Getting the Blurb Right by Ken Magee
Author Ken Magee
You've just spent six hard months slaving over a hot computer. You've now written and polished your book, and then polished it a little bit more. It's your baby and you love it. You spend another three months finding a publisher and a further three agreeing everything from the title to the cover design. So a year of your life is invested in a fantastic novel and now you're ready to go… not quite, you need to sort out the blurb.
Is it important? YES, it is, in fact, one of the most important components of the whole book package. How can I be sure, well, I ran a poll on two well known sites for readers in the US and the UK. The poll was entitled "Top reasons for buying a book". Once the voting was completed it was very clear what really mattered. High on both lists were things like genre, recommendations and read other books by the author. However, the blurb came number one in the US, and number two in the UK. That shows you just how important it is to get it right… your book will not succeed without a well written blurb.
When my first book, Dark Tidings, was finished, I spent many fraught hours working on the blurb. I knew roughly what I wanted, but I was surprised just how hard it was to get tight writing which worked. Eventually I had a first draft which I then refined in conjunction with the publisher. Finally, in what I thought was a sensible market-testing exercise, I published it in a couple of forums and asked for comments. I got plenty of feedback, and nearly all of it was useful. I took the comments and went back to the drawing board. This time it didn't take me half as long to come up with a blurb which made me (and my publisher) happy. Here's what we ended up with…
What happens when ancient magic meets the internet? One thing is certain, modern life will never be the same again.
A thousand years ago, a young thief, Tung, and a disgraced wizard, Madrick, are thrust together in an executioner's dungeon. In the darkness, Madrick reveals an incredible secret about a legendary spell. The great spell helps them escape their prison cell… and eventually their century.
Catapulted into the present day, their lives collide with Michael, a computer hacker who plans to destroy the world's largest bank. But sinister people are tracking their every move and they will stop at nothing to steal their spell.
I'm very pleased with it now. I think it captures the essence of the story without giving away too much. The only thing it doesn't tell you is that Dark Tidings is a funny adventure with a lot of laugh out loud moments. Maybe I should do some more work on it?
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Ken Magee published his debut novel, Dark Tidings, in November 2011. He lives in Ireland with his wife and two dogs… his two children fled the nest about 10 years ago. When he's not writing, Ken plays badminton, walks and reads (not all at the same time). You can find Ken on Twitter @KenMageeAuthor and you can find Dark Tidings on Amazon.com.
For advice/tips on writing a good synopsis/blurb, please check out our "Common Synopsis Issues" post.
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