Blurb Your Enthusiasm
eBook - ePub

Blurb Your Enthusiasm

A Cracking Compendium of Book Blurbs, Writing Tips, Literary Folklore and Publishing Secrets

  1. 304 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Blurb Your Enthusiasm

A Cracking Compendium of Book Blurbs, Writing Tips, Literary Folklore and Publishing Secrets

About this book

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

'A small masterpiece. There is something funny, notable or awe-inspiring on every single page’ Jenny Colgan, Spectator

A joyful celebration of books – the perfect gift for bibliophiles, word lovers and anyone who’s ever wondered, should you judge a book by its cover?

We love the words in books – but what about the words on them? How do they work their magic? Penguin Books blurb wizard Louise Willder joyfully divulges what those 100-or-so words can tell us about literary history, the craft of writing, authors from George Orwell to Zadie Smith, genres from children’s fiction to bonkbusters, cover design, the dark arts of persuasion and even why we read. She also answers burning questions such as:

• Should all adjectives be murdered?
• Is blurbing sometimes maybe lying?
• Which classic novel was nearly called The High Bouncing Lover?
• What are the worst blurbs of all time?

‘The bookiest book about books you’ll ever read – I loved it’ Lucy Mangan

‘Truly delightful...I couldn’t have had more fun’ Benjamin Dreyer

‘Very funny, erudite and profound. A delight!’ Nina Stibbe

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Yes, you can access Blurb Your Enthusiasm by Louise Willder in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Personal Development & Media & Communications Industry. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Introduction • ‘Wonderful Imaginative Lying’
  2. 1. • Cover Stories
  3. Alone in Berlin • The Life-Changing Magic of a Title
  4. ‘It’s never safe to go back in the water…’
  5. King of First Lines
  6. Quotes, Puffs, Praise, Reviews
  7. The Visual
  8. 2. • In the Beginning Was the Blurb
  9. ‘A Sound Like a Publisher’ • Authors, Editors, Blurbers
  10. Daniel Defoe and the Dark Arts of Persuasion
  11. Great Expectations • How Dickens Kept Them Wanting More
  12. Hemingway’s Wager
  13. Italians Do it Better
  14. The Medium is the Massage (in Three Acts)
  15. An Odyssey Through the Classics
  16. Orwell Rules
  17. Step Away from the Bonnet • Jane Austen
  18. 3. • Cracking Good Copy
  19. Be a Magpie • One Detail Is Worth a Thousand Adjectives
  20. Ever-Decreasing Copy
  21. F**k Wisely • A Note on Successful Swearing
  22. Goldilocks and the Three Blurbs • Getting It Just Right
  23. Hegel Goes to Hollywood • The Pitch
  24. Look at the Harlequins! • Dots and Dashes
  25. Show Me the Funny
  26. Spoiler Alert!
  27. Triangle, Diamond or Hourglass? • The Shape of Copy
  28. The Ultimate Bliss of Bad Blurbs
  29. You. Yes, you. I’m talking to you.
  30. 4. • Blurb Spotting in the Wild
  31. Come and Have a Go if You Think You’re Hard Enough • Literary Fiction
  32. Each Peach Pear Plum
  33. Make Me Better • Self-Help
  34. Read, Rinse, Repeat • The Comforting Thrills of Genre Fiction
  35. Simply Wizard! • Blurbing Blyton
  36. ‘Which one of you bitches is my mother?’
  37. X-Rated • Lolita and Other Dilemmas
  38. 5. • Wild and Whirling Words
  39. Beasts, Quests and Monsters • Story
  40. Don’t Mention Jesus • The Briefing Process
  41. Lizards, All of Us • The Science Part
  42. A Musical Interlude
  43. Oceans Apart • Supersized American Copy
  44. The Pun Wot Won It
  45. Sell Sell Sell
  46. Ventriloquism
  47. What Women Don’t Want • Sexist Blurbs
  48. Zadie Smith • Big Ideas and a Little Mouse
  49. Acknowledgements
  50. Bibliography
  51. Appendix
  52. Copyright Page