“It goes on the back, behind the author, and for example, if it's for a series, and I have to write a review for the fourth book, I re-read from the first one.”
Kojima described the behind‑the‑scenes work on his book bands: he has been receiving commissions for years and they are a lot of work — if he is asked to comment on the fourth book of a series, he rereads from the first. Publishers are strict about accuracy of citations, so he rarely wrote them recently; the last one he wrote before COVID was for Kotaro Isaka’s White Rabbit and ran about 10–20 lines. Nowadays, when he tweets about books he bought personally, publishers ask to use those tweets as book‑band copy, and he complies. He outlined the typical life cycle: his comment helps sell 10–20,000 copies, then they change the cover and hire a famous actor (phase 2), then an academic everyone knows (phase 3), and if the book wins a prize it gets a prize cover. He helped with The Three‑Body Problem and wrote the book band for Doushi Shoujo Tekiwo Ute, which is now on its fourth cover with no trace of him; he says he was the first to back it and that he likes that.
“The last one I wrote was before COVID for Kotaro Isaka's White Rabbit. […] whenever I tweet about the books I bought personally, the publishers will ask if they can use those comments for their covers. […] So then, I'll write a new copy and then the book will sell 10-20 thousand copies. And then after that, the covers change again. […] I help with the three-body problem, and last year, I did the cover for Doushi Shoujo Tekiwo Ute, but now there's not a trace of me on there.”