Blurbing: Buyer Beware

Check out this amusing article on blurbing over at the New York Times Book Review. The bottom-line: take those effusive comments on the back of that new release with a large grain of salt. Rachel Donadio explains:

The endorsements on books aren’t entirely impartial. Unbeknownst to the average reader, blurbs are more often than not from the writer’s best friends, colleagues or teachers, or from authors who share the same editor, publisher or agent. They represent a tangled mass of friendships, rivalries, favors traded and debts repaid, not always in good faith. There’s some debate about whether blurbs actually help sell books, but publishers agree they can’t hurt. Often, agents try to solicit blurbs even before a publisher buys a book.