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Author Resource Round Table > Writing a Book Description in First Person?

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message 1: by Paul (new)

Paul Lovell (powerpuffgeezer) I wrote in the first and in the book blurb on the cover the third.... well I think it's the 3rd, not too hot on booky terminology.

I thought the cover should appear to be written by a book seller...


message 2: by G.G. (new)

G.G. (ggatcheson) | 491 comments According to an article written by Richard Ridley for Createspace a description should be written in third person present tense no matter what is used inside.

https://www.createspace.com/en/commun...

According to the article a book description is supposed to be as if you were talking face to face about the book to the buyer who would have asked you what the book is about. Thus the third and present.

Although I have seen descriptions written in the first person that were very effective, they were always from self-published authors.


message 3: by Andrew (new)

Andrew Lawston (andrewlawston) | 227 comments I'd play it safe and stick with the third person unless you have a spectacular reason to do otherwise.


message 4: by Andy (new)

Andy Elliott | 33 comments If done well it could be quite effective having a first person spin on the description. Why don't you give it a try and throw it to us hungry wolves?


message 5: by Arabella (new)

Arabella Thorne (arabella_thornejunocom) | 354 comments As a reader, the idea doesn't bother me...I wrote my back blurb on my recent novella I Swear My Roommate Is a Vampire in first person


 ☔️ Stormy Day Reader  (rainydayz179) I've read some that are in first person, not many. One was in the form of a letter to her mother outlining the events that happened at the beginning of the book. I say break the mould and be different. :)


message 7: by Justin (new)

Justin (justinbienvenue) | 2274 comments I always tend to write as describing whats going on and never wrote as the character all the way. Seems a bit challenging to me compared to writing narratively from an outside standpoint


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