Book Work - Blurbs

I woke up at 2am from a dream about going blind with a migraine, which is always a fun time (not). Took meds, went back to sleep. Woke up four hours later feeling marginally better, but as these things do my whole day has been thrown off. I had to skip class, but I'm going to go for a walk I think after I finish this.

I'd planned to get a piece written on leadership and Helldivers, but I'm going to have to put it off until next week. (or rather, work on it the rest of this week so I can get it the way I want) I'm excited about that though, so I hope you all enjoy it.

Blurbs - those little snippets you see on the covers or backs of books, and on the sale pages "this is the greatest thing since sliced bread!" "masterful and gripping" "one of the best books of the century" those sort of things. Generally editors and authors come up with a list of people they think will enjoy the book, people who are in the same genre and then send them a copy with a request for blurb. Authors are always free to accept or not, we don't get paid for it, and there's usually a time constraint for getting blurbs back to the editor in time to make it on the cover or for promo purposes.

I am reading a book for blurb that I can't quite figure out if I like. And I don't mean in a bad book way, but just if I personally am clicking with it. * laughs * Honestly the worst place to be, it's easier to dislike a book immediately or love it immediately. I'm so picky about what I blurb, but I also hate letting people down, so it's difficult for me to say "no, I can't do this" especially after I've already agreed to it. (There are cases where it's easy - immediate nopes from me involve stuff like animal killing, racism/sexism/homophobia/transphobia/ableism, rape.) The story itself in this case has been interesting enough to keep pulling me along, so there's always the awareness that it may just be my constant struggle with fiction post-COVID causing me to not be able to burn through it.

One of the most fascinating things about being an author is the difference between reading books for blurbs and reading for enjoyment. (I don't know if every author does this but it's how my brain works.) When I'm reading for a blurb I am looking to enjoy the book, obviously, but there's also the editorial part of my brain that's active. It's thinking about plot structure and the dialog, how the characterization is working, what the prose is like.

I have an awareness that my blurb can get people to buy a book, therefore it's important to me that I blurb books that I truly think are good. As I said, blurbs aren't something that authors get paid for (beyond getting a free copy of a book and getting to read it way early), and in fact is basically unpaid work between the reading time and the writing of the blurb. But they can add to buzz for a book, and as always, word of mouth is one of the more important ways to sell books. So we do it, in large part because others do it for us. Also getting to read really good shit before it even comes out is a lot of fun at times.

One of the funniest things to me is that I will go for months without a request and then get three at once. Which sometimes makes for a lot of dedicated reading time needing to be worked into the day, and it's time taken away from writing. Which sometimes is annoying. But this remains a mostly fun and interesting part of the job, all things considered.

In more mundane news, everything has been shifted onto the new computer, so I really need to get back to edits. I also need to clean my office, it's a disaster and making me super distracted. There's a whole host of other things I need to read and do and I really didn't have time for this headache, but that's life I suppose.

I hope you're all doing well and taking care of yourselves and your communities as best as you are able. Hang in there, we want you around.

Love,
K

Currently Reading: 
Strange Powers by Ian Jackman
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari 

Currently Listening: 
Seven Nation Army - Vintage New Orleans Dirge White Stripes Cover ft. Haley Reinhart

Where you can find me these days:
Bluesky: @kbwagers.com
Instagram: @midwaybrawler
Patreon: kbwagers