In October, our St. Mary’s/ Calvert Chapter of the Maryland Writes association hosted one of my friends and colleagues, Austin Camacho. Austin is an award winning and highly respected author focusing primarily on crime fiction. He’s also the editorial director of Intrigue Publishing. As part of his talk about marketing for authors, Austin mentioned—rather offhandedly—something I knew little about: asking for cover blurbs for authors, and how those have helped him sell books. This is something I resolved to learn more about.
What is a Blurb?
Anyone who has read a book has likely read a blurb on the cover of a novel. These are statements from another author—often one who is more famous—that praises either the overall work of the author being discussed, or the specific work in question. Authors use these to promote their work, and that’s even the case for newer authors like me. For example, Take Hart was named a finalist in the first mystery novel category for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. You can bet I’ve included a reference to that on this website, on my Amazon page and it will appear on every other book I publish until I have something new to add. Authors need to distinguish themselves in some way, and a blurb—be it from an individual or organization—helps to do that.
How to Get One
Austin mentioned sending his books to well-known authors and asking them for blurbs. But remember, Austin is far better known than many of us. He’s been the president of the Maryland Writers Association, vice president of the Virginia Writers club, and has taught writing workshops all over the region. When Austin’s name is mentioned, people know him. So when I asked Austin if it would be appropriate for me to approach authors at the Creatures Crimes and Creativity Conference and ask for blurbs, he said “You’d be a fool not to.” Acknowledged.
Austin further says that the only real step in asking for a blurb is simply to ask. Derek Murphy agrees. The philosophy dropout and book cover designer says a simple ask works for many people. Murphy continues by saying that writing blurbs (this assumes that the author you’re approaching likes your book) helps them as well. For example, a prospective buyer might look at the blurb, nod, then ask themselves, “who is this other author?” The buyer might just look up that author and buy a book from them as well.
According to Murphy, it doesn’t take much effort for authors to write a blurb, which is a plus. Murphy also provides examples of emails authors might use to ask for their blurbs. He also reminds people that they may not receive a blurb for every request. Yet, even one blurb for ten requests is one more than you had before. Blurbs are worth the effort.
