A blurb is a short promotional piece accompanying a creative work. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear dust-jacket of a book, and are now found on DVD and video cases, web portals, and news websites. A blurb may introduce a newspaper or magazine feature story.
In the US, the history of the blurb is said to begin with Walt Whitman's collection, Leaves of Grass. In response to the publication of the first edition in 1855, Ralph Waldo Emerson had sent Whitman a congratulatory letter, including the phrase "I greet you at the beginning of a great career": the following year, Whitman had these words stamped in gold leaf on the spine of the second edition.
The word "blurb" was coined in 1907 by American humorist Gelett Burgess (1866–1951). His short 1906 book Are You a Bromide? was presented in a limited edition to an annual trade association dinner. The custom at such events was to have a dust jacket promoting the work and with, as Burgess' publisher B. W. Huebsch described it, "the picture of a damsel—languishing, heroic, or coquettish—anyhow, a damsel on the jacket of every novel".
Blurb is a self-publishing platform that enables their users to create, self-publish, promote, share, and sell their own print and ebooks. Blurb offers book-making tools catering to diverse digital skills.
The company was founded in 2005 by Eileen Gittins and funded by Canaan Partners and Anthem Venture Partners. Blurb's headquarters are located in San Francisco, California. Since its inception, Blurb has delivered more than 6 million books created by more than a half million customers. Blurb’s website is translated into 6 languages and the company ships to more than 70 countries and territories.
Time Magazine named Blurb one of 2006's "50 Coolest Web Sites".
The company has taken in $21.6 million in venture capital funding, and generates nearly $100 million in revenues per year.
Blurb announced a partnership with Amazon in April 2014. The deal allows Blurb-designed books to be sold and distributed on the Amazon platform. The partnership enables self publishing on the platform with a 15% cut on Blurb books—a discount from previous fees of up to 45%. Amazon has agreed to the fee to access to Blurb’s nearly two-million authors, who have produced 8 million books since 2006.
Once there was a young boy in Berlin
Playing in the streets as the war was flying in
Raining down from heaven came the fire
And burned away his city and desire
Winston Churchill and his secret agents
They had their meetings there in London town
Back in Germany one man had made the people see
It was a vision that could never be - No
The SS-Officer of death he was just a marionette
An evil play inside the game
Freezing out the truth sending coldness to the youth
Their souls were taken
New Europa blue the land
Longing for glory it's the nature of man
From New York City to the heart of Tokyo
Breaking news on every radio
The war was over they all gathered round to celebrate
Smiling faces on the streets of faith
Their freedom they had won
No more hiding from the sun
And so many moved to far away
They never forgot the burning
And how their lives were turning
Into something new
Oh Europa new the land
Remember the story when the fire began
Time is moving faster as we strive to earn our holidays
Dealing business in our western way
Romantic places for the perfect modern love affair
To Paris or Rome I'll take you there
The darkness of our history shadowed by the light we see
We are the future
Blue Europa fatherland
We sail on forever to explore and expand Europa
It's possible our plan