When you buy a new book, you can usually expect to see praise from other authors emblazoned on its cover. A writer slightly more famous than the author of the book you’re buying might have called it “whip-smart”, “illuminating” or “a tour de force”, for example – presumably so that fans of the more famous writer will take a punt on the less famous one.
But soon we may not see so many of these author blurbs – Sean Manning, publisher of Simon & Schuster’s flagship imprint in the US, has written an essay for Publishers Weekly explaining that as of this year he will “no longer require authors to obtain blurbs for their books”.
“While there has never been a formal mandatory policy in the eight years I’ve been with the Simon & Schuster imprint, it has been tacitly expected that authors – with the help of their agents and editors – do everything in their power to obtain blurbs to use on their book cover and in promotional material. I have always found this so weird,” Manning wrote in his essay.
“The argument has always been that this is what makes the book business so special: the collegiality of authors and their willingness to support one another. I disagree. I believe the insistence on blurbs has become incredibly damaging to what should be our industry’s ultimate goal: producing books of the highest possible quality.”
Authors feeling obliged to write blurbs for their friends can create “an incestuous and unmeritocratic literary ecosystem that often rewards connections over talent”, he added.
“Thank God,” was the reaction of British writer Jo Hamya. “Honestly, it’s just an insular and repetitive format.”
Irish novelist Naoise Dolan also welcomed the move. “Pragmatically speaking, I do give blurbs and am very grateful to receive them because as an individual author, you want to be supportive (and supported) within the industry as it currently stands. But I would be delighted if they were done away with,” she said. “There are famous authors who give blurbs to complete strangers; I’ll never forget Hilary Mantel doing so for my first book. But by and large, blurbs reflect who’s friends with whom. It’s natural, and not at all a bad thing, for writers to find companionship with people whose work they admire. But I think we would all breathe easier in these intellectual friendships if our publishers didn’t constantly make us pester one another for glorified marketing copy.”
Yet twice Booker prize-nominated author William Boyd thinks Simon & Schuster might be “shooting itself in the foot”.
“I once asked an editor of mine what was the benefit of blurbs and he said that blurbs weren’t so much aimed at the casual browser but at the bookseller. Booksellers are inclined to order more books if the book in question has been well-blurbed, apparently,” he said. “Any little help one can give to a fellow author is worthwhile, I reckon.”
Manning did state that “if a writer reads a book because they want to (not because they feel beholden) and comes away so moved by it that they can’t resist offering an endorsement, we will be all too happy to put it to use”.
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And at the moment, Manning’s policy only applies to books published by that flagship US imprint, not all books published by Simon & Schuster globally.
A spokesperson from Simon & Schuster UK said the publisher has “no blanket policy” regarding blurbs. “It is up to each author and their publishing team to establish what is best for each book.”
“We acknowledge the time and effort it can take acquiring endorsements (and indeed writing them), but also how useful they can be in some instances as signposts for readers,” the spokesperson went on to say. “That said, our colleague Sean Manning echoes a sentiment that is no doubt felt by many across publishing.”
