Mister Pip and the Breakthrough
Thursday January 24, 2008
in books |
Do you bother reading the blurb on the inside cover of paperbacks? I certainly wouldn’t buy a book on the strength of them, and I rarely read them on the books I do buy. And when I do read them I tend to read only the lengthy ones – a paragraph or two on the virtues of the book rather than the quick great read or magnificent book.
I’m currently reading the paperback copy of Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. It features more than the average amount of snippets from rave reviews. No problem for me, I think it’s a great read so far – it might even be a magnificent book. What I did notice for the first time was that the snippets included a quote from a book blog. This is the first time I’ve ever noticed this on a UK paperback. Is it a first?
Alas, it’s not a great quote, but it’s a great start. One of the reasons I rarely read paperback blurb is because it always comes from newspapers and magazines that give their reviewers free copies of the latest releases and then, shockingly, pay them to write reviews. Unless I’ve got this all horribly wrong, I understand that the majority of book bloggers don’t receive their books for free and certainly don’t get paid for their reviews. In most cases they’ll be out of pocket, buying a book and sharing their thoughts for free. Call me romantic, but somehow this makes me more interested in what they have to say. So here’s to more quotes from blogs on the inside covers of paperbacks. More of us might even read them.
“the snippets included a quote from a book blog. This is the first time I’ve ever noticed this on a UK paperback.”
That’s fantastic! I’m so glad to hear it! It seems like blogs are oh-so-slowly gaining in credibility—-not as a whole, of course, but at least people seem to recognize that there are good ones out there, worthy of recognition and attention.
heather (errantdreams) Thursday January 24, 2008
“oh-so-slowly” is exactly right – but I think the tide is turning (or the times are a-changing?) where we need to go beyond the established channels for finding reviews. Because they’re not always the best.
The Book Tower Thursday January 24, 2008
I have yet to see that – interesting. I wonder if we’ll start to see more and more. Of course then bloggers will get inundated with free books…
verbivore Friday January 25, 2008
Well I wouldn’t say no – but I wouldn’t want to lose my romantic notions of blogging either :-)
The Book Tower Friday January 25, 2008
I’m going to have to nip across to Borders at lunchtime and see this for myself, since you don’t say what blog. I haven’t bothered to look at the paperback edition as I read it in hardback when I was working my way through the MAN Booker longlist.
But it’s not the first time a blog review has appeared on a book cover, although perhaps by a major publisher, as The Friday Project used a quote from John Self’s Asylum on Warwick Collins’ ‘Gents’, which was re-released last summer.
Stewart Friday January 25, 2008
I’m still working my way through the Booker longlist…
Interesting, this is the first time I’ve noticed a blog quote on a book, but I’ve missed the one you refer to and I guess there may be more…
The Book Tower Friday January 25, 2008
All these days later and, despite being in and out of book shops, I only remembered to have a peek at the praise in Mister Pip today. I see it was a quote from dovegreyreader’s blog. I suppose I should have guessed, since she’s developed quite a place for herself in the UK book blogosphere.
Great to see a blog quote appearing in such a major book.
Stewart Wednesday January 30, 2008
The shape of things to come (let’s hope).
The Book Tower Thursday January 31, 2008
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