Who writes these and who decides how much to reveal if at all?
Blurbs
- Thread starter Man of Steel
- Start date
^ And,very occasionally, even the writer himself (or herself) will do it.
What KRAD and DRGIII said. It's pretty standard. In my day job as an editor of military history, I generally write jacket copy myself and run it past the author to make sure I didn't screw anything up. And sometimes I have something written by a freelance copywriter to start with, but the freelancer is often writing from sample chapters or less, so may understandably get some of the details wrong, which I then clean up.
Of course, I don't have to worry about giving away anything. No one holds it against me if I let slip that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor or we beat the Nazis.
^ SPOILERS, MAN!
From my experience, someone else always wrote the cover copy...either my editor or someone they hired. I've written copy for two of my books (so far?), and will happily say that it's not as easy as it might seem at first. There's a definite skill to writing effective copy, so my hat's off to the folks who do this on a regular basis.
From my experience, someone else always wrote the cover copy...either my editor or someone they hired. I've written copy for two of my books (so far?), and will happily say that it's not as easy as it might seem at first. There's a definite skill to writing effective copy, so my hat's off to the folks who do this on a regular basis.
You said a mouthful, brother. It's not something that I find easy, and I end up taking forever. I spent almost two hours yesterday trying to put together back cover and flap copy for Tarawa and the Marshalls: The U.S. Marines in World War II. Which you, you old leatherneck jarhead devil dog, would appreciate.
Indeed. I developed that particular skill when I was working for the late Byron Preiss and had to write the copy for my own books because Byron was too cheap to hire freelancers.
I've done it freelance for a while now, and I also did the copy for all the books I've publicly edited for Pocket (the eBooks, the eBook compilations, the anthologies) and some of the stuff I've edited "behind the scenes."
Sometimes the blurb writer gets things completely wrong (Janus Gate, anyone?). How does that happen? Do they just do sloppy writing, or are they sometimes given manuscripts that are out of date?
^ They're working from materials that end up being out of date for one reason or another, usually long after whoever wrote the copy has passed on their work.
And don't you just love it when someone reviews the book based solely on that cover copy (as happened a few years ago on Janus Gate by the person reviewing it for the mag I was editing at the time!)
Paul
^ That happened here, too.
"The hell you say, Dayton!" I can hear folks growling from the audience. "Review a book you've not read? Get out! That just doesn't happen. Not on the Internet, where everything you read is the gospel truth! Say it ain't so!"
:: Ahem. ::
"The hell you say, Dayton!" I can hear folks growling from the audience. "Review a book you've not read? Get out! That just doesn't happen. Not on the Internet, where everything you read is the gospel truth! Say it ain't so!"
:: Ahem. ::
Okay, I wrote the copy for THE JANUS GATES, but it's not my fault. I was only given the original outline, not the actual manuscript. I guess the book turned out differently than planned . . . .
(That was pretty much standard procedure back then. For marketing reasons, the cover copy usually has to be written long before the manuscripts are actually delivered.)
I haven't read your post, but I'm certain you're being unreasonable and entirely wrongheaded. Have you no shame, sir?
There must be a UK/US difference - over here it's pretty normal for the writer to at least be asked if he has some copy to suggest...
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Well, I'm usually consulted on my cover blurbs and allowed to suggest revisions. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
To answer the original poster's queries in more depth:
Generally, the copy is written either by the editor, an editorial assistant, or a freelancer. I've been supplementing my income by writing cover copy for over twenty years now and there are no hard and fast rules about how it's done, but I generally try to avoid any giving away any plots twists beyond, say, the first third of the book. I tend not to go overboard on plot details anyway; in general, I try to zero in on the "high concept" of the book and focus on that, ignoring minor characters and subplots. ("Can he save his future without destroying his past?!")
I prefer to write the copy for my own books, but I don't insist on it. Writing copy blurbs and writing novels are two completely different skills and some writers are good at blurbing their own books and some shouldn't be let near their flap copy with a hundred-foot-pole! Sometimes, in fact, writers are too close to their books to be able to blurb them objectively.
Then again, I've been doing this for years and have strong opinions on the subject!
Generally, the copy is written either by the editor, an editorial assistant, or a freelancer. I've been supplementing my income by writing cover copy for over twenty years now and there are no hard and fast rules about how it's done, but I generally try to avoid any giving away any plots twists beyond, say, the first third of the book. I tend not to go overboard on plot details anyway; in general, I try to zero in on the "high concept" of the book and focus on that, ignoring minor characters and subplots. ("Can he save his future without destroying his past?!")
I prefer to write the copy for my own books, but I don't insist on it. Writing copy blurbs and writing novels are two completely different skills and some writers are good at blurbing their own books and some shouldn't be let near their flap copy with a hundred-foot-pole! Sometimes, in fact, writers are too close to their books to be able to blurb them objectively.
Then again, I've been doing this for years and have strong opinions on the subject!
Ah, I figured it was something like that.
No offense was intended, of course. If you were given inaccurate info, it's not your fault.
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Ah, I figured it was something like that.
No offense was intended, of course. If you were given inaccurate info, it's not your fault.
None taken. These things happen sometimes.
True story: One of my upcoming copy assignments is for a new edition of an old western that was originally published way back in 1991. Funny thing is, I wrote the copy for the first edition, too! For a completely different publisher.
Clearly, I've been doing this too long . . . .
