes the publisher will seek them out, but more often than not, the author has to go out and find someone willing to read their book and say something nice about it. Can you say, awkward??? It’s a Big Favor to ask, and a lot of Big Names don’t have the time, or the inclination to do it.
I’m sure some quotes are given by friends, for friends, but as I see it, from my spot up on the wall, a lot of quotes are given by someone the author doesn’t know, who agreed to read the book and provide a quote because they’re a nice guy – or maybe they want their name out there as much as possible.
The thing is, this is all a product of publisher marketing, and so many authors are squicky about it, but what can they do? If the editor says, Go get some cover quotes, it’s not really in their best interest to say no.
As for whether cover quotes mean diddly squat to me – no, never. I don’t even notice them. But some readers do, I suppose, or the publishers wouldn’t make such a big deal out of them.
I back Stef’s post. Cover quotes are usually a publisher thing. They ask well known authors to read a new author’s book and to provide a nice quote. It CAN get very awkward, especially if the person asked doesn’t end up even liking the book.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060317/481/xel10503171848#
“Really, this book is so good, it’ll crap out a skanky fashion model”
Let’s try this again, shall we?
Walt: HAAA!
Cover blurbage: It worked out spectacularly for me once, and only once. I picked up Lucien’s Fall by Barbara Samuel solely because of the Jo Beverley blurb on the cover, and Beverley’s name stuck out because I’d really enjoyed reading My Lady Notorious that same week. Turns out that Barbara Samuel is actually a more reliable read for me than Beverley herself, heh heh.
I’d like to throw in my offer to use my l33t blurbing sk1llz for any author interested. C’mon, who wouldn’t want to be blurbed by Sarah or me? “More thrills and spills than Ted Kennedy on a vodka bender!”
Other blurbs that came to mind:
“This book is so good, it makes me want to choke a bitch.”
“More fun than a barrel of monkeys. A barrel of monkeys fucked up on LSD and convinced they’re unicorns.” (I wrote this about a friend, actually, but I’m willing to re-use this gem on a book.)
“This book not only kicked ass and took names, it called up all the names the next day and threw a freaky sex party with them.”
“This book parties like it’s 1999.”
“This book will rock you like a hurricane, except without the corpses and raw sewage in the streets and incompetent FEMA officials.”
“I would so go gay for [author’s name].”
C’mon: y’all know you want a blurb from Sarah and me. YOU KNOW YOU DO.
“This book not only kicked ass and took names, it called up all the names the next day and threw a freaky sex party with them.â€
Ooooh, I want that one!
I tend to ignore quotes unless they are from authors that I have read and loved. I picked up a book lately that I had planned to buy already, saw that one of my favorite authors had blurbed it, and thought, “Cool, that confirms what I thought.”
Otherwise … I think authors are put through waaaaay too much angst trying to obtain something that means very little to a lot of readers. I feel sorry for them. I mean, how humiliating is it to approach someone who is probably very busy to beg them for a quote. If they decline, I can imagine the resultant leap into the pit of self doubt. “Oh, they hated it!” It might just be that they simply do not have the time.
Enough rambling from me. 🙂
Well Geez- my book comes out next year and we’re in the process of trying to collect blurbs. Who knew there were such great ones out there? I love Christopher Moore, but as I don’t know him I’ll have to arm wrestle Dee for the SB quotes.
More proof that one (wo)man’s meat is another’s poison – if I saw a quote comparing something to Kushiel’s Dart I’d buy it, cause I really enjoyed that series. Even if it’s not my usual fare at all.
There are some authors I trust, and if I see a cover quote from them I’ll at least pick up the book and look more closely. Robin Hobb recommending something, or Patricia McKillip or someone else who isn’t a cover blurb whore would get my attention.
The people who blurb everything will make me LESS likely to pick it up. If, say, Anne McCaffrey has put her seal of approval on it I’d run a mile. Talk about burned too many times.
I’ve heard before that the cover design (including quotes, foil lettering etc) is aimed at making you pick up the book and look closely. Not necessarily buying it, but at least seeing if it’s for you.
So, it does that for me if it’s an author I respect. So it’s doing its job. But there are simply some authors who are over exposed on the endorsement front. So a ‘SUPERB!’ from them will likely mean a ‘meh’ from me.
The one that absolutely KILLS me is that Diana Gabaldon quote that is on ALL of LKH’s books. LKH has used that quote like a two dollar whore. It is time to bury it and let it rest in peace. If I were Diana Gabaldon I would be really pissed to see that quote on some of LKH’s more recent offerings. It can’t be doing anything good for her credibility. You know she said that back when Anita Blake would occasionally kill the monsters instead of just screw all of them.
Never read author quotes – I know from experience that the publisher sends galleys to their own authors to ask for quotes for the book. It’s like incest.
And who is going to trash a book in a quote? It will always be positive and completely uselss for a reader trying to decide to buy the book.
I read back cover blurbs and sometimes skim over the first page.
Stef is spot-on. It’s awkward, and yet necessary. While having a cover quote is not always a big plus, but *not* having one is a huge negative. Maybe the Bookseller Chick can verify this, but I’ve heard that book buyers place a fair amount of importance on these things.
For (much) more experienced insider’s perspectives than measly li’l me, check out Agent 007‘s and thriller writer J.A. Konrath‘s thoughts on blurbs. Both are really eye-opening. Come to think of it, maybe better to keep your eyes shut.
And Christopher Moore: Funniest. Writer. Evah.
who is PBW?
Embi, I believe that stands for Publisher’s Weekly an..errr…some kind of publisher’s journal thingy that’s well-known for its reviews.
The one that absolutely KILLS me is that Diana Gabaldon quote that is on ALL of LKH’s books. LKH has used that quote like a two dollar whore. It is time to bury it and let it rest in peace. If I were Diana Gabaldon I would be really pissed to see that quote on some of LKH’s more recent offerings. It can’t be doing anything good for her credibility. You know she said that back when Anita Blake would occasionally kill the monsters instead of just screw all of them.
Posted by KariBelle
That one always cracks me up! There’s also a quote from “J.D. Robb” that gets splashed on quite a few of them—something about a silver bullet.
Ahh, PBW is Paperback Writer, the blog for SL Viehl, aka Lynn Viehl aka 852 other pseudonyms.
I was out of town yesterday and most of today and a friend said, “Check out Smart Bitches – Sarah’s talkin’ about the Chis Moore blurb!” Thus proving Bitches everywhere check out SMTB!
Chris Moore is The Best. No publisher approached him for me. No one called in major favors or twisted his very cute arm. I contacted him when my first book was in the process of being published. I was too damn green and moronic to be nervous or afraid. I was just all, “Hey! He’s so damn cool. I’d just shit if he’d blurb me!” He was gracious and charming (and unfortunately not single) and took my totally unedited, filled-with-errors ms with him on vacation, and then emailed me the blub – along with explaining to me basic definitions like galley and copy edit. I’ll always appreciate him.
By-the-by, I also wrote Anne McCaffrey. She replied with 3 legal-sized pages of chapter by chapter editorial comments and said she’d blurb the book if I took out the bad language and the sex. I love Pern, but love only extends so far…(please note she didn’t blurb the book and Shannon’s mouth stayed as naughty as her love life).
AND YES YES YES! I WANT A SMART BITCHES BLURB!!!
Just for the record, the quote Sarah cited is my quote from MJD. Whom I had never met. Whom I sent a long, detailed email asking her if she’d maybe, possibly consider reading my book. To my surprise she responded quickly with a yes. The quote she ended up providing was much longer, but my editor cut it down to fit. And yes, the quote is hilarious, very MJD, and I love it.
I would also love a Smart Bitch quote. Though, preferably not one that makes me want to cry and tear my hair out. We shall see, won’t we?