You’ve written the book and now you have to write The Blurb – for some writers this prospect is almost as terrifying as the old movie The Blob was to thousands of theatre goers. It is indeed daunting to condense 90,000 words (give or take several thousand) into a blurb as short as 12 to 15 words.
Once you finish your manuscript, you should prepare multiple blurbs of varying sizes for use in query letters, promo packages, book jackets. Use your shortest blurb as a pitch if you have the chance to sell your idea . Writers are sometimes hired to write book jacket blurbs for other books.
Be familiar with the content of the book – even if you wrote it. What is the target audience? Think of key words that appeal to that audience – can you work those into a blurb? Study book jackets the next time you’re in the store, what things are said that spark your interest? Think about the genre of the book – if you are looking for a historical novel, would you rather read about a historical event or romantic passion? Likewise, if you’re looking to read a science fiction, which would entice you more – something about a future culture or a (current) recipe?
Create a tag line, one to two sentences that will grab your potential reader and get them thinking. For my novel A Chaunce of Riches I asked “How far would you be willing to go for love?” The ten words pique the interest and is often countered with the question, “What do you mean?” The next natural step is to pick up the book and leaf through the pages, possibly even reading it. The tag line makes the reader want to know more.
A longer blurb for the same book is “Ben Johnson was hired as a bodyguard for a rich widow and her kid, but he never expected to be working for the woman who had abandoned him just when he had needed her the most. Samantha Chaunce never thought she would have to explain why she married the rich man instead of Ben. Or that her husband had been murdered...and Ben was the prime suspect.”
This second blurb is 67 words and gives the reader a definite idea of the genre and conflict in the book without any spoilers. A combination of these two blurbs would fit well into a query letter. Use the tag line to hook the reader and follow it (perhaps in the next paragraph) with the brief summary of the story.
Practice writing these short quips about your story – keep it short and sweet and then cut any unnecessary words. When you are done, cut again. Compose longer blurbs for inside book jackets using the second paragraph for a little more in-depth picture of the story without giving the story away. If your book has been praised by recognizable sources or won awards, you can work this information into the third paragraph for longer blurbs.
For contemporary non-fiction books hook your readers with a tie into local current events or some social significance. Do similar for all other non-fiction books, do up a tagline or hook about the subject of t hook.
Writing exercise:
Write a three blurbs about your life: A 10-15 word tagline; a 50-75 word blurb; and a two paragraph blurb.
Writing prompt:
Sit in a public place and write-down a few “snippets” of random conversation you hear around you (make the sources different). Link them together in a very short story (no more than a few paragraphs).
