hey How do I unsubscribe from this group..... Saurabh
-----Original Message----- From: Bryan Caplan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, October 15, 2001 12:14 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Signaling > jsamples wrote: > Book blurbs are those small endorsements of a book that appear on the > jacket or in ads. They seem to be a way to sell the book to > prospective purchasers by signaling that the book is worth more (or at > least as much) as its cost. But how could blurbs do that? They are > mostly written by friends of the author. If potential customers know > that, they will quickly realize that the blurbers have strong reasons > to lie to them about the book. After all, if a blurber says her > friend's book is mediocre, she will pay a heavy price in interpersonal > relations. The real signal, I'd say, is WHO writes your blurbs. If they are nobodies, then readers can infer that no one better would say anything nice about the book. The better your names, the the better you can expect the book to be. After all, smart and famous people don't hand their friendship out for free. In addition, many blurbs provide information about subject matter, not just praise. If 5 political science professors write your blurbs, that helps prospective readers decide if your book is "up their alley." -- Prof. Bryan Caplan Department of Economics George Mason University http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton is, that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men but what *they* thought. A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages." --Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance"
