Cover Quotin'

[_ocelott_]

Just about every book has at least a couple: the cover quotes, usually from some well-known author who writes in a similar genre. The question is, how well do they work for you? Do you pick up a book and go "Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs liked this book, THEREFORE IT MUST BE AWESOME!"? Or do you tend to ignore these things completely

Comments

[morgan_dhu]

I pay attention to blurbs from some authors, but not others. For instance, if Ursula LeGuin or Samuel Delaney blurbs a book, I'm pretty much all over it. Some other authors, not so much.

[tracykitn]

Hmmm...good question. Usually, I don't even bother to read those. However, I have this weird ability to look at a shelf of books and after the first glance, unerringly pick out the authors I like (invaluable at Goodwill or other poorly organized secondhand stores.) So I'll notice if there's a quote from a name I recognize, and if it's an author I really love (as in, OMGfangirly, I have *all* your books! love) I will be slightly more inclined to at least pick the book up. I freely admit I will stand in the middle of the aisle with any books that caught my eye and read the first and last chapters in order to decide which ones I actually want to take home. My husband finds it irritating that I won't buy a book if I don't like the last chapter. But I'm almost never disappointed. And that's my ultimate decision-maker--reading the last chapter. If it doesn't do it for me, I'm not plonking any money down on it.

[bright_lilim]

It depends on who the blurb is from. There are some authors' whose blurbs will persuade me to at the very least take a closer look: Lois McMaster Bujold, Neil Gaiman, Steven Brust... Basically, an author whose work I know and like has a good chance of persuading me to take a look.

Then there are authors whose blurbs make be stay away from the book for good: David Eddings, Terry Goodkind...

Also, I don't know the vast majority of the authors who write blurbs so then I don't pay attention.

"(Check out Sherrilyn Kenyon's quote on Kinley MacGregor's book... and then take note that they are, in fact, the same person writing under two different names.)"

Wow! I don't know if I should call that very courageous or rather tasteless. Hmm. Or maybe it's a joke? Poking fun at the whole blurb culture? The quote sure sounds like that to me.

[berseker]

I wouldn´t buy it just for the rec, but it can get my attention, yes. I picked up The Shack because Michael W. Smith recced it. Then I read the first few pages to see if I liked the author´s style.

On the other hand, one sure way to annoy me is comparing the book to Harry Potter. Or any other book, really. I always wonder if the author doesn´t find this offensive.