The Curious Case Of The Book Blurb (And Why It Exists) : NPR

The life of a blurb excerpted from a critic - a book review, say, from NPR - is a fairly simple one. A recognized critical institution writes a positive review; that review comes to the attention of a book's publisher, who then puts a positive quote somewhere on the book. But well before the book's been seen by critics, well before it hits store shelves, its manuscript is passed around for praise from a writer's peers. "When we start thinking about a publicity plan, you talk about what's going to be important. And so one of the first things to come up is: 'Are we gonna go after blurbs?' " says Kimberly Burns, a co-founder of Broadside, a literary publicity firm.