Analysis of Blurb

Tactical Purpose 

An author or the publisher can use this device to inform the reader about their book and why they should read it. They can write a couple of paragraphs giving a synopsis of the events or what might happen in the book to hook the reader into picking that book. A movie can use a blurb like a trailer to make the audience want to watch the movie to see more of what the trailer showed. Trailers usually include a mystery that the audience would want to know. They give a glimpse into the movie like how the blurb of a book gives a glimpse into the story. 

Blurbs can be quotes given by popular publications and celebrities. They can be used to advertise their book, to make the reader interested to read the book that The New York Times calls “Amazing!”. Blurbs at times can be exaggerated to oversell the book in order for them to fully advertise. In movie trailers, there might be a voiceover of a celebrity calling this movie “out of this world” to excite the audience into wanting to watch the movie. 

Steps for Analysis  

1. Determine where the Blurb is located. (Either on the front cover or back cover. Can also be inside the book (first couple of pages))

2. Decide the blurb's intention. Is it there to inform, entice, or exaggerate? 

3. What audience is the blurb intended for?

   • Who is the author of the blurb?

     • Is the author of the blurb more for older readers or younger?

4. Why would the publisher include this blurb?

• Would the blurb be there for advertisement?

• would the blurb be included for the audience to take encounter?

5. who is responsible for putting the blurb in the book? 

• publisher? author? sponsor? 

The book Freakonomics has many blurbs written on the front and back cover as well as inside the book around the first couple of pages. The publisher decides to include the blurbs in order to reach a certain audience that would read, for example, The Wall Street Journal. The choice of where each blurb is placed has an impact. The closer the blurb is to the start of the book, the more relevant the publisher of the blurb is to the targeted audience. In this case, the targeted audience based on the relevance of the blurbs would-be investors, bankers business people, and economists.

The blurbs used in the book can be to entice the audience into wanting to read the book. The reader, knowing The Wall Street Journal is a popular publishing company that many people side with, would believe the quote and would leave them wanting to gasp in amazement. The audience the publisher is trying to reach would be the economists or audience that reads The Wall Street Journal, therefore the audience that reads the blurb would trust the blurb’s opinion and be driven to read the book. 

The image source below is the cover of Freakonomics.