No more blurbs!
One thing I don’t like about publishing with a major imprint is the task of soliciting blurbs. Now, you’d think getting other authors from the same publisher to read and say nice things about their colleagues’ books would be the task of the promotional people on staff, but it’s not.
I’m not convinced the promotional people do anything, but that’s a rant for another time.
They leave the task of getting blurbs to the authors, which entails various levels of emailing and begging. It’s annoying and occasionally humiliating when an author turns you down, but you can’t say you won’t do it—until now.
Simon & Schuster have announced they won’t solicit blurbs anymore, saying the practice promotes "an incestuous and unmeritocratic literary ecosystem that often rewards connections over talent." I could not agree more. There’s a reason you see authors like Stephen King and Lee Child on practically every book you see in their genres. They either have zero standards, and every book is excellent, or they’ve realized that putting their name on stuff helps sell their books. And then there’s plain, old cronyism.
I’ve gotten blurbs from some big names in my time, and the most precious of these was from David Morrell, whom I consider a personal idol. It felt good to get those blurbs, so I won’t say they’re worthless, but they did not impact sales or visibility. I don’t mind that I probably won’t ever have to solicit such things again.