Hey! Do you have any tips for writing a blurb for your book? I’m working on mine now, and wondering if it doesn’t reveal enough about the plot to intrigue readers.
how 2 blurb without screaming into the void
hello, thank you so much for this question, it's one of the many things i love doing howeverrrr it's kind of evil! but first off: you are NOT ALONE. blurbs are evil. blurbs are mini monsters. blurbs are the one part of writing that's like "okay now summarize your soul in 150 words, no pressure :)" and you're like "cool cool i'll just go walk into the sea"
BUT. we can make this less painful. you can write a blurb that hooks people without spoiling the whole plot, i promise.
what a blurb IS:
a pitch, not a summary
the back-of-book tease
a VIBEY sales hook
your book's tinder bio but if you swipe left i'll cry
basically you're giving us just enough to want more. not the full plot (heavens no!) not every twist. not your worldbuilding thesis. you're selling TONE, CHARACTER, and CONFLICT.
the blurb formula that never fails (unless you ignore pacing!!)
hooky first line (it needs to be snappy, intriguing, usually world or character focused)
MC intro (who are they, what do they want, and what's messing that up?
conflict needs to ESCALATE (give us a taste of the tension, mystery, stakes)
stakes or twist HINT (what goes wrong? why should we care? don't give me the main point of the twist, only a HINT)
the final punchy line (this is optional but great if you can do it, try to hint at the tone, leave us curious.)
okay okay but HOW DO YOU KNOW IF IT'S "ENOUGH"??
as an author, ask yourself these questions:
do i know what kind of story this is? (genre, and tone!!)
do i get a feel for the main character's dilemma?
do i feel tension/ a question that makes me want to open page 1?
do i get overwhelmed with lore/confused about names (bad)
did i just write the plot of the entire book in 3 chunky paragraphs? (also bad)
we don't need to know EVERYTHING, we just want to know more.
examples, because i'm a visual creature:
VERY BAD BLURB:
"Lunara is the Princess of the Blood Moon Court and must Reunite the seven shards of the Sun Blade with her talking fox familiar in order to restore the Balance before the Eclipse consumes the Twelve Realms."
...... girl what. i'm tired. there are too many nouns. what is the story even about??? help.
a better version:
"Seventeen-year-old Lunara's kingdom is dying, and it's her fault. To fix it, she'll have to strike a deal with the ancient enemy who burned who home to the ground. He has secrets. She has one last chance. And time is running out."
yess, we get tone. we get stakes. no lore dump, no made-up nouns (which is fine, but INSIDE THE BOOK, not the back-of-book teaser). there's intrigue. and there's danger. i'm interested
final tips that made MY blurbs less garbage:
write 3 versions. one ultra-short (like 50 words long) one medium (100-150), and one long rambly one (just for you). you'll find the gems hidden in the rambles
try to pitch it to a friend. literally message someone and say "okay here's what the book's about". write it in your default tone and then take that and revise it into a blurb
read blurbs of books like yours. what do they reveal? what kind of tone do they set?
don't try to sound fancy. just sound like YOUR BOOK. if it's dark and sexy? be dark and sexy. if it's cozy and magical? be cozy and magical. MATCH THE VIBE
once again thank you for asking me this question, i hope this help you and others. send me your blurb in if you ever want a second pair of eyes btw!! i live to blurb edit. also i might love writing blurbs more than actual books but don't tell my WIPs that. they'll unionize.
rin t 🖤🖤
