Blurb writing etiquette

What is the point of a blurb, how do you ask for one, and how do you write one?

When I was first put on the hunt for “blurbs” in 2013 in preparation for the launch of my first novel, my husband, who is French—and thus is accustomed to books that bear only the title, author name, and publisher on their covers (not even an illustration or a photo!)—was like, “What the hell is a blurb?” It was rather embarrassing to explain. “It’s like, proof from other people, famous people, that readers will like my book?” I offered. “But why don’t they just decide that for themselves?”

The French live on a different planet, and what a beautiful, artistic planet it is!

But I don’t live on that planet and with the exception of a few of my book titles (which did get published in France, but with an illustration on the cover), I live on planet America, which is PLANET MARKETING.

So I had to go in search of blurbs.

“My high school English teacher has always supported my work?” I actually said this to my publisher. Out loud. In public. I truly thought it might be appropriate (even useful!) to have an endorsement from my high school English teacher on my book’s jacket.

You see, I had nobody else to ask. I didn’t go through an MFA program, I took only one creative writing workshop in college (which went poorly), and I’d spent nearly the entirety of my twenties living in Paris where I worked as a Corona saleswoman (for the beer, not the virus) instead of living in New York City doing writer shit and making writer friends.

My publisher reached out to some of her own authors to see if they’d come through for us, and on my end, I started writing to the writers I admired who had no idea who I was. What fun times those were!

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So what the hell is up with this cottage industry of blurbs and blurbing? Do we need them? How do we write a blurb if someone asks for one, and is there any sense in writing a blurb for ourselves?

Read on to find out.