How to Get Blurbs for Your Book (Even When You Don’t Know Anyone)

At some point in your career, you’re going to be faced with the task of soliciting blurbs for your upcoming book. Traditional publishers expect them (they’re super useful to the sales team as they convince book sellers to stock your book), and indie authors find them useful in grabbing interest from potential readers.

We can hear you now.

Well, that would be nice, but I don’t know anyone.

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to. While personal connections can certainly help, getting strong blurbs isn’t just for writers who already have famous author friends. There’s a professional process for finding the right people, approaching them well, and giving yourself the best chance of getting a yes.

Blurbs are worth pursuing. They give readers a little extra confidence at the moment they’re deciding whether to take a chance on your book. They can appear on your cover, in catalogs, in online listings, in press materials, and in pitches to booksellers and librarians.

But the name attached to the quote isn’t the only thing that matters. A thoughtful blurb from an author your ideal reader already loves can be far more useful than one from a much bigger author who writes for a different audience. The quote itself matters too. “A tense, twisty thriller I couldn’t put down” tells a potential reader something about the experience waiting for them. “Everyone should read this book” sounds lovely, but it doesn’t tell them nearly as much.

So, how do you approach other authors for blurbs?

Start Much Earlier Than You Think You Need To

One of the biggest mistakes writers make with blurbs is waiting until the book is almost ready to publish. By then, you’re working against the clock. Ideally, you want to begin thinking about blurbs six to twelve months before publication.

Remember what you’re asking someone to do. They have to find room in their schedule, read an entire book, think about what they want to say, and send you a usable quote. Meanwhile, publishing works months ahead. Your publisher may need blurbs for advance reader copies, catalogs, sales materials, or other uses long before your actual release date.

If you’re traditionally published, your editor, publicist, and agent may help with this process, but they still need plenty of lead time. If you’re self-publishing, you’re managing that timeline yourself, which makes an early start even more important. Waiting until the last minute doesn’t make blurbs impossible, but it does shrink your options considerably.

Make a Smart List, Not a Famous List

It’s tempting to start by writing down the biggest authors in your genre. And hey, dream big if you want to! We won’t judge. There’s nothing wrong with putting a few “reach” names on your list. But your entire strategy shouldn’t depend on famous authors answering your email.

Instead, think about your readers.

Who are they already reading? Which authors write books that would sit comfortably beside yours? Who has an audience that overlaps with the audience you’re trying to reach?

Look at authors in your genre as well as adjacent genres. Pay attention to writers who are currently publishing and have engaged readers. A mid-list author with a devoted audience that loves your kind of book may be a wonderful choice for a debut novelist. Name recognition matters, but relevance matters too.

Start with a list of around ten to fifteen possible authors. That gives you room for people to decline, be unavailable, or simply never respond without making every unanswered request feel catastrophic.

Do Your Homework Before You Ask

Before contacting anyone, spend some time learning about them. Please. Pretty please with a cherry on top. Trust us, as authors who receive consistent blurb requests, this matters.

Ideally, you should have read at least one of their books. You should also be able to explain why you chose them, rather than simply deciding they’re successful and therefore you want their name on your cover. Look at the books they’ve blurbed in the past. Are they similar to yours? Do they seem open to supporting newer authors? Do they mention anywhere on their website or social media that they aren’t currently accepting blurb requests?

It’s also worth looking at their publishing schedule. If their new book releases next week or they’ve been talking publicly about being buried under a deadline, this probably isn’t the best moment to ask them to add another book to their reading pile.

This research also helps you write a much better request. There’s a big difference between an email that could have been sent to fifty authors and one that makes it clear why this particular writer came to mind.

Use the Right Path to Reach Them

We cannot emphasize this enough. Seriously. The amount of authors who flat-out ignore this is, frankly, astonishing.

Step 1: See if they’ve listed a preferred way to be contacted and then follow those direction.

Step 2: If they haven’t listed a preferred blurb contact method, do the following:

If you’re traditionally published and have a literary agent, start there. When possible, your agent can approach the other author’s agent. That agent-to-agent contact is a normal professional route for blurb requests and may be more effective than trying to reach the author yourself.

If you’re self-published, unagented, or your agent isn’t handling the outreach, look for the author’s professional contact information. Some authors also have contact forms on their websites specifically for business inquiries, including blurb requests.

Social media DMs should generally be farther down the list. Much farther. In fact, do not use this method unless you already have a genuine relationship with someone there, and you’ve had conversation with them via DM, and they don’t have any professional contact avenues open.

IMPORTANT: No matter how you contact someone, don’t send an unsolicited manuscript attachment. Ask first. Nobody wants to open their inbox and discover that a stranger has assumed they’ll read 90,000 words and submit a quote.

Start Building Relationships Before You Need Something

This part won’t help much if your book comes out in eight weeks, but it can make a huge difference over the course of your career.

Get to know other writers.

Not because you’re secretly building a future blurb list, but because publishing is a community, and your career becomes a lot less lonely when you’re actually part of it.

Talk with authors you enjoy on social media. Subscribe to their newsletters. Leave thoughtful reviews when you genuinely love a book. Go to conferences, festivals, signings, and author events when you can. Be supportive of other people’s books without expecting anything in return.

These relationships don’t have to turn into close friendships. Familiarity matters. There’s a big difference between receiving a request from a complete stranger and receiving one from another writer whose name you recognize because you’ve interacted several times over the past year.

The important word here is genuine. People can usually tell when someone has spent months interacting with them solely because they plan to ask for something later. Be part of the writing community because you want to be part of it. The professional relationships that grow from that are a bonus.

Write a Request That’s Easy to Say Yes To

Once you’re ready to ask, keep the request short.

Three or four brief paragraphs is plenty. Start with a specific connection to the author or their work. Instead of saying, “I’ve always admired your writing,” you might mention something particular you loved about one of their books and why it made you think they might connect with yours.

Then introduce your book in two or three sentences. Think query-letter length, not synopsis length. Give them enough information to understand what the book is and whether it sounds like something they’d enjoy reading.

Next, tell them why you thought of them. Maybe your books share a similar readership. Maybe you explore related themes. Maybe readers who love what they write are also the readers you hope to reach.

Then give them the practical information they need, especially your deadline.

Finally, make it comfortable for them to say no. Something as simple as, “I completely understand if the timing doesn’t work or this isn’t a fit” removes some of the awkwardness from the request. Authors know what you’re asking. You don’t need to convince them that saying yes will change your life.

Don’t Make the Request Emotionally Heavy

This is where a lot of well-meaning writers accidentally make things uncomfortable.

You may have adored this author’s books for fifteen years. Their work may have inspired you to become a writer. Receiving their endorsement may genuinely feel like a career milestone.

That doesn’t need to be part of your request.

Leading with a long explanation of what this author means to you can make the request harder to decline. The same is true of explaining how much their endorsement could help your career. Keep the focus on the book and the professional request rather than the emotional stakes attached to their answer.

You also want to send a complete manuscript or ARC if they agree to consider it. Don’t send half the book and promise that the rest is coming. And don’t try to guide the author toward the kind of quote you hope they’ll give you. If they’re willing to endorse your book, let them respond to it in their own voice.

One more thing: don’t announce publicly that you’ve asked someone for a blurb. Until they’ve agreed and given you permission to use their words, the request is private.

Give Them Time

Once you’ve sent the request, leave it alone for a while.

Sending one brief follow-up in 3-4 weeks is fine. Authors are juggling their own books, deadlines, families, travel, promotion, and all the other pieces of ordinary life. A request can easily get buried without the silence meaning anything personal.

Your follow-up can be simple. Let them know you’re checking in in case the original message slipped through the cracks and that you’re happy to answer any questions.

Then stop.

If you don’t hear back after that, consider it a no and move on to the next person on your list. If they decline, thank them and move on. You don’t need an explanation, and you definitely don’t want to persuade them to reconsider.

If they say yes but take longer than expected, give them as much patience as your publishing deadline allows. Reading your book and writing something thoughtful takes time, and they’re fitting your project around their own responsibilities.

You Probably Don’t Need as Many Blurbs as You Think

Once you start getting yeses, it can be tempting to keep going. If three blurbs are good, surely twelve are better, right?

Not necessarily.

Three to five strong, specific endorsements from authors who make sense for your book can be far more persuasive than a huge collection of generic praise. Sometimes one terrific quote from an author your target readers immediately recognize is enough to make someone stop and take a closer look.

If you’re traditionally published, your publisher will usually decide which blurbs appear on the cover and which are used elsewhere. If you’re self-publishing, you have more control, so be selective. You don’t have to put every nice thing anyone says about your book on the front cover.

Think about what each quote tells a potential reader. Does it communicate genre, tone, emotion, reading experience, or something distinctive about the book? Those are the blurbs worth featuring.

When Someone Gives You a Blurb, Take Care of the Relationship

When an author sends you a blurb, thank them promptly. Not with a generic “thanks,” but with a sincere acknowledgment that they took time out of their schedule to read your book and support it.

When the book publishes, let them know. If their quote appeared on the cover or was used in another meaningful way, tell them. Send them a finished copy of the book. Depending on the relationship, a handwritten note can be a lovely touch too.

And remember the generosity.

Someday, you may be the author receiving requests from writers who are earlier in their careers. When you can say yes, say yes. The publishing community works best when writers remember the people who helped them and become the kind of colleagues who help others too.

What If Nobody Says Yes?

First, don’t panic. A round of unsuccessful blurb requests doesn’t mean your book is bad. Authors decline requests for all kinds of reasons, and many of those reasons have nothing to do with the book itself.

You also have other options.

A strong quote from a trade review such as Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, or Library Journal can provide powerful third-party validation. For nonfiction, an endorsement from a respected expert, organization, or institution in the subject area may be even more relevant than an author endorsement.

Some debut authors also use responses from early readers or reviewers as “advance praise,” depending on how and where the book is being published and marketed.

And if none of those options are available? You can publish without a blurb.

A clean cover with strong design and compelling copy is better than filling the available space with praise that won’t mean anything to your intended reader. A blurb is just one tool for helping readers trust a book.

Blurbs Aren’t a Popularity Contest

It’s easy to look at another author’s cover filled with recognizable names and assume they must know everybody.

Maybe they do.

But they also may have started months in advance, researched authors who were a strong fit, sent thoughtful requests, heard no from plenty of people, followed up politely, and eventually received a handful of yeses.

You can do that too.

You can learn how to choose the best people to approach. You can get better at writing requests. You can start earlier next time. You can build relationships with other writers because you genuinely enjoy being part of this community. And every time you go through the process, you’ll understand a little more about how publishing relationships work.

Your first round of blurb requests might feel terrifying. Your second probably won’t feel quite so scary. By your third book, you may discover that some of the people you once nervously emailed as strangers have become colleagues, friends, and authors who are genuinely excited to see what you write next.

Want Help With Your Book’s Next Steps?

If you’d like someone in your corner as you figure out who to approach for blurbs, how to make the request, and how to take advantage of the professional opportunities surrounding your book’s release, we offer that kind of support inside ICONIC.

ICONIC is our year-long mentorship program for writers who want personalized guidance as they build both their books and their careers. We work with you on the decisions that are specific to your goals, your book, and where you want your writing career to go next.

You can learn more about ICONIC here.