There's a part of the publishing process that I rarely hear talked about - getting blurbs. Might cover it on the podcast but thought I'd do a little thread as I'm feeling a bit low this morning & tweeting about minutiae is a nice distraction. Here are some thoughts:

So basically, once your book has been accepted & handed in, there's often these days a good year left to publication, sometimes more. A lot of that time is theoretically alotted to building up buzz. The primary firing pin for that buzz might be the size of the deal, or the topic.

If someone has been offered 6 or 7 figures in their advance, if there was a big auction for the book (or series), if it's on a very contentious or buzzy topic or if the author is famous, those are all potential initial reasons why the book might draw attention.

But these are, definitionally, rare. That's why they're useful distinguishers, right? For most authors, for most of their books, the promotion starts with the blurbs. These are positive quotes from people sent proofs before publication - usually other authors.

You might also get celebrities offering quotes, or occasionally if it's a nonfiction book, experts in the field it covers. There are often a couple of rounds of trying to get blurbs - an early stage with pdfs / 'bind-ups', & a prepub stage with physical proofs.

Very early, the book might be sent out just as an epub file or printed out with like one of those plastic spiralbound jobs to a few targets. These generally need to be people you, your agent or editor know, sympathetic contacts, really, because you're importuning them.

You're essentially saying 'please read this uncopyedited book in an ugly format, quickly, for free, then write something glowing about it that we will slap on EVERYTHING. Or we might more or less ignore it if someone bigger gives us something better.'

Unless your book is super niche, if you've approached a reasonably successful author, the likelihood is they get loads of these requests. It takes a long time to read a book in manuscript format. It's actually quite taxing summing up your thoughts in a couple of sentences.

The quotes from this stage - if you get any - get put on the printed proofs (which look like actual books) & the press releases that go with them. They're often the first thing you see after the title when you open that envelope. 'THE BEST WRITING EVER' - AUTHOR YOU KNOW

So then the second round of proofs goes out just prior to publication, & that's more like carpet bombing the British Isles coast to coast with free copies of your work. More authors, also booksellers, potential reviewers, angels, demons, etc etc

Because of the proof copy arms race, those initial blurbs are part of how the second round's books differentiate themselves. Some people have already jumped on the bandwagon. It's social proof. It makes investing time in reading it seem less risky. Endorsing it is more desirable.

If any of *those* solicitations yield good blurbs, those might be stuck on the final book if they're received in time. Certainly they go on the Amazon page & press releases. Maybe they prompt some nice social media mentions.

Good buzz is often what attracts buyers from various booksellers. They might be more inclined to get behind a book which has big names tipping it. There's a firehose of books, & one or two strong quotes from high status names can start a positive feedback loop.

You can see the problem, right? Let's go back to that first round of blurbs. Approaching people to - whichever way you slice it - do you a massive favour, is not, primarily, a test of your book's quality, but of social capital. How connected are you, your agent & editor?

Celebrities clearly have a big advantage in this arena. Aside from having a bigger profile & being more likely to get media bookings once the book's out, it's far easier for them to get well-known names to endorse their work. Which turbocharges the buzz-building process.

Same goes for established bestselling authors. It's easier to approach someone to see if they'd like a super early sneak peak at the latest book by X. Blurbing those books early & effusively is almost its own form if self-promotion, & might get you reciprocal favours later.

I don't want to imply all blurbs are disingenuous or seedy. They're not. Of course we all read books & love them. Some big big superlead titles got picked because everyone who read every them though they were amazing. But.

Few people appreciate just how frigging *terrifying* it is going through this process of trying to get someone, anyone, to read your book. Most books I get sent, I don't read. That's just the economics of it. I don't have time & frankly doing unpaid promo isn't my job.

To be brutally honest, here's my calculus for whether I'll blurb a book:
+ by a friend
+ by an author I love
+ on a subject I am obsessed with
+ first line isn't complete shit (rarer than you'd think)
+ the book is on a subject or by someone I suspect I'll look good supporting

That last one is pretty rotten, right? If the book espouses an ideology I believe in, or some noble cause, I'm more likely to support. If it's a debut, I'm more likely to, because that feels generous. Nothing to do with the quality.

