BLURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: An A-Z of Literary Persuasion

According to Cecil Day-Lewis, the sonnet, the detective story and the blurb are all the most perfect crystallisation of literary form. Veteran Penguin Books blurb writer and editor Louise Willder distils her 25 years' experience and boasts that she has written over 5,000 blurbs in her career. Our editor Annie can certainly top that! Her book concerns our initial impressions of a book - title, strap line, quotes, opening line and cover design which all work together to make us want to pick it up. The second section stays with the bigger picture to consider the blurb's literary history. Has the way we use words to sell books changed over time and when did the earliest blurb appear? Writers have been eliciting words of praise from other writers for hundreds of years and markets have always been crowded. The oldest known printed advert in English is from the 15th century - and it is for a book. What can great writers from Jane Austen to J. D. Salinger and lesser known figures tell us? Which authors really hated blurbs? Then we narrow our focus in on the rules of good copy and the best way to capture something in as few words as possible while still making those words feel fresh and original. How do shape, structure, pace and style work together? Is it ever OK to swear or give away the ending? Yes of course it is! Another section looks at blurb writing from children's books to blockbusters and yet another what happens in our brains when we read a piece of persuasive copy. Can blurbs be sexist? How does copywriting relate to language, culture, screenwriting, fairy tales, advertising and even musicals? This is the outside story of books and some titbits on the eccentrics - gossipy, brilliantly created publishing world which has been the writer's home for over two decades. For all bibliophiles. 351pp of funny, curious and stylish thoughts about books.