How to Write an Awesome Book Blurb (Without Losing your Sanity)

What’s the scariest thing in the world to a writer?

Is it… editing? Third drafts? OH! OH! I KNOW IT’S PITCHING, RIGHT?!

Wrong.

It’s the dreaded book blurb.

Somehow we can write 50,000-word novels yet when it comes to writing a little paragraph about that novel– well let’s just say we’d rather shave our eyebrows off.

So what does a GREAT book blurb look like? And, what does your blurb need in order to catch readers’ attention? 

Fear no more, dear writer. Because today I’m breaking down two powerhouse blurbs. And from these examples you’ll see that every great blurb needs these 4 things:

• A summary of your world

• An introduction to your main characters

• A brief explanation of the major conflict

• An intriguing cliffhanger

“A world with no hunger. No disease. No war. No misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life– and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe– a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own. They learn living in a perfect world comes only with a heavy price.”

-Scythe by Neal Shusterman

—–

“In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines– puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.

But when Wade Watts stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win– and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.”

-Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

What do you notice about these blurbs? They’re both short- no more than two paragraphs in fact. They don’t reveal a whole mess of deets, but they reveal necessary info– info that’s vital to the plot.

If you haven’t read these books already, do you feel the desire to read them now? Why? What about these blurbs pulled you in?

Think about what intrigued you personally and what you want to know.

What makes you want to find out Citra and Rowan’s life choices? What do you want to know more about Wade Watts’ life? Keep those questions in mind as we break down the set up of this blurb…

Your book blurb should start by introducing your world to your reader. Why? Because you’re setting up the stage for the story’s main conflict to play out on. Both authors did a great job of telling us what to expect in their fictional worlds. Without a huge list of descriptions, we know what we’re getting into:

“A world with no hunger. No disease. No war. No misery. Humanity has conquered all those things and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life– and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.”

“In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS.”

Introducing your world at the get-go is especially important with fantasy, science fiction and dystopian genre blurbs. Why? Because your reader loves these genres for the fantasy worlds they can escape to. So where are they going? What is the world like in your novel?

Take a moment to think about your fictional world: summarize your world in just three sentences. What strong identifying marks define your world? Draw your reader in with what makes your world so unique. Then, introduce the friends in this world that they’d like to get to know better 😉 

Your blurb should then introduce your main character(s). Why? Because these peeps are the ones readers will care about– the characters who face the main conflict in your story. Note: these authors don’t introduce the villain or the whole cast or even important side characters. They simply introduce the main characters.

“Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice a scythe– a role that neither wants.”

“The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines”

Focus on one to two main characters that carry your story’s message. Don’t be tempted to include a character in your blurb because they matter to you. The only characters that should be introduced in your blurb are the main characters who face the main conflict.

Next, address the main conflict which has the potential to screw up both the world you’ve set up and the characters you’ve introduced. In the Scythe world, everything is perfect. In the world of the OASIS you can be whatever you want and also possibly win a massive inheritance! So what could *possibly* go wrong? Lots, bromigo. Lots.

“Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice a scythe– a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.”

“But when Wade Watts stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize.”

We now see how the characters are involved in the story. We see how this struggle affects, not just the world itself, but the characters’ own lives in a personal way.

So now, think about your story’s main conflict. How could it potentially destroy the world you’ve set up? How could it affect the lives of your main characters for the worse? In what unique way does the conflict involve your main characters? Remember to introduce the problem but do not provide the solution. Leave them with (you guessed it) an intriguing cliffhanger!

Leave your reader wanting more. Leave the controversy open-ended. We want to draw readers in, urging them to find out for themselves how the problem is solved and how our heroes fare.

“They (Citra and Rowan) learn living in a perfect world comes only with a heavy price.”

“The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win– and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.”

Both cliffhangers leave us wanting more.

These cliffhangers ask a question without literally asking a question. (I know, I know, confusing but here me out): we want to know the answer to a question that the blurb never directly states: “What’s going to happen to these characters?”

And that’s the whole point! We, the reader, asks this question just by the way this book blurb is set up. So think about your cliffhanger: is the conflict left open-ended? Will your reader ask the same question about your book, in the end?

Let’s hope so!

Writing a killer book blurb doesn’t have to give you a migraine. Follow these four simple rules for creating a concise book blurb and you’ll surely bring in the readership you’re after!

What are some of your favorite book blurbs? What book blurbs convinced you to read the story? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear about some more killer blurbs out there!