Colin Dwyer traces the history of the book-cover blurb back to an approving note written by Ralph Waldo Emerson to a then-barely-known Walt Whitman upon the publication of Leaves of Grass. Dwyer also discusses the burden of blurbing for its busiest producers: "Some writers report receiving up to five unsolicited galleys in the mail a day, a deluge that's prompted plenty to swear off blurbing altogether. It also prompts a question: How do all the other blurbers do it?"
October 5, 2015