Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsunami
I've had a long blurb spoil a book. While browsing I saw a new book by R.A. Salvatore, the guy who wrote Drizzt Do'Urden, in the Forgotten Realms setting.
"Hey, a new book. I didn't know he had out another one."
*read blurb*
...
FRAAAAACK.
I hadn't read all of the Drizzt books, and by reading that blurb, I now know that
<snip the spoiler>
Damn you, blurb.
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My pet peeve is people using the word "blurb" when they mean "description." A blurb, traditionally, is not the damned description. It's a BLURB. A blurb is a comment or praise from some authority, whether it's Stephen King or the NYTimes' Book Review. Yes--before anyone jumps in--I know that the OED allows that "blurb" can be a short, eulogistic description by a publisher. Nonetheless, in the biz, historically, a blurb is not the description, (as in the description field on Amazon's website); it's the praise.
Offered solely FWIW.
@Cinsajoy:
You said:
Quote:
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Also if an author uses a review of mine without my permission, they will lose that review.
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A review from
where, exactly? I ask because Amazon (and B&N, etc.) state pretty clearly that once you've written a review on their site, they own it, not you, so an author wouldn't be doing anything spectacularly wrong in using that content. Do you have a review site, is that the thing? Usually, at least, in trade publishing, a published review, is pretty much fair game.
If, in this thread, we are discussing
descriptions, I have a list of stuff that will put me off a book in a New York second.
Hitch