Painful Backside

 Hello from Michigan!  Is that rain or snow?  Both?

My last entry talked about the cover, and now I feel the back cover should be dwelt on. 

I have now written several complete novels.  To me, the stories flow out of me as I go.  I am one of those writers who has a few great ideas for scenes and creating a story out of them and bringing my characters to life is my passion.

The back cover is not that.

The dreaded blurb is much, much harder. 

Here are some tips I absorbed from hours of YouTube videos and reading what other successful authors were doing for their Amazon listing blurb:

  • Keep the sentences short and concise.  No one wants to read 3+ comma-spliced sentences in a row. 
  • Make your book sound interesting without giving too much away.  Truth is optional.  No one will go back and re-read the blurb and complain that you didn’t follow it to a tee.
  • Keep it between 150-300 words.  Too wordy and no one will want to read it all.  Too short and they won’t be convinced to buy it. 
  • Don’t mention any characters that aren’t essential to the story.  Romance novels often introduce both hero and heroine, but most other genres keep it the main character.
  • Use …  With Amazon, only the first few lines are displayed and you want the customer to press the “Read more” option.  If the sentence is a cliffhanger, they are more likely to do that.  Once more is displayed, they are more likely to keep reading.

For the actual back cover, some argue to ditch the ellipsis.  For my second book, I left it in.  I think it’s down to personal preference. 

For me, it was very difficult to write my blurb.  A very patient, good friend knows this well as I sent her version after version for her thoughts. 

Deciding where to begin was a challenge, and then trying to decide what should be included or excluded.  I knew I wanted to introduce bot
h my main characters.  With 300 words or less, you can’t give a synopsis of the plot, nor should you.  The reader doesn’t want to know how it ends and they don’t want to know the plot twists before they happen. 

What then, do you talk about? 

I started by introducing my heroines.  As the primary POV, it felt right.  Midway in, I introduce the main man with a touch of his backstory.  Weaved into it, I try to hint at the plot and the tropes.  Forced proximity.  Grumpy/sunshine.  Royal match.  You get the idea.

As for things left out, Initiation is told in two parts with an eight-year gap.  I don’t mention it.

I did include that flashbacks to the time of the first Selari king are part of the book, largely because the prologue opener is in the past.  I didn’t want my reader to open the book expecting a love story and have no idea how some unknown teenager factors into things.

I would strongly recommend getting someone else to read the blurb before you use it.  My friend had insights I wouldn’t have thought of, seeing things from a different perspective.  As the author, I already know what happens in the book.  You need someone who doesn’t know to say whether you are giving enough or too much information.  Does it sound interesting?  If you saw this book, would you want to buy it? 

As I previously mentioned, I have rewritten my blurbs multiple times.  I still wouldn’t consider them the best they could possibly be.  I am always open to suggestions.

If anyone has anything they found helpful and thinks should be on the list, I’d love to hear feedback!   authorelharper@gmail.com

  

Check out my books and tell me what you think! à www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKBV51XN

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