To blurb or not to blurb, that is the question. You’ve probably noticed on the back of many books there are little excerpts from other authors claiming it’s “laugh out loud funny!” or “two tissue box worthy!” or “fun and full of heart!” Authors are usually responsible for asking other authors to write these blurbs on their behalf. So if you don’t know many writers, you often don’t get many blurbs. (Remember the puppy dog eyes you had when you stood at someone’s locker and asked, “Will you sign my yearbook?” It’s like that.)
But thankfully, in the age of Twitter, Blogger, Facebook, MySpace, LiveJournal, GoodReads, etc., authors have more opportunities to “meet” each other in the strictly WiFi sense. This leads to me being asked via Twitter to blurb an awesome new novel by a popular Latina author.
So after reading an ARC of Goodbye to All That by Margo Candela and loving it, I was then forced to ponder the age-old question:
How do I write a blurb?
Do I go with the James Earl Jones version?
In a world… where movie stars rule the planet, one girl must face them all or risk doing temp work…FOREVER.
Do I go with the Siskel & Ebert version?
Two Thumbs Up! Fine, chick-lit fun! A book your girlfriends will love.
Do I go with the Time Magazine “By the Numbers” version?
300 pages
16 chapters
3 dog-eared pages
Countless laughs
Or do I just go with the straight-up version? Yeah, that’s what I thought too. So ultimately, I went with this:
“Bridget Jones meets Entourage in this witty, L.A. story that lets you behind the velvet ropes and inside one of ‘the industry’s’ cut-throat boardrooms. Readers will be rooting for Raquel Azorian, a realistic heroine full of flaws and self-reliance. Plus, she’s funny. Candela spins dialogue so sharp it will have you wishing she were standing nearby with cue cards at your next office meeting. A great, enjoyable read.”
So I hope you guys check it out when it debuts. Good luck with the launch, Margo!
POP CULTURE RANT: American Idol
Okay, it’s official. It’s not just me, this season blows. For the first time ever, I skipped the entire audition round (just wasn’t into it), but I did watch one round of the semi-finals. I wasn’t impressed. When they narrowed it down to the final 12, I thought it was safe to trust that the talent had been limited to only the most watchable. I was wrong. I have watched 2.5 episodes of the finals now and so far, only 2ish people deserve to be there (Crystal, ½ Lee, and ½ Siobhan, depending on the night). The rest are awful, like Season 1 “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” awful. Simon, I think when you leave next season, so will the rest of us.
