Do Author Blurbs Create Sales?

An author review quote is often perceived as the holy grail of cover candy – second in line to a bestseller label or that coveted Oprah or Reese book club seal. But do author blurbs really matter? And how would you go about getting one?

Let’s tackle the first question…

Do author blurbs sway the reader to purchase a book?

I asked 500 readers if an author blurb ever sways them to buy a book. 81% of them said no. Here’s the breakdown:

If your time/energy is low, I would suggest skipping attempts to get an author review quote and focus that energy instead on courting book bloggers and influencers. That group is in the business of reading/reviewing, and are much more likely to promote the book at release and in the future.

Now, if you’re still interested in getting your favorite authors to read your novel, let’s look at the second question:

How do you get author blurbs?

There’s no easy shortcut to collecting blurbs. It requires individual emails to authors asking/begging for them to read and review your book. It’s a pretty big request. It can take 4-8 hours to read a book, and most authors didn’t have time to brush their teeth this morning.

Here are some quick tips to help your cause:

1. Reach out early. Ideally, you’d give an author at least a month to read your book.
2. Cast a WIDE net. I’d suggest reaching out to 20 high-profile authors, 20 mid-level authors, and 20 lesser-known authors.
3. Attach the ebook file to the email, so they can access and read it as easily as possible.
4. Offer to mail them a paperback.
5. Include everything they need to make their decision in your email (the book description, length, is it in a series, genre, etc).
6. Don’t be afraid to follow up and be persistent. If they don’t respond after 2-3 reach-outs, cross them off the list. But if they do respond and accept the book, send them a polite reminder(s) as your deadline and release approaches.
7. Give them some helpful hints. In your follow-up and reminder emails, it’s nice to help them along and give them some content they can use for inspiration. You can include a list of review snippets from bloggers that you already have, or provide some keywords they can use in their blurb.
8. Send a follow-up “thank you” on release day. Don’t ask them to share the release, but thank them for taking the time to read and blurb it, and say how proud you are of their review quote.

No matter which path you take, don’t get discouraged if you don’t get any takers or only hear crickets when you send out your queries. Authors are busy and their inboxes are often ignored or overburdened.

I hope this was helpful! Now, I’m off to write – fingers crossed that you’re having a good week and are in the midst of a great book.

Alessandra

P.S. Check out our Inkers Con 2024 class lineup. We have 10 brand new marketing classes including Data-Driven Cover Design by Laura Hildago. Join us in Dallas or online!