How
seriously do you take author recommendations and/or author blurbs? You know
when one of your favorite authors blurbs a book meaning they say a little quote
that gets printed on the back of the book? For example:
What a mesmerizing whirlwind of a story!
I was simultaneously horrified and enchanted by the land of Cane, with all its
passion and mysteries, magic and mechaniks. Claire Legrand’s writing has the
grace of a ballet, but this is definitely not your grandmother’s Nutcracker
tale. - Marissa Meyer
Marissa Meyer is one
of my favorite authors. I absolutely adore her Lunar Chronicles series and will
read anything and everything she writes. So when she blurbs something, I'm
definitely picking it up. And if you saw my review of Winterspell on
Monday, you know how much I LOVED that book. So in this instance, it was a
win.
But what about when
it's not such a huge win. Like here:
"Death Sworn is YA fantasy at its best.
Intricate and clever world-building, heart-stopping action, and an
unforgettable romance that left me breathless - I adored every single moment
and never wanted it to end. This is Leah Cypess's best book yet!" - Sarah
J. Maas
SARAH FREAKING MAAS
blurbed this. I should have loved it. Been enthralled, swept away! But I
wasn't. I still liked it, but not as much as I wanted to. Which got me
thinking, did I not like it because Sarah had blurbed it.
Maybe that made my expectations too high?
Do you think that
authors are biased? I mean, they all seem like they're friends in this super
special club. So does that make them biased towards other authors books? Or do
they just respect what they do and have a harder time being objective and
critical? But then there are some that are spot-on awesome blurbs. What do you
guys think? Do you think that authors are biased when it comes to recommending
books? Do you trust blurbs from authors? How often does it work out for
you?
I do pay attention to author blurbs and so far they haven't disappointed :)
ReplyDeleteThat's great!
DeleteHmmmm very interesting. I've thought about this before like, do authors like books more bc maybe they're friends with that author? I'm not sure. On one hand I feel like they'd be honest, but on the other it's not like they're going to put something down bc they're in the public eye so much. How do people actually get asked to blurb? Like, would people refuse to blurb something? Because then if they didn't like it, they could always say no.
ReplyDeleteI think authors can refuse to blurb if they don't like it. But I guess I'm just wondering more if they're less critical of books than bloggers/readers because maybe they understand more? Idk.
DeleteI don't take them too seriously, I pay more attention to reviews from Kirkus, etc. and then bloggers and reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. But yeah, it does make you wonder if the person blurbing is biased in some way, maybe because they're friends. Interesting question! ~Pam
ReplyDeleteYeah, I definitely pay more attention to trusted bloggers reviews than author blurbs, but when someone like Sarah Maas or Marissa Meyer is telling me to read something, I feel compelled to listen.
DeleteI've heard that if the authors are under the same publisher, then their blurbs really can't be trusted because they are much more pressured to give glowing reviews. I don't know how accurate it is, but it does make some sense :-/
ReplyDeleteHmmm... that's an interesting point that I can imagine is true.
DeleteEven though authors know a thing or two about the craft doesn't mean their opinion is somehow less subjective. And just because an author I admire appreciates the book of another author doesn't guarantee that I will like that book. I don't place a lot of stock in the author blurbs. I'm more likely to take into consideration reviews from the book bloggers and the reviewers on goodreads than authors.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's a good point. Everybody likes different things. Just because they are an author doesn't mean that everything they like everybody else will like. Great point!
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