You’ve just spent six hard months slaving over a hot computer. You’ve now written and polished your book, and then polished it a little bit more. It’s your baby and you love it. You spend another three months finding a publisher and a further three agreeing everything from the title to the cover design. So a year of your life is invested in a fantastic novel and now you’re ready to go… not quite, you need to sort out the blurb.
Is it important? YES, it is, in fact, one of the most important components of the whole book package. How can I be sure, well, I ran a poll on two well known sites for readers in the US and the UK. The poll was entitled “Top reasons for buying a book”. Once the voting was completed it was very clear what really mattered. High on both lists were things like genre, recommendations and read other books by the author. However, the blurb came number one in the US, and number two in the UK. That shows you just how important it is to get it right… your book will not succeed without a well written blurb.
When my first book, Dark Tidings, was finished, I spent many fraught hours working on the blurb. I knew roughly what I wanted, but I was surprised just how hard it was to get tight writing which worked. Eventually I had a first draft which I then refined in conjunction with the publisher. Finally, in what I thought was a sensible market-testing exercise, I published it in a couple of forums and asked for comments. I got plenty of feedback, and nearly all of it was useful. I took the comments and went back to the drawing board. This time it didn’t take me half as long to come up with a blurb which made me (and my publisher) happy. Here’s what we ended up with…
What happens when ancient magic meets the internet? One thing is certain, modern life will never be the same again.
A thousand years ago, a young thief, Tung, and a disgraced wizard, Madrick, are thrust together in an executioner’s dungeon. In the darkness, Madrick reveals an incredible secret about a legendary spell. The great spell helps them escape their prison cell… and eventually their century.
Catapulted into the present day, their lives collide with Michael, a computer hacker who plans to destroy the world’s largest bank. But sinister people are tracking their every move and they will stop at nothing to steal their spell.
I’m very pleased with it now. I think it captures the essence of the story without giving away too much. The only thing it doesn’t tell you is that Dark Tidings is a funny adventure with a lot of laugh out loud moments. Maybe I should do some more work on it?
* * * * *
Ken Magee published his debut novel, Dark Tidings, in November 2011. He lives in Ireland with his wife and two dogs… his two children fled the nest about 10 years ago. When he’s not writing, Ken plays badminton, walks and reads (not all at the same time). You can find Ken on Twitter @KenMageeAuthor and you can find Dark Tidings on Amazon.com.
For advice/tips on writing a good synopsis/blurb, please check out our “Common Synopsis Issues” post.
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Six months? That'd be speed writing to me.
Yeah, the second book has taken eight months… so far!
Yes – I agree. It's incredibly difficult, but when you have amazing editors it falls into place after a few tries. My newest novel comes out tomorrow (officially – people are already buying it on Kindle) and the blurb written by the team at BeWrite Books seems to be working. We had something like six or seven email exchanges about it.
It's a fine balance between saying enough but not too much.
And yes, it all hinges on a good blurb.
Good luck with the new book… I hope the blurb works!
Ugh. Blurbs. Hardest things I ever tried to write…and rewrite…and rewrite. Interesting blurb on your book, Ken. Going to have to check it out
🙂
Thanks DV, I hope you like it enough to read the other 91,000 words!
Ken, I'd love to see the earlier blurbs for comparison.
David, Further down, I've posted one of the earliest versions. K.
Good post. Good idea. I hate blurbs. I agree, they are the hardest part.
Totally agree, I really dislike writing blurbs. I seem to be okay writing them for books I haven't written but for my own, I find it incredibly difficult, and I realize that they're very important.
Thanks for the post, Ken.
I think the only thing worse than blurbs are pitches. Yuck, on both accounts.
I agree, pitches are even harder.
How to condense 110,000 words into 90 and still get the essence of the book, a near impossible task. I still never know how well I did.
Thanks for all the comments. I think we all agree that blurbs are hard.
@David Here's what you asked for… one of the early blurbs for comparison.
Way back in the medieval mists of time, long before most people counted which century was which, a thief and a disgraced wizard are thrust together in a murky dungeon. Both have been sentenced to death.
In the darkness, the wizard reveals an incredible secret about a legendary spell. Reluctantly the pair form an uneasy alliance so that, together, they can escape their prison cell… and eventually their century.
They are catapulted into the 21st century where their lives collide with a computer hacker who has plans to wipe out the world’s largest bank. Unbeknownst to them all, evil people are tracking their every move. The three men join forces in an attempt to evade their powerful and dangerous pursuers.
What happens when ancient magic meets the internet? One thing is sure – modern life, as we know it, will never be the same again.
There's also a halfway house one on Amazon… don't ask me why it hasn't been changed!
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Tidings-Ken-Magee/dp/1…
Ken, my cover guy told me he had space for only 90 words. You can imagine how many versions were discarded. And i still don't like them. I love yours (the final one) but how did you manage to fit that onto a back cover?
Thank you so much, Ken. This is interesting, to see how it evolved and became more concise.
Yvonne, Thank you, I was pretty happy with it.
The one that ended up on the back cover was slightly different (although this one will go on the next print run).
I've emailed you an image of the back cover so you can see how it fitted.
K.
Cool! I'll take a look.
Looks great. I love the way the back has the ancient papyrus look and the front the sci-fi-ish electric blue lightening. Really cool. It's on my 'to read list'. My guy said he needed space for my author pic. I almost wish we had used more text instead.
Thanks Yvonne… if you do get round to reading Dark Tidings, I'd love to know what you think of it.
And your guy is definitely right about your pic!
Aw shucks.:-)