You turn to the back of the book and what do you find?
A juicy, exciting excerpt?
A list of enthusiastically juicy comments from reviewers?
A juicy logline to get you interested?
Or A long and boring piece of explanatory prose? (Believe me these do exist)
Lisa Cardo from Writing in the Buff hosts a Friday Book Blurb fest which asks particpants to write their book blurbs in 150 words or less.
What makes a juicy blurb?
- Making them short.
- Using attention-grabbing words and phrases.
- Adding question marks and exclamation marks.
- Leaving the reader with unanswered questions desperate to find out more.
Apparently if you can't sum up your novel in this many words (1-2 sentences) then it needs revising.
Both are a way to sell your book and get it noticed among all the others.
So pose yourself these questions:
1. Who is the main character?
2. What is her/his goal?
3. What would happen if she/he didn't meet the goal?
Make sure it has:
1. A Killer title
2. An adjective about the hero.
2. An adjective about the hero.
3. A goal we can relate to.
4. An adjective about the bad guy.
Try writing a logline and a blurb for your favourite novel. What did you come up with?
Hi Madeleine .. the juicy blurbs certainly draw us in .. as does the clever cover .. and honing in on the story line is an art in itself .. succinctness is an art! Cheers - enjoy today .. Hilary
ReplyDeleteI was (and probably still am! LOL) rubbish at writing loglines/blurbs in my last writing course! Truly rubbishy!! :-)It's definitely a skill I need work on so thanks for these tips and exercise! I do enjoy reading all the blurb writing blogfest participants that I come across though - very good and very clever! Take care
ReplyDeletex
Another good exercise! I have summaries of my novel, but I'll have to try writing a blurb.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and very topical for me as I'm about to write my blurb for my cirrent novel. Good advice there
ReplyDeletex
I meant current novel, of course ;)
ReplyDeleteHi Madeleine...I like reading juicy blurbs, but writing them makes me sweat.
ReplyDeleteLoved the tips, its timely for me as I was planning on writing the blurb and logline of my manuscript this week. Will bookmark this post. Thanks a lot.
Interesting to know the 'ingredients' of a good, juicy blurb; and how they're put together, and the explanation of a logline. Will probably never need to write one myself, but will take more notice of the ones on the books I was persuaded to buy...
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the post :-)
All best
karla
Well it's a couple of years since anyone dropped by that particular blog, but thanks for visiting all the same.
ReplyDeleteAnd in return, I've really enjoyed reading your tips. I find composing a blurb, or a synopsis for that matter, far more stressful that writing the whole blessed book.
I love a good juicy blurb to catch my attention! I hate writing them, though...they're almost harder to do than your whole novel or short story. But done right, they can suck the reader in (and sell your book). Great "J" post.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the simplist ways to write a blurb/tagline that I've ever seen. Thanks for posting it!
ReplyDeleteSome excellent advice, Madeleine. I'm bookmarking this post so I can come back to it!
ReplyDeleteI always pay more attention to the blurb on the back cover than I do to the front cover picture. However, last night I received the cover picture for my soon-to-be-published novel and I love it. Oh, and my 'blurb' has 103 words! Take a look at http://paulamartinpotpourri.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteIt is so hard to write blurbs, loglines and pitches. Thanks for some practical tips.
ReplyDeleteL'Aussies Travel A-Z Challenge - J is for Japan
Well-written advice.
ReplyDeleteI find it so hard to condense a whole novel worth of story into a mere two lines. I'm going to need to do it super soon though.
ReplyDelete