Raise your hand if you love writing blurbs?
Yeah… I can’t say that I do. I’m sure other authors are great at it. I’m not. The blurb has to be brief to describe the nature of the book, but it has to be witty enough to draw the potential reader in. It can’t reveal too much about the plot, but you have to give just the right amount of balance to make it sound intriguing. It’s a writer’s nightmare. Well, at least one of my nightmares anyway.
Yes, the dreaded blurb. How do I count the ways of how much I despise writing you? After over a 100 + books you would think I’d be a master at it. I think I’d prefer someone shoving wooden splinters underneath my fingernails. Or better yet pulling out my teeth with a rusty wrench. I cringe every time I have to write the description of a novel. Depending on the publishers I’ve had, they require blurbs to be as little as 150 words. Do you know how difficult it is to summarize a 300 page book in 150 words? Sure, I can agonize over it for day, but in the end, I finally think of the words to give a good balance for the theme and the characters.
After all the books that my muses have helped me create, I hate to think of what I need to write. How much do you talk about the hero? How much to put down about the heroine? Will the reader get what the book is about even with the blurb? These are all things that run through my head. And then, after you’ve written the dreaded blurb, the publisher changes it on you. Been there done that, but hey if they can write it better than me, I’m all for it.
I’ve gotten some great advice from other authors over the years. Mine have gotten tighter and shorter. I wouldn’t say I’m a professional now, but I’ve overcome numerous hurtles. So anyone that has to write a blurb, I wish you luck. Make it intriguing. Give it enough for the reader to open the book and want to delve into the story.
Writing blurbs can be done. Do you have the courage? A great example of a couple of mine are below for one of my print books for the Dragonkin Series. The formatter did a great job on fitting the blurbs for the series on the print cover. I might be able to write the blurb, but when it comes to the technical side of formatting and uploading. I rely on someone else.
