Soliciting, and receiving, book blurbs are a necessary part of any book promotion campaign. All authors and publishers know that. But The Los Angeles Review of Books is correct, too. It’s impossible for readers and potential book buyers to take blurbs seriously since, after awhile, all endorsements for books sound the same. Besides which, we know that authors blurb each other’s books so that, when they need endorsements for their own books, the authors whose books they blurbed will return the favor. And so it goes.

Without book blurbs, a book looks naked. With book blurbs, a book looks pimped out.