SYAWAN: The Blurb

First, what's a blurb? A blurb is the little description of the book that people are going to read on the cover (or the description of it on a seller's website) You're probably familiar with (if not sick of reading) Dusted's blurb:

Even if the Faerie Dust infection didn’t kill seventeen year-old Crystal Ball it still might prove fatal as she and her friends are thrown into a full-scale hidden war fought between faeries and other infected humans known as the Dusted. Suddenly Crystal is trying to figure out her new dust-given powers as well as survive the hostility of both sides in the war as they try to either kill or recruit the trio.

Having to deal with her new powers as a witch as well as an eternally hungry werewolf and a revenge-seeking vampire are bad enough, but throw in a mysterious faerie with a strange affection for her, a grizzled zombie faerie-war veteran, and an all-powerful Night Goddess faerie gunning for them and Crystal’s life becomes a tangle of how to stay alive, stay sane, and figure out who dusted them in the first place.

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Out of the things listed in the first So You Already Wrote A Novel, the blurb is, in some ways, both the hardest and the easiest. The easiest because you're very familiar with the material you're about to blurb about, the hardest because how can you possibly condense all that material into only a few paragraphs?

The blurb is the first piece of your writing that people will read. If it has misspellings or doesn't flow right, chances are, they will assume the rest of your book won't either. I have turned down free e-books on Amazon because their descriptions had misspellings or the grammar was terrible (and that's why I don't own a copy of my own book, hah!)

I had more trouble with the blurb for Dusted than I did any other part of it. I must have written it dozens of times, and even now it makes me squirm when I try to think about how I could write it better (the beauty of publishing on the Kindle is that I can change it at any time. If it was an actual copy there'd be no take backs.)

Here are some things I've learned when trying to blurb.

Keep it short

If you're writing a novel about your novel, you've done something wrong. Try to keep it 1 to 3 paragraphs long. The first blurb for Dusted was far too short, then too long. I tinkered with the wording, cut out pieces I didn't feel were relevant or interesting, and left it at that.

Keep it simple

Don't go into detail about any specific parts of the story. Keep it at somewhat of a bird's eye view of the story as a whole rather than specific scenes or characters. In a blurb you never see anything about what the main character looks like, for example (unless a specific trait is important to the story, like, say, the character is part elf and that is shown by her silver hair.)

Tease and Interest

You want people to be grabbed, and then make them think "So what happens next?" Usually blurbs will end with a question that is somewhat the basis boiling down to: "Can X make Y happen?" The final paragraph, often, is in itself a sum up of the entire story usually:

Crystal’s life becomes a tangle of how to stay alive, stay sane, and figure out who dusted them in the first place.

The rest is just extra.

Read other Blurbs

Just as you'd read other books to get an idea of how to write, be sure to read plenty of blurbs, both of books you have read and those you haven't. In those you have, ask yourself "What about it grabbed me?" and "Is it accurate to the story?" In those you haven't, ask yourself "Why does this interest/not interest me?" When you read about blurbs in books you've never read before, try not to focus on the genre (like you hate romance, and study a romance blurb, ignore the fact that you'd sooner eat your socks than read the book) It's even better when you find a book outside of your normal genre-reading where the blurb piques your interest.

Actually Describe the Book

I didn't think I'd have to actually say this, but I've seen some pretty terrible blurbs by self-published authors on Amazon. The worst ones are ones that don't even have a blurb. I don't mean the description is blank, I mean they fill the blurb area with quotes from the book (that's what the Book Preview function is for, people), or they fill it with reader praise: "Oh my gosh this book was so amazing! Read it!" (That's what the Review section is for). No matter how much the cover, title, or even reviews grabbed me, I refuse to consider a book that doesn't have an actual description of the story.

Let me see if I can whip up an example of a bad blurb for Dusted:

"Oh wow!"

"Couldn't put it down!"

"Amazing!"

Anyone who reads Dusted is always amazed. Readers often compare it to Maximum Ride, with just a touch of the Mortal Instruments series.

This is a rich, detailed story with an amazing cast of characters and excellent world-building from the author. Truly a great writer feat that all would love to enjoy.

Not only am I scratching my head because I have no idea what the story is about, I'm also starting to suspect that the author, Jen is an egotistical liar. Nowhere in her 4 reviews are those quotes, so where did they come from? Her sugar-coating parents? Her best friend who doesn't read a lot of books but is super-duper impressed that Jen wrote one? Her cat? (In reality I have neither sugar-coating parents nor a friend who doesn't read, though I do have several cats that think my books are awesome.)



I only sit on books written by Jennifer Clark...or Larry Niven.

Something else to be aware of is that blurbs of self-published books are written by the author himself. No one wants to read about an author basking in the glow of his own amazing writing ability. You're here to read a blurb about the book, not about the author and not random people talking about how great it is.

Write a blurb, print it out, and then have people read it who have never read anything of your novel. Does it interest them? You will have to test-run it through some people who won't praise you just because it's about your novel. It's nice to be praised once in a while, but this blurb is going to be read by hundreds (thousands?) of people who don't give a crap about who you are and are just looking for a description of a good story.

So give them one.