Happy Pub Day!

New month, new us!

Our team has been working incredibly hard on V2 of Bookum, and like Frankenstein’s monster, it will be a(live) soon.

Stay tuned for all the updates this month!

Check out our newest Author Talks podcast with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathan Eig, featuring our Bookum Book Club pick King: A Life.

Enjoy!

Our Monsters:

• 📚 Will Packer Book Giveaway

•  📺 Do Book Blurbs Matter?

• 📖 Harlem Rhapsody

This Week On Bookum:

As you know, we are reading Who Better Than You? by Will Packer for our Feb/March Book Club (get your copy here).

But what you don't know – we are doing a book giveaway!

Yes, one lucky winner will win a free copy, courtesy of the good people of Bookum!

The official giveaway will be Wednesday, but as always… our readers get the inside track.

To enter early, just join the Bookum club on the app and comment on Who Better Than You? in the club!

As mentioned last week, Will Packer is joining us to answer book questions in March!

This Week in The Book World:

Are you team book blurb or not?

This week, it was announced that publishing house Simon & Schuster is dropping its blurb requirement.

For those unfamiliar (please come forward for public shaming), blurbs are usually found on the back, front, and sometimes inside the book, where famous authors, celebrities, or notable figures share kind words about the book.

These one or two sentences are meant to convince readers unfamiliar or uncertain about a book to make a purchase.

Coined in 1906 by American humorist Gelett Burgess, blurbs have been a part of the book world since as early as the 16th century (fun fact: book blurbs were called commendatory verses back in Shakespearean days).

Anyways, thou publisher Sean Manning of S&S hath declareth (accent exits stage left):

Our Thoughts:

"Although book content creators, in many ways, have become the replacement for blurbs, blurbs still play a fundamental role in in-store browsing and buying decisions. Personally, on more than one occasion, I have bought a book because of a blurb."

But we want to hear from you - Do you like blurbs? Hate them? Indifferent?

Let's discuss—share your thoughts on the Bookum community feed!

Check out the full article by LitHub and the pinned essay from Publishers Weekly by Sean Manning:

• LitHub article

• Publishers Weekly essay

This Week in Publishing:

How's that for a blurb?

NYT bestselling author Victoria Christopher Murray has returned with another highly anticipated book, Harlem Rhapsody.

Summary:

"In 1919, a high school teacher from Washington, D.C., arrives in Harlem, excited to realize her lifelong dream. Jessie Redmon Fauset has been named the literary editor of The Crisis. The first Black woman to hold this position at a preeminent Negro magazine, Jessie is poised to achieve literary greatness. But she holds a secret that jeopardizes it all.

W. E. B. Du Bois, the founder of The Crisis, is not only Jessie’s boss—he’s her lover. And neither his wife nor their fourteen-year age difference can keep the two apart."

Get your copy of Harlem Rhapsody today!

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Happy Reading!

Download Bookum on Apple or Android Here!

See you next week!

Footnotes (Aka other articles we are reading and Bookum content):

Book Content Creators Serareadthat & Emma Berry and Launch Readin’ Magazine - https://www.readinmag.com/

Rebecca Yarros’ ‘Onyx Storm’ is the fastest-selling adult novel in 20 years - https://www.denverpost.com/2025/01/31/rebecca-yarros-onyx-storm-book-ending-released/amp/

Photos from Our Partners Tattered Book Cover’s, Sold Out Event with Book Podcast Host Fantasy Fangirls and Rebecca Yarros at the Paramount Theatre: