Writing a great book blurb
Writing a book is the fun part of the process and the cover art is part of the fun as well. However, besides editing your book coming up with a catchy book blurb can be frustrating. In fact, it can be the hardest part of the process, after all, this is the first thing a potential reader will see besides your cover and preview. If your blurb sucks the person will probably ignore your preview altogether.
According to my experiences, people don't necessarily read the preview. That's not to say no one does, but most casual readers ignore the preview and read the blurb. Think of your book blurb as your biggest marketing tool once you get your potential reader to your book page whether it be Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Play or Kobo. If you take a look at the picture above it gives you a pretty good idea of what to do to make a good book blurb. However, there are some finer details that I would like to discuss that can enhance your blurb. Here are the 5 steps in my opinion that you should follow and what not to do, which even I'm guilty of doing as well. It's part of the learning process, so let's get started shall we?
1. Introduce the main character(s): This is where you want to have one to two sentences about the protagonist (Hero in fiction) and the antagonist (Villian in Fiction). Give the reader some background about the main character(s) such as their role and profession. However, keep it short and sweet or you'll risk rambling on the story without getting to the meat of the story. The trick here is to keep the facts interesting and tell the reader what makes the character(s) stand out from other stories. You can talk about any supporting characters, but only if they play a major role. No need to waste valuable words on characters that no one will really care about even as they read the story although they may play a role in the story.
2. Set the scene: This can be tricky especially if your book has many settings. In this part, you want to give the reader a sense of what the world is like and what role will it play towards the story. Answer this question is the setting just a world or is it an integral part of the story. If the latter fits your book, include it. Make each character count! Remember the golden rule, only put in the major parts leaving the finer details out of the way.
3. Discuss the plot: In a short and simple manner discuss the problem and the actual plot of the story. Here is where many writers mess up at, even I'm guilty of this. Some authors misunderstand what a book blurb is. These same people believe that a blurb is a summary of the book. This information is false, that would be a synopsis and nobody want to read that. The blurb is meant to make the reader use their imagination to build a prediction on what is going to happen based on what's written on it. Instead give a quick summary of the main parts of the story and the most interesting parts of the story. Keep finer details to the reader to find out as he/she reads.
4. Your final part of the blurb should be your "punch line" or what do you want your readers to take out of your blurb. This should be the big question that will be answered in the book. In otherwords, this is where you need to put your pitch line and hit your audience with what separates your story from the others in your genre. This is especially important for those authors that are writing fiction since it is a very competitive market. Think of this like the last quarter of a football or basketball game.
5. Don't write your blurb after you write your story: Contrary to popular belief you want to have your blurb written way before your book is done. There are two reasons for this. One is because you're simply exhausted from writing and editing your story that your blurb may not come out right because you're in a rush to get the book out. The second reason is because is much more practical to have your blurb done already that way you can make sure that your story is matching up to your blurb and your desires. Also, it's one less thing to worry about when writing, you can just write on without worry.
According to my experiences, people don't necessarily read the preview. That's not to say no one does, but most casual readers ignore the preview and read the blurb. Think of your book blurb as your biggest marketing tool once you get your potential reader to your book page whether it be Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Play or Kobo. If you take a look at the picture above it gives you a pretty good idea of what to do to make a good book blurb. However, there are some finer details that I would like to discuss that can enhance your blurb. Here are the 5 steps in my opinion that you should follow and what not to do, which even I'm guilty of doing as well. It's part of the learning process, so let's get started shall we?
1. Introduce the main character(s): This is where you want to have one to two sentences about the protagonist (Hero in fiction) and the antagonist (Villian in Fiction). Give the reader some background about the main character(s) such as their role and profession. However, keep it short and sweet or you'll risk rambling on the story without getting to the meat of the story. The trick here is to keep the facts interesting and tell the reader what makes the character(s) stand out from other stories. You can talk about any supporting characters, but only if they play a major role. No need to waste valuable words on characters that no one will really care about even as they read the story although they may play a role in the story.
2. Set the scene: This can be tricky especially if your book has many settings. In this part, you want to give the reader a sense of what the world is like and what role will it play towards the story. Answer this question is the setting just a world or is it an integral part of the story. If the latter fits your book, include it. Make each character count! Remember the golden rule, only put in the major parts leaving the finer details out of the way.
3. Discuss the plot: In a short and simple manner discuss the problem and the actual plot of the story. Here is where many writers mess up at, even I'm guilty of this. Some authors misunderstand what a book blurb is. These same people believe that a blurb is a summary of the book. This information is false, that would be a synopsis and nobody want to read that. The blurb is meant to make the reader use their imagination to build a prediction on what is going to happen based on what's written on it. Instead give a quick summary of the main parts of the story and the most interesting parts of the story. Keep finer details to the reader to find out as he/she reads.
4. Your final part of the blurb should be your "punch line" or what do you want your readers to take out of your blurb. This should be the big question that will be answered in the book. In otherwords, this is where you need to put your pitch line and hit your audience with what separates your story from the others in your genre. This is especially important for those authors that are writing fiction since it is a very competitive market. Think of this like the last quarter of a football or basketball game.
5. Don't write your blurb after you write your story: Contrary to popular belief you want to have your blurb written way before your book is done. There are two reasons for this. One is because you're simply exhausted from writing and editing your story that your blurb may not come out right because you're in a rush to get the book out. The second reason is because is much more practical to have your blurb done already that way you can make sure that your story is matching up to your blurb and your desires. Also, it's one less thing to worry about when writing, you can just write on without worry.
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Robin
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Dec 01, 2016 08:40AM
Excellent tips, Angel! You're right on all five points. Thank you for sharing your insight and experience.
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Robin wrote: "Excellent tips, Angel! You're right on all five points. Thank you for sharing your insight and experience."Thanks and glad you found it to be helpful. I intend for this post to be insightful to all writers not just us.
Writers who are querying agents/publishers can use this same "formula" for their query letter/pitch. Good point about writing blurb before you finish the book.
