View source for Blurb

{{Short description|Short promotional written piece accompanying a creative work}}
{{about|a short summary of a piece of work|the print-on-demand publisher|Blurb, Inc.}}
[[File: Blurbing.jpg|thumb|The 1906 front dust jacket of [[Gelett Burgess|Burgess]]'s ''Are You a Bromide?'', which contains the first use of the word "blurb."]]

A '''blurb''' is a short [[promotion (marketing)|promotional]] piece accompanying a piece of creative work. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear [[dust jacket]] of a book. With the development of the [[mass-market paperback]], they were placed on both covers by most publishers. Now they are also found on [[web portal]]s and [[news website]]s. A blurb may introduce a newspaper or a book.

== History==
[[File: Gelett Burgess.jpg|thumb|Gelett Burgess {{circa|1910}}]]
In the US, the history of the blurb is said to begin with [[Walt Whitman]]'s collection, ''[[Leaves of Grass]]''. In response to the publication of the first edition in 1855, [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] sent Whitman a congratulatory letter, including the phrase "I greet you at the beginning of a great career": the following year, Whitman had these words stamped in gold leaf on the spine of the second edition.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/09/27/429723002/forget-the-book-have-you-read-this-irresistible-story-on-blurbs|title=The Curious Case Of The Book Blurb (And Why It Exists)|last=Dwyer|first=Colin|date=27 September 2015|work=[[NPR]]|access-date=30 September 2015}}</ref>

The word ''blurb'' was coined in 1906 by American humorist [[Gelett Burgess]] (1866–1951).<ref>'' The Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language''. Ed. [[David Crystal]]. Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]], 1995. p. 132. {{ISBN|0521401798}}</ref> The October 1906 first edition of his short book ''Are You a Bromide?'' was presented in a limited edition to an annual trade association dinner. The custom at such events was to have a [[dust jacket]] promoting the work and with, as Burgess' publisher [[B. W. Huebsch]] described it, "the picture of a damsel—languishing, heroic, or coquettish—anyhow, a damsel on the jacket of every novel".

In this case, the jacket proclaimed "YES, this is a 'BLURB'!" and the picture was of a (fictitious) young woman "Miss Belinda Blurb" shown calling out, described as "in the act of blurbing." The name and term stuck for any publisher's contents on a book's back cover, even after the picture was dropped and only the text remained.

==Books==
A blurb on a book can be any combination of quotes from the work, the author, the publisher, reviews or fans, a summary of the plot, a biography of the author or simply claims about the importance of the work.

In the 1980s, ''[[Spy (magazine)|Spy]]'' ran a regular feature called "[[Logrolling]] in Our Time" which exposed writers who wrote blurbs for one another's books.<ref name="variety">{{cite web | url=https://variety.com/2006/more/reviews/spy-the-funny-years-1200511592/ | title=Spy: The Funny Years | date=10 December 2006 | publisher=Variety | access-date=25 August 2014}}</ref>

===Blurb requests===

Prominent writers can receive large volumes of blurb requests from aspiring authors.  This has led some writers to turn down such requests as a matter of policy.  For example, [[Gary Shteyngart]] announced in ''The New Yorker'' that he would no longer write blurbs, except for certain writers with whom he had a professional or personal connection.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/an-open-letter-from-gary-shteyngart|title=An Open Letter from Gary Shteyngart|first=Gary|last=Shteyngart|magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref>  [[Neil Gaiman]] reports that "Every now and again, I stop doing blurbs.... The hiatus lasts for a year or two, and then I feel guilty or someone asks me at the right time, and I relent."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2001/04/american-gods-blog-post-36.html|title=American Gods Blog, Post 36}}</ref> [[Jacob M. Appel]] reports that he received fifteen to twenty blurb requests per week and tackles "as many as I can."<ref>Writers's Voice, Oct 2015</ref> 

In acknowledgement of such concerns, [[Simon & Schuster]] announced in 2025 that it would not expect authors to solicit blurbs for their books. The publisher was quoted in ''The New York Times'' as saying that the requesting of blurbs "often rewards connections over talent” and that the practice exacts too much time from authors.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Egan |first=Elisabeth |date=2025-02-04 |title=What Are Book Blurbs, and How Much Do They Matter in Publishing? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/books/what-are-blurbs-books.html |access-date=2025-02-04 |work=The New York Times }}</ref>

==Film==

Movie blurbs are part of the [[film promotion|promotional campaign]] for films, and usually consist of positive, colorful extracts from published reviews.

Movie blurbs have often been faulted for [[Fallacy of quoting out of context|taking words out of context]].<ref>Reiner, L. (1996). "Why Movie Blurbs Avoid Newspapers." ''Editor & Publisher: The Fourth Estate, 129,'' 123.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gelfmagazine.com/archives/the_best_worst_blurbs_of_2007.php |author=Bialik, Carl |author-link=Carl Bialik |date=January 6, 2008|title=The Best Worst Blurbs of 2007: The 10 most egregious misquotes, blurb whores, and other movie-ad sins of 2007 |work=Gelf Magazine |access-date=February 28, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2010/03/good-blurbs-from-bad-reviews-repo-men-the-bounty-hunter-diary-of-a-wimpy-kid |author=Sancton, Julian |date=March 19, 2010 |title=Good Blurbs from Bad Reviews: ''Repo Men'', ''The Bounty Hunter'', ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=February 28, 2013}}</ref><ref>McGlone, Matthew S. (2005). "Contextomy: The Art of Quoting Out of Context." ''Media Culture, & Society,'' Vol. 27, No. 4, 511-522.</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported:{{Cquote|quote=Hollywood has become more careful in recent years in the way it wields these quotes. But the blurbing game is also evolving as newspaper film critics disappear and studios become more comfortable quoting Internet bloggers and movie Web sites in their ads, a practice that still leaves plenty of potential for filmgoers to be bamboozled. Luckily for consumers, there is a cavalry: blurb watchdog sites have sprung up and the number of Web sites that aggregate reviews by established critics is steadily climbing. ... Helping to keep studios in line these days are watchdog sites like eFilmCritic.com and The Blurbs, a Web column for ''Gelf'' magazine written by [[Carl Bialik]] of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''.|author=Brooks Barnes|source=''[[The New York Times]]'' (June 6, 2009)<ref>{{cite news |last=Barnes |first=Brooks |title=Hollywood's Blurb Search Reaches the Blogosphere |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 6, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/weekinreview/07barnes.html |access-date=February 28, 2013}}</ref>}}

Chris Beam from ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' wrote in an "Explainer" column:{{Cquote|quote=How much latitude do movie studios have in writing blurbs? A fair amount. There's no official check on running a misleading movie blurb, aside from the usual laws against false advertising. Studios do have to submit advertising materials like newspaper ads and trailers to the Motion Picture Association of America for approval. But the MPAA reviews the ads for their tone and content, not for the accuracy of their citations. ... As a courtesy, studios will often run the new, condensed quote by the critic before sending it to print.|author=Chris Beam|source=''Slate'' (November 25, 2009)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/11/best_film_ever.html |author=Beam, Chris |date=Nov 25, 2009 |title='(Best) Film Ever!!!' How Do Movie Blurbs Work? |work=Slate |access-date=February 28, 2013}}</ref>}}

Many examples exist of blurb used in marketing a film being traceable directly back to the film's marketing team.<ref>{{cite web
| url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/oct/03/pressandpublishing.sun| title=How to flog a turkey| website=[[Guardian Unlimited]]| location=London| first=James| last=Silver| date=3 October 2005| access-date=22 May 2010}}</ref>

==References and sources==
;References
{{Reflist}}
;Sources
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200116052148/http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/blurb/ The story of Miss Belinda Blurb] at wordorigins.org
<!-- note, the "["'s which are in the url from the LOC web site have been changed to %5B here so they don't upset the wikisyntax munching -->
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/rbpebib:@OR(@field(TITLE+@od1(Jacket+of++Are+you+a+bromide+by+Gelett+Burgess++%5BThe+word++blurb++had+its+origin+in+the+exploitation+of+this+book+%5B194+++))+@field(ALTTITLE+@od1(Jacket+of++Are+you+a+bromide+by+Gelett+Burgess++%5BThe+word++blurb++had+its+origin+in+the+exploitation+of+this+book+%5B194+++))) Original dust jacket] at the [[Library of Congress]]

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |author1=John Carter |author-link=John Carter (Author) |author2=Nicolas Barker |author2-link=Nicolas Barker |url= http://www.ilab.org/eng/documentation/30-john_carters_abc_for_book_collectors.html |title=ABC for Book Collectors |edition= 8th |isbn= 1584561122 |year= 2004 
|chapter= Blurb
|publisher=Oak Knoll Press }} {{free access}}
* {{cite journal |title= Patterns of puffery: an analysis of non-fiction blurbs |author= Blaise Cronin and Kathryn La Barre |journal= Journal of Librarianship and Information Science |volume= 37 |doi= 10.1177/0961000605052156 |year= 2005
|s2cid= 40272839 }} (Includes bibliography)
* [https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/06/riveting-the-quandary-of-the-book-blurb "'Riveting!': The Quandary of the Book Blurb"], ''New York Times'', March 6, 2012

==External links==
{{wiktionary|blurb}}
* {{wikiquote-inline}}

{{books}}

[[Category:Book design]]
[[Category:Book terminology]]
[[Category:Book publishing]]
[[Category:Promotion and marketing communications]]

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