Since I have a business writing blurbs/cover copy, I offered to share some quick tips to make it less frustrating.
Your blurb is your most powerful tool for enticing readers
to buy your book. All the good reviews or social media shouting isn’t going to
work if a reader doesn’t get excited about the book’s content. You want to lure
the reader in, hook them with an intriguing setup, and land the sale by leaving
questions open that can only be answered by buying the book.
First, some terminology:
Tagline/Logline: This
is the quick summary on the front cover that serves as a hook. It’s usually no
more than twelve words, and is best at around six words.
Pitch: Also known
as the “elevator pitch” because it needs to be short enough that you can recite
it to an agent/editor in the duration of an elevator ride. Aim for no more than
about two or three sentences and be able to recite it without blinking. My all
time favorite pitch was from Judi Fennell pitching the romance In Over Her Head: “He’s a merman and
she’s afraid of the water.” Fewer than ten words. She got the contract.
Blurb, Cover Copy,
Jacket Copy, Product Description: Here’s where things get murky.
Technically, a blurb is the line or two of praise on the front cover from a reviewer
or an author who is well known and writes in the same genre.
Cover copy (on the back cover), jacket or flap copy (on the
inside flap of a dust jacket) and product description are all pretty much the
same thing, but most folks today have taken to calling all of them a “blurb”
and use the terms interchangeably. For the purpose of these articles, I’m going
to use the term “blurb” to mean the description of the book that appears on the
cover and in product descriptions.
Here’s a secret: for fiction blurbs, there’s a formula, and
you can learn it. Really. Non-fiction is different, and I’ll cover it briefly
at the end of part two next week. Ready?
- Step One: Create a one or two word description of your protagonist(s). The description is usually a job, relationship, or status: Starfleet Captain James Kirk (job). Orphan (or spinster) Jane Eyre (relationship). King Arthur Pendragon (status). For sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal it may be a creature type, tribe, planetary affiliation, etc. (hobbit, Starks of Winterfell, Vulcan). If you only have one main protagonist, you may want to come up with this descriptor for your villain, which is often used in mystery and thriller blurbs.
- Step Two: Define the external GMC for your protagonist(s). GMC stands for Goal, Motivation, Conflict/Obstacle. It helps to define internal and external GMC for your characters early in your writing process. Blurbs are generally only concerned with the external GMC. To create yours, fill in the following sentence for one or two protagonists and/or your villain: Character wants/must do (Goal) because (Motivation) but can’t have/get it because (Conflict/Obstacle).
- Step Three: Mention or imply your setting and/or period. Victorian-era Egypt. The starship Enterprise. The ruins of a place once known as North America.
For now, in the comments, try your hand at writing the GMC
for your character(s) and if possible, include the character description and
setting. Here’s an example:
In order to protect her little sister (Motivation), 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen (character description) must survive a brutal game (Goal) in a land once known as North America (setting), but in order to do so she’ll have to kill all other opponents, including a childhood friend (Conflict/obstacle).
Feeling brave? Try your hand at a tagline and a pitch, too!
OK, your turn!
Part Two of Beating the Blurb Blues
Image courtesy of africa at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
