All there on the back

[Matthew Reads Junk]

One of my latest gripes is having either the entire summary of the book on the back cover; or information that isn't revealed to the character until about 100 pages in.
Look, I already know X will be the greatest threat Y has ever faced. You told me when I read the back cover, don't have it be a shock 1/3rd of the way in.

I don't know if it's sloppy writing on the author by having the plot move so slowly, or poor planning by the publisher.

[Jim]

I share this gripe. Some authors have said that writing the blurb to sell their book is harder than writing the book itself. I'll bet the blurb on the back is also tough. In a paragraph there has to be enough about the book to give an overall description & suck them in without spoilers. Tough, but that's why they make the big bucks. They should be able to do it.

[[deleted user]]

I would guess the publishers are usually to blame. They're in a competitive industry, and they evidently feel they have to make a book sound as intriguing as possible to get you to buy it in preference to its competitors. It's not surprising if, in a bid to convey to you just how gripping the book is, they sometimes give away too much.

[Kathy]

I think sometimes they write the blurb on the back without actually reading the book....

[Bryce]

I'm not going to lie. I'm a notorious cover shopper. If the cover grabs my attention then I'll read the blurb on the back cover. I'll agree though, some of the blurbs reveal to much, and if I feel like to much of the story is given away in the blurb I won't finish it. Generally if it's the second book in a series or third, etc, I won't even read it.

[K.F.]

While I agree the blurbs can be too much information, I'm also one who will read a book to see how the story unfolds, and not for it to surprise me.

I remember a romance book that made me so mad, because the blurb made it appear to be a vampire romance, when in reality it was about an alien. It really ticked me off. I had wanted to read a vampire romance - if I had wanted to read one with an alien, I would have specifically searched for it (yes, it's been years, and I still get frustrated about it).

So I would prefer to err on the side of too much, rather than too little, information.

[[deleted user]]

With online shopping, either for the books or e-books, the blurb isn't on the back of the book anymore, but rather in the Product Description. As a reader, I tend to hope the blurb will tell me enough about the book so I can decide if I might like it. However, the people who write the blurbs have a different agenda, which is convincing me that I will like it and ought to buy it, which is in the same thing. (Shocking! Advertisements aren't always helpful.)

One of the most important things I want to learn about the book is in the story but the writing style. Does the author think he's a reincarnation of Dostoyevsky or Edgar Rice Burroughs? (Unlike litcrap reviewers, I prefer the latter to the former. If the blurb is from the New York Times review of books, I skip it.)

Reading reviews on Goodreads or Amazon is a crapshoot, since those reviewers aren't always good at tagging spoilers.

By the way, one of my favorite spoiler covers is actually for a movie, the original Planet of the Apes (1968) DVD, whose cover is actually the final shot of the film (click to view cover - SPOILER WARNING). "You Maniacs! You blew the surprise!"

[Murray]

It's an exercise we sometimes use in my writing group. "Write your book's blurb". It's a tough challenge.

I fancy I did a decent job with my book. Or did I? Maybe sales would be vastly hotter with less concern about providing spoilers. After all, there are a huge number of very strange people (in my view) who only go to a movie after the bulk of it has been revealed in the preview.

It always makes me think of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. When the narrator reveals the heroes safely make planetfall with only a bruised arm by way of injuries. This was revealed because too many people stress about such things. To preserve some mystery, we won't tell you who bruised their arm. (paraphrase)