HEAVENS TO BETSY is a literary novel with elements of horror, and I hope it might be up your alley. 94-year-old Betsy Sinclair is the last living resident of her nursing home after an apocalyptic solar flash leaves ninety-nine percent of Philadelphia destroyed. Alone with their bodies and her memories, she has all the time in the world to read through the diaries her fellow residents kept—and to learn that one of them knew a lot about the murder of Betsy’s husband in the 1970s.
Dear Rebecca, having experienced your generosity as a teacher, I can’t help but point out the obvious: Here you are declaring your need to finally hit pause on one small obligation in order to focus on your own life’s work & you do so by opening your treasure chest & offering us a gift. Thankyou❣️
Way too many books are said to be hilarious, laugh-out-loud funny, riotous, and uproarious when what they are is clever or bring an occasional smile. And don't get me started on "propulsive," a blurb and marketing word that became a cliche going on ten years ago.
Such a thorough dissection of probably the most loathed task writers face. Asking for blurbs and writing blurbs are both icky. The part I struggle with most is how to figure out whether the book is going to be a slog and I won't want my name on it before I've read it. Have you ever agreed to blurb a book and then found you simply, in good conscience, could not recommend it (assuming this wasn't one where "so-and-so is a magnificant writer" stuff wouldn't apply.)
Blurbs are never something I noticed or thought about as a reader, and only started looking at when I became serious about my own writing. I still remember seeing a debut novel with a blurb from a famous comedian at the top of the cover that was all about how much the comedian loved the author, and feeling confident that the comedian probably hadn't read the book (which turned out to be a pretty underwhelming read). I'm glad that my suspicions have been largely confirmed by this post.
I've been on both sides of the blurbing world, and I also do reviews of ARCs for NetGalley and others. I'd like to remind everyone that publishers have obligations too. After I reviewed a book in my field (my own book is well known and I'm considered one of the leading scholars in the field), I received a lovely email from the publisher telling me how honored they were by my review and could they please blurb it? Sure, I said, and they subsequently emailed me the sentence they wanted to use. I never heard from them after that. The blurb was not used, and the promised (promised!) signed copy never arrived. Rude.
Whenever people have been kind enough to blurb my books, I've made a point of sending them a signed copy and a thank you note when the book was published. (In some cases, my book publisher mailed these materials out for me; in other cases, my husband was the one who trudged to the post office with all the padded envelopes. But, either way, books were sent out.) It never occurred to me that someone would ask a fellow author to blurb a book and then use that blurb on their book cover without sending them a copy of the book -- but then it started happening to me repeatedly when I was the one blurbing other people's books. Relationships mean everything in the world of book publishing. It's so important to nurture and maintain them!
Love this post! A couple of years ago, I heard about an author who blurbed another author’s book, but when the blurber later asked for the favor to be reciprocated, his request was denied, because the 2nd author had become well known and worried about reputation. So, I’m guessing, that’s a crappy thing to do, and if someone blurbs an author’s book, the same should be offered in return. Fair is fair.
"Worried about reputation" is obnoxious, oof. I think it's absolutely okay to say "Oh my God I wish I had time to repay your kindness but my leg is on fire" or whatever though.
I'm on a quest to figure out who the person was who made up a blurb when the blurber was already dead. All I've found so far is that one Andrea Skinner used a blurb by Barbara Taylor Bradford, who died, I guess, by the time Skinner's book was published. Which seems to be very bad form. And another story about A.J. Flinn/Dan Mallory who apparently fabricated all sorts of things. I dunno if either are what you are thinking of.
This is a blurb masterpiece! I have often wondered about this process and how it works. But you have a wonderful, insightful and hilarious way of approaching it. I can see it in McSweeney's, but you have outdone the humor to come out the other side and give some valuable advice to both readers and writers.
