Writing the Blurb
I am going to be honest- I’d rather write an entire novel than have to write a blurb. The blurb does not come naturally to me. Attempting to write something hooky and marketable using a limited amount of words is my own version of hell. There is a reason that the majority of the books I have written usually end up being a series in some capacity. I don’t think small.
But enough about my fears of blurb writing. Because in the end I still had to do it. Now, there is the option to hire someone else to write the blurb which, for some, might be the way to go. it’s another expense that I didn’t go with though. Maybe in the future I’ll be able to spend the money for someone else to take on such an ominous task (haha- I am doom and gloom about this aren’t I?), but until then, I sucked it up and got to work.
At first I thought it would be easy. Take the query I had tireless worked on, had so many eyes—including editors and agent’s feedback—add a few hooks and I’d be good to go. Nope. Not exactly the case. The formula is somewhat similar but as I was quickly told by my critique group “you need more hook.”
Which of course had me thinking that was a query issue as well, but we can’t go down that line of thinking, now can we?
Anyway- one of my critique group members gave some very helpful advice. Read as many book blurbs as you possibly can. There is a rhythm. Key words. Almost a formula to writing a book’s blurb. And after reading what felt like 100’s of blurbs, I was able to jump into a document and start typing out different blurbs. Three different in fact. (Okay, so more than three honestly. I wrote about eight in the end. Then I started playing with the one’s that felt most promising, taking bits and pieces of each and was able to come up with three options.)
So here are the important factors to include in your blurb:
Protagonist: that’s right- it helps to know who the story is about. Have more than one? Introduce them both. While this is brief, make sure to give facts that make the character interesting or intriguing. Even show their wants and how they will be challenged.
Plot: Do not give everything away! The point for this is to hook in the reader. Make sure this section flows though since it’s sometimes easy to consider just throwing out a few quick sentences about the book, but it won’t help if those sentences don’t build off one another or confuse the reader.
A twist: This doesn’t have to be the big twist. You can allude to something. Mostly this is the twist that changed the character’s path and made them question everything. It ups the stakes! And make sure those stakes are present!
Antagonist: don’t forget that antagonist! Or at least allude to the “something bad” in the book. I mean it would be nice if we could write a book that is all flowers and sunshine, but even in a blurb that would be hard to believe. This can also up those stakes even more and draw in your readers.
Then don’t forget a pitch! It can be at the beginning or end of the blurb. This is where you can find comps of books that readers can relate your story to.
Taglines are also a big thing lately. It’s a short phrase that hint at the book’s premise. Totally draw them in holds them tight that they want to know more.
Lastly, key words! Now, you don’t have to toss in all the tropes word for word, but alluding to enemies to lovers, fake dating, hidden identities…all of those things may be considered cliche to some readers, but it also is what draws in many readers. Use the concepts because they are marketable.
Now, and here is the final point for writing a blurb- make the blurb active! You don’t want it to fall flat. Your character needs to feel almost present. Voice should still be present from your book. So if you wrote a dark fantasy, don’t have your blurb filled with humor unless that falls into your characters voice. If it is a romance, don’t make the blurb sound like a murder mystery and everything is sinister.
Now lastly, how long should it be? You don’t want the blurb to be too long or people will turn that book over, see too many words, then put it back on the shelf. I’ve seen different resources to keep it under 200 words, which might be difficult for a fantasy novel. Other’s say under 250 words. That seemed to be the sweet spot so I went with under 250 and then actually created a poll for trusted readers to vote on their favorite of my three finished blurbs. Surprisingly it was the blurb with the highest word count at 220 that had them most intrigued, but as one reader said— “all the words meant something”. So make the words count!
This is the information that helped me so I hope it helps you. Good luck and happy writing!
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