I always read the blurb, even if I've already bought the book or borrowed it from the library. Its like watching the trailer for a movie; it whets the appetite. Everytime I've bought a book by an author I don't normally follow, its because the book has a good blurb and good hook on the first page. Even books on amazon benefit from a description and sneak peaks.

Only if a publisher has paid for a face-out listing will the blurb be effective. Even so, most blurbs are on the inside of the dust-jacket, or on the back of the d.j. The alternative is shelf-talkers. But there, too, booksellers, whether bibbox or indy are resistant to these becasue too many of them can make a bookstore look like a supermarket, with their blinking light, sensor-activated gizmos that spit out a coupon to the shopper passing by.

Blurbs on spine would be a bit of a step, but the tradition of not including the subtitle on the spine is probably something to look at again. Be interesting to see a list of some of the books that people consider great but have not sold, and to look at why.

A blurb is nowadays so much more than some text on the back of a book. It's a pice of content and writing it demands real skill. A good blurb writer (usually an editor, who although experts in their own right, often don't make great writers themselves) should be considering how this content is going to be used. One use will be on the back of a book and I agree with the majority here. Across all genres, the landscape is increasingly competitive. For someone to part with their hard-earned cash for a book, particularly in-store, the cover (look and feel) and textures have to sing in harmony. So many people browse in store and buy online now that this is increasingly important. The blurb may have to be so impactful, its memory can survive the journey home! The blurb is also used in the metadata "synopsis" or "description" fields for online retail and here, this, moreso than the cover (which probably doesn't look as good online as in the flesh), is your shot at convincing someone to purchase. In digital marketing, we A-B test everything, why wouldn't you do that with blurbs? You could make a keword-rich, optimized but readable blurb as well as one which is pure literature and see which performs better. Can the description aid the search? Probably. With the rise of the iBook store, editors should be looking to music and apps so see how the best performing products are sold in that environment. There are learnings for sure. So, new skills are probably needed and a new approach should be embraced. Like I said, a blurb is not just a pice of text on a book jacket anymore.

Jason - a good point and thanks for the link. Interestingly on the link you provided most of the commentators were put off by the blurb and the letter from the editor - but most of them read the book anyway to see if it lived up to the hype. In this case the blurb and editor's letter seem to have done the job of selling the book and getting it read. The fact the most agreed it didn't live up to the hype suggests a marketing problem for Chris Cleave's next book. I don't think the line 'His last book didn't quite meet your expectations but this one really will' is going to work.

This is part of the wider problem of publishers not being very good at marketing their books. I assumed in the past that this was because they expected the retailers to do much of that for them, but things have changed. I have been put off from buying books (online) for one or more of the following reasons: no blurb; inaccurate publication dates; no series information (which series is the book in? What number in the series is it?) to name but a few. This is basic information that should be available well ahead of publication and disseminated to the online retailers. A final point: I really hate it when the jacket is used to sell the book by including quotes from reviews of previous books or editions. I can see the point on posters but please, not on the cover itself. It can ruin what is a beautiful piece of design.

I often find blurbs misleading. I rely heavily on blurbs- especially in my job as a school librarian, where I'm selecting on behalf of young people. The book group I belong to has selected certain titles based on the blurbs, only to be disappointed with the content of the book. Either the blurb writers are very good at dressing things up, or they haven't read it all the way through.
Anyway, please accept this as a plea to all blurb writers to include enough accuracy to inform and entice. Book without blurbs usually don't make it into my 'shopping basket'.

Blurb for 'The Other Hand' (August 08):
We don't want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:
It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.
The story starts there, but the book doesn't.
And it's what happens afterwards that is most important.
Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

Blurb for 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' (Feb 07):
The story of "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some clues about the book on the cover, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about. If you do start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. (Though this isn't a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence. We hope you never have to cross such a fence.

I hope Mr Speckman acknowledged his debt to 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' in his brave new view on book blurbs.

Ass - that's a good spot. However does it not just prove the point? Both books were very successful using the same approach to blurb writing. What I'd like to see is an example of this style of blurb writing that has failed.