Confession, I half want to read this book:
HEAVENS TO BETSY is a literary novel with elements of horror, and I hope it might be up your alley. 94-year-old Betsy Sinclair is the last living resident of her nursing home after an apocalyptic solar flash leaves ninety-nine percent of Philadelphia destroyed. Alone with their bodies and her memories, she has all the time in the world to read through the diaries her fellow residents kept—and to learn that one of them knew a lot about the murder of Betsy’s husband in the 1970s.
Same!
Dear Rebecca, having experienced your generosity as a teacher, I can’t help but point out the obvious: Here you are declaring your need to finally hit pause on one small obligation in order to focus on your own life’s work & you do so by opening your treasure chest & offering us a gift. Thankyou❣️
Way too many books are said to be hilarious, laugh-out-loud funny, riotous, and uproarious when what they are is clever or bring an occasional smile. And don't get me started on "propulsive," a blurb and marketing word that became a cliche going on ten years ago.
Such a thorough dissection of probably the most loathed task writers face. Asking for blurbs and writing blurbs are both icky. The part I struggle with most is how to figure out whether the book is going to be a slog and I won't want my name on it before I've read it. Have you ever agreed to blurb a book and then found you simply, in good conscience, could not recommend it (assuming this wasn't one where "so-and-so is a magnificant writer" stuff wouldn't apply.)
Blurbs are never something I noticed or thought about as a reader, and only started looking at when I became serious about my own writing. I still remember seeing a debut novel with a blurb from a famous comedian at the top of the cover that was all about how much the comedian loved the author, and feeling confident that the comedian probably hadn't read the book (which turned out to be a pretty underwhelming read). I'm glad that my suspicions have been largely confirmed by this post.
I've been on both sides of the blurbing world, and I also do reviews of ARCs for NetGalley and others. I'd like to remind everyone that publishers have obligations too. After I reviewed a book in my field (my own book is well known and I'm considered one of the leading scholars in the field), I received a lovely email from the publisher telling me how honored they were by my review and could they please blurb it? Sure, I said, and they subsequently emailed me the sentence they wanted to use. I never heard from them after that. The blurb was not used, and the promised (promised!) signed copy never arrived. Rude.
Thank you again, Rebecca.
Whenever people have been kind enough to blurb my books, I've made a point of sending them a signed copy and a thank you note when the book was published. (In some cases, my book publisher mailed these materials out for me; in other cases, my husband was the one who trudged to the post office with all the padded envelopes. But, either way, books were sent out.) It never occurred to me that someone would ask a fellow author to blurb a book and then use that blurb on their book cover without sending them a copy of the book -- but then it started happening to me repeatedly when I was the one blurbing other people's books. Relationships mean everything in the world of book publishing. It's so important to nurture and maintain them!
Love this post! A couple of years ago, I heard about an author who blurbed another author’s book, but when the blurber later asked for the favor to be reciprocated, his request was denied, because the 2nd author had become well known and worried about reputation. So, I’m guessing, that’s a crappy thing to do, and if someone blurbs an author’s book, the same should be offered in return. Fair is fair.
"Worried about reputation" is obnoxious, oof. I think it's absolutely okay to say "Oh my God I wish I had time to repay your kindness but my leg is on fire" or whatever though.
I'm on a quest to figure out who the person was who made up a blurb when the blurber was already dead. All I've found so far is that one Andrea Skinner used a blurb by Barbara Taylor Bradford, who died, I guess, by the time Skinner's book was published. Which seems to be very bad form. And another story about A.J. Flinn/Dan Mallory who apparently fabricated all sorts of things. I dunno if either are what you are thinking of.
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/who-was-a-recent-author-who-su-RHWLoGxTQxCrRTVfGMoW4w
This is a blurb masterpiece! I have often wondered about this process and how it works. But you have a wonderful, insightful and hilarious way of approaching it. I can see it in McSweeney's, but you have outdone the humor to come out the other side and give some valuable advice to both readers and writers.
Receiving this generous gift of experience and knowledge has made my day and equipped me for the future. Thank you.
I'm saving this just in case. Thanks.
Perfect. I am saving this for future reference. One never knows.