But I have limited time so, you know. I make choices. & some of those are selfish ones to do with who I want to be *seen* to be supporting. I suspect I'm not the only person who does this.

Clearly authors with a wide social network & big social media presence are at a massive advantage during the blurb process vs less networked authors. I'm sure it's based on genuine friendships but the net result is a functional self-perpetuating chumocracy.

I've been a direct beneficiary of this chumocracy so if it's possible to self subtweet, that's precisely what I'm doing. It can make the world of publishing feel utterly *terrifying* to new (or even established) authors without lots of writer mates.

I don't think I'm alone in finding the blurb process *excruciating*. It feels like I'm trying to recruit people into a multilevel marketing scheme. Agents & editors will help, but you're asked who you could contact yourself. I don't have loads of celeb mates.

But if you *don't* approach people, asking, essentially, for favours, the alternative is missing out on the potential blurb that gets it read. You choose between pestering - & potentially alienating - acquaintances, or voluntarily disadvantaging the work you've spent years on.

The importance of blurbs has only been increased by diminishing space for book reviews & arts coverage in general. Publishing survived the 2020 apocalypse reasonably well - authors, not so much. More money went to fewer authors. Established names coined it. Others languished.

As with any prized commodity, increased demand without commensurate increase in supply (there aren't more high profile blurbees) means increased cost. In this instance, some of that cost is paid via social capital. Some is through publisher/agency clout.

None of this, I think, rises to the giddy heights of a take. It's a rather uncontroversial statement of the plain state of play. The disappearance of review space is a negative but blurb culture is a result, not its cause.

I think what we're seeing is more akin to a stock bubble. It's easy, within the industry, to get pretty jaded pretty quickly because we know who shares an agent, who is married to such-&-such, & also because you just see so many you get harder to impress. https://twitter.com/SimonGuy64/status/1389916457195147267?s=19

I don't have any takeaways or solutions beyond saying to authors, if you've experienced the feelings of awkwardness & inadequacy & feeling like an outsider that can come from this process, you're not weird. Your experience is the unspoken norm.

Voicing concerns or worries or - worse still - *complaining* can look like bitterness. High profile authors have a massive investment in the status quo, though I know many acknowledge how the floor is tilted in their favour. Easier to get buzz when people actually read it.

I speak to a lot of authors off the record, both around podcast recordings & via my friends, & this is definitely true across the board. It is an attempt at generosity, but partial & favouring mates. Nepotism is a form of kindness, I suppose. https://twitter.com/Vanessa_Kisuule/status/1389899879405735936?s=19

I'm grateful to the authors who took the time to read my work & say positive things about it. I've had times when it's been very easy to find people willing to read my work, & others when it's been almost impossible. It's about politics, timing, luck - not the work.

Mainly this is always on my mind whenever I'm asked if I'd like to read something. Please know, agents, editors, authors, you are NEVER alienating me by asking. I understand the game. I might not read it, or even get back, but I'm flattered to be asked.

Maybe we can drop the culture of shame around asking for what is, bottom line, a favour. Instead of 'hey, I thought you might love this' perhaps 'we need like 5 blockbuster quotes from great authors if this shit is going to fly, so we've asked 20 & you're one.'

It's not a gift, nor is it a grift. We're all trying to survive in a tough industry. It doesn't make you a mercenary chancer to be proud of your work & ask peers for support, as long as you're not a dick if they say 'no' or don't respond. No one owes me a reply!

Oh, & completely incidentally in about a fortnight's time a few folk might feel the tap of the frigid finger of fate upon their shoulder, letting them know I've got new shit I could use their help hustling. 'Here, [REDACTED]. It's Clare. I'm calling in that favour.'

FIN

A final note - a few people saying they feel like they never choose books based on blurbs. The blurbs aren't really *for* you. Especially those early ones. They're for the industry. Buying teams. Foreign sales. Rights sales. Review space. Media space. Especially early ones.

Also, there's this thing in psychology called the Third-Person Effect, where people fairly consistently will report believing that advertising influences others, but not them. Same with social pressures. We imagine others are influenced by hype, yet we choose based on taste.