The Definition of “Blurb”
- By: Jessica Faust | Date: Apr 03 2019
As querying authors are quick to learn, the same word can mean many things in publishing. “Blurb” is one of those words. Depending on its usage it can have multiple meanings, but depending on the agent it can also have slightly different variants of the same meaning.
A viewer of our YouTube video on Top Ten Reasons You Get a Request asked, “When you say blurb, what do you mean? Just your quick
A blurb can be the quote a published author gives another author for the book, often appearing on the front or back cover. More frequently though, a blurb is used to describe the pitch you make in the query letter. A blurb is the one to three paragraphs you use to describe the book, similar to cover copy.
The blurb is the description of your book in your query letter. We compare it most to the book’s cover copy. It is more than one sentence and highlights the key selling points (plot and characters).
I didn’t even know there were more definition’s for “blurb”! The only one I knew was the back of the book which equals the paragraphs in your query letter.