An investigation into the generic structure potential of online book blurbs in Engllish literature and fiction genre

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the generic structure potential (GSP- the preferred macro-structure patterns in each type of texts, including rhetorical elements that are obligatory, optional and reiterative) of online book blurbs in English Literature and Fiction. The research aims to enhance the quality of book blurbs as a promotional genre by locating features of distinguish blurb type. Thirty-two book blurbs were collected from the largest e-commerce marketplace called Amazon as the data set. The corpus was then categorized according to the number of sales: bestsellers and non-bestsellers; and to groups of ages: children and adult books. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed during the analyzing process. This study followed a framework chiefly adapted from Önder’s research, which proposed a set of twelve rhetorical elements. GSP of the texts was recorded, revealing the distinguish features that differentiate between each group. The overall GSP unveiled two more elements unfamiliar to Önder’s framework. The bestsellers’ blurbs were discovered to cover a wider information, which is able to cater for readers’ various interests. Children and adult books’ blurbs showed almost no differences according to the patterns.