A Rant about Quotes on Book Covers

"Don't Quote Me on That"

Who remembers the time when you could pull a book off the shelf, flip over, and read the book blurb telling you what the story entails? Because I remember it very vividly. I also remember the first time pulling a book out to find not just a blurb, but quotes. Quotes from people who had read the book including anyone from a famous author, to a review site, to even popular news outlets. All of them raging about the book itself.

Nowadays it seems any book I pull from the shelf I find at least 8-10 quotes covering the entirety of the back cover while even some find their way to the front cover. In my mind ruining the art of the cover itself. Finding a book isn't as easy as it used to be especially now that I have to sit there flipping the book open to try and read the blurb which sometimes spans both inside covers. You know how hard that is when you have a armful of books you want to purchase? Difficult to say the least.

Now editorial reviews aren't new. In fact, they've been around for awhile now, and are greatly encouraged to obtain when it comes to the publishing industry. But why? Why does their opinion matter to me?

What are Editorial Reviews and Do You Need Them?

Well for starters, it doesn't. As someone who likes things that are direct and to the point having to read through other's opinions of a book doesn't appeal to me. It's great these people have connected with the book, but I want to set my own opinions without being influenced before I even get to the first page.

I actually don't even like reading blurbs anymore. I find myself getting books and cracking them open without a hint of knowledge of what the topic could be about. I've found it to be a wonderful experience as the book wasn't spoiled for me, unlike those so called editorial reviews only giving positive feedback. Well guess what Stephen King, this book sucked even though you said it was like nothing you've ever seen before!

This is my own opinion, but I think it's lazy. Instead of creating cover art for both the front and back of the books, filling it with words is much easier and I'm sure much cheaper overall. But I want the full experience. I want the cover to make me want to pick up the book and tell me about the story instead of someone who wasn't involved in the writing or publishing process at all.

Instead, we are finding publishers trying their best to market the book using popularity of others to gain a rung on the ladder. Good for them, but I don't think that's what the reading process should be about. I think it should be a fun and exciting experience of finding a diamond in the ruff and sharing the secret with your friends who then pass it on to the next person.

I would love to get back to the day in which editorial reviews were left off the books and the readers got to decide if they would like to pick the book up or not. I know if I ever get my books traditionally published I would require in my contract to leave them off. I don't need you Kirkus Reviews!

Anyways, that's my rant about editorial reviews. What do you think about them? Do you want them taken off and the blurb placed on the back cover again? Tell me in the comments below!