He says, “Early on, nobody blurbed any of mine. Carrie, 'Salem's Lot, and The Shining were published before the art of blurbing had been perfected. In the old days, children, the back cover of novels was usually reserved for a black-and-white photograph of the author (often holding a cigarette and trying to look cosmopolitan). Nowadays, the back cover tends to be Blurb City. And really, maybe that's not so bad. Young writers and filmmakers need a hand up, because it's a hard world out there. That alone doesn't justify a blurb, but in most cases, good work does. It isn't just about the artist, either. A blurb is sometimes a better way to point people toward the good stuff than a 2500-word review. It's certainly more direct.”
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