Monday, January 10, 2011

Writing a Good Back Cover Blurb

The bane of many writers' existence, especially those of us published by small presses, is writing the back cover blurb for our books. How do you instill in just a few words not only the essence of your book, but also what will make a reader say, "I have to read that."?

I just ran across these wonderful tips for writing back cover blurbs on The Creative Penn. Joanna Penn says:

"You pick up a book because the cover or title looks interesting. The next thing you do is read the back blurb, or if you are online, you read the first excerpt which is usually the same thing.

At basics, the back blurb is a sales pitch. It has to be almost an exaggeration of your story that entices the reader to buy, or at least download a sample to their Kindle or iPad. "

Read the whole article here.

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4 comments:

  1. Katrina StraussJanuary 10, 2011 at 5:18 AM

    Thanks for sharing, Rick. I've been told I give good blurb. I still find it harder to write than the darned book sometimes!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rick R. ReedJanuary 10, 2011 at 5:22 AM

    I know what you mean, Katrina!

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  3. UnknownJanuary 10, 2011 at 7:26 AM

    Blurbs are hell on me. Thanks, Rick!

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  4. K. Z. SnowJanuary 10, 2011 at 5:25 PM

    Hey thanks, Rick! Now I just need a back cover on which to put one of these. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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