The Perfect Back Cover Blurb
By Sophie Masson | January 9, 2017 |
Does it even exist, that perfect enticement to readers, that perfect pearl of a teaser which makes you instantly go to the counter and hand over your hard-earned cash? Perhaps not…but chances are that as an author—whether traditionally or self-published, whether this is your first or your fiftieth book—you’ll have to create, or help create, a back cover blurb for each of your books. And it’s something that in my experience takes some time—as you have to distill quite a few elements to make a sparkling blurb cocktail!
What exactly are those elements? Speaking both as a reader and a writer, for me a good back cover blurb includes:
- A mention of setting and time period of the story
- A mention of the main character
- An intriguing glimpse of the plot, but with no reveals
- A question, or hook, at the end
Optional (but good to have at least one):
- A one-line description which gives an idea of genre of book and perhaps age range—eg A gripping, magical fantasy for young adults
- A line or two from the text itself, which gives a nice flavor of what you might expect of the author’s style
- A mention of the author, which could be in the one-line description, eg, A gripping, magical fantasy for young adults by multi-award winning author XYZ/ or A gripping, magical fantasy for young adults by the author of ABC
- Very short extracts of reviews taken from author’s other books, with mention of where the reviews were published eg ‘XYZ is a spellbinding writer’ (The New York Times) ‘A book to savour’ (The Sydney Morning Herald) Note: If you or your publisher has asked another author to write a ‘puff’ or endorsement for your book, this will often go on the front cover, unless you have a few such endorsements, when they go on back cover.
- Of course if the book/author is ‘an international bestseller’ :-) that gets mentioned too in blurbs though personally speaking that isn’t going to entice me if I’m not interested in the story as revealed in the blurb!
Also, style-wise, a good blurb should be:
- Short and succinct–around 150 words is ideal, to give enough information without overloading the reader
- Snappily and enticingly written with no confusing bits
- Written in third person, even if book is in first-person voice
- Attractive to look at—well-designed in terms of text on the page, what’s around it, colour background, etc—
And finally, starting with