How can I see all the books that PersonX has written blurbs/endorsements for?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by droopy

How can I find all the books that PersonX has written blurbs/endorsements for?

Many of the jacket raves on (BPH) paper books had nothing to do with THAT book. I knew that the rave came from someone DEAD at the time the dook was first released for publication (and I gave a grace period in my estimate for publication delays)
The rave may have pertained to some former work by the books author, but we know work varies and not always better in old age.

OTOH Containing a Forward by X, has weight in my book

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by droopy

Yes, exactly, MurrayPaul. This is what I mean. blurbs within a book.

Endorsements on a book seem to be on the level of washing powder adverts. I can't see the point of them. A particularly cynical ploy by many publishers. I'm not even impressed by ones from authors I like on books I like.

And actual blurbs? In the front matter or on rear cover? Often seem to either have bad spoilers or be written by someone that heard someone else talking about it. They may help sell books, but I rate them low on honesty or usefulness.

[JSWolf]

With eBooks, I dump the review blurbs. I don't read them and I don't want them.

[Deskisamess]

I've read so many "endorsements" by authors I like, for awful books, I no longer pay any attention to them, regardless of who writes them.

[droopy]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Endorsements on a book seem to be on the level of washing powder adverts. I can't see the point of them. A particularly cynical ploy by many publishers. I'm not even impressed by ones from authors I like on books I like.

And actual blurbs? In the front matter or on rear cover? Often seem to either have bad spoilers or be written by someone that heard someone else talking about it. They may help sell books, but I rate them low on honesty or usefulness.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

With eBooks, I dump the review blurbs. I don't read them and I don't want them.

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

I've read so many "endorsements" by authors I like, for awful books, I no longer pay any attention to them, regardless of who writes them.

I can symphatize. There's one author who has written life-changing books. But he has a reputation has being to generous with his endorsements to the point that some wonder whether he's carefully read the books he's endorsing.

Perhaps I can share what prompted me to create this thread. There's currently a book I'm reading which I enjoy very much. It's deeply moving and the author has a command of the language. There are blurbs in the book and now I want to know what other books these people have endorsed. This OP was prompted by the desire to find other good books.

[pdurrant]

Even without needing an exhaustive list, I can't think of a way to find that info.

[maddz]

I think the only way to get that info is to get hold of a copy of the book and make your own database. Bear in mind too that blurbs could change between editions and languages so you'd need an exhaustive edition list.

My gut feeling too is that ebook metadata is created by the editorial department, and the blurbs are added at a later stage by the marketing department, so even the publishers may not be able to supply the data.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by droopy

I can symphatize. There's one author who has written life-changing books. But he has a reputation has being to generous with his endorsements to the point that some wonder whether he's carefully read the books he's endorsing.

Perhaps I can share what prompted me to create this thread. There's currently a book I'm reading which I enjoy very much. It's deeply moving and the author has a command of the language. There are blurbs in the book and now I want to know what other books these people have endorsed. This OP was prompted by the desire to find other good books.

Perhaps you can write to the authors of those blurbs and explain how much you enjoyed his or her recommendation, and was wondering what other books those blurb writers would recommend. Of course, if it's a very famous or popular blurb writer/author, then he or she generally won't have the time to answer such questions. (In my own case a few years ago, I emailed Jessica Amanda Salmonson and told her how much I enjoyed her writing. She wrote back and a brief correspondence ensued. I don't think this is too unusual within popular genres.)

Not to do with blurbs, but you can go to Amazon and read some of the reviews of that book you're currently reading. When reviews really hit home with the way you feel, then you may wish to check out further reviews from that/those reviewer[s].

[rkomar]

Another problem with blurbs is that many in the business have a "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" attitude toward them. So, unless you know an author would never do such a thing, you have to treat their blurbs with suspicion.

[ElspethB]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Another problem with blurbs is that many in the business have a "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" attitude toward them. So, unless you know an author would never do such a thing, you have to treat their blurbs with suspicion.

The late, great Spy Magazine from the late 80s used to have a regular feature called"Logrolling in Our Time," which printed examples of pairs of authors' favorable blurb-worthy reviews of each other's work.