S&S US to no longer require book endorsements

In the US, Sean Manning, publisher of Simon & Schuster’s flagship imprint, has announced that authors will no longer be required to obtain endorsements for their books.

In an essay for Publishers Weekly, Manning said: ‘In no other artistic industry is this common. How often does a blurb from a filmmaker appear on another filmmaker’s movie poster? A blurb from a musician on another musician’s album cover? A blurb from a game designer on another designer’s game box? The argument has always been that this is what makes the book business so special: the collegiality of authors and their willingness to support one another. I disagree. I believe the insistence on blurbs has become incredibly damaging to what should be our industry’s ultimate goal: producing books of the highest possible quality.’

The decision not to require blurbs currently applies only to the S&S imprint and for books published from 2025. Unsolicited endorsements, where a writer ‘comes away so moved by [a book] that they can’t resist offering an endorsement’, are still welcome, said Manning.

Category: International news News