“A masterpiece!
“Stunning.”
“The best podcast ever!”
In this episode we play the Book Game from Bookstr (not BookRiot, oops!) and discuss the history and usefulness of book blurbs.
A blurb is, to quote Gelett Burgess, who invented the term in 1907, “a flamboyant advertisement” found on the front and back covers of books. Burgess later wrote the Burgess Unabridged: A New Dictionary of Words You Have Always Needed, available to curious readers on Archive.org, where words like “blurb,” “wowze,” and “huzzlecoo” increase even the most robust vocabulary. Most of these words never really caught on, but “blurb” is the noticeable exception.
Do we need blurbs? Do we like blurbs? And can blurbs help you make up a convincing first line of book that fools your friends?? Listen and find out.
Let us know your thoughts so we can keep the conversation going!
To read more about blurbs see Merriam Websters’ The Must-Read, Smash Hit Story of ‘Blurb’ and NPR’s Forget The Book, Have You Read This Irresistible Story On Blurbs?
Biblio Banter 