A dazzling dictionary of book blurbs, filled with writing tips, literary folklore and publishing secrets

It's good to judge a book by its cover.

Drawing on her 25 years writing blurbs for Penguin books, Louise Willder explores the art, anecdote and history of the words that only take a few seconds to read but can determine a book's fate.

This illuminating and joyful compendium is about blurbs at their very best and worst. It is also about cover design, movie taglines, adverts, quotes, puns, the creative process, writers from Austen to Orwell and much more. It answers questions such as- Why should adjectives generally be murdered? Which author hated blurbs? Is it ever okay to give away the ending? Why should you never start a blurb with 'When'? Can blurbs be sexist?

The story of blurbs is the story of our needs and desires as readers; about who we are and want to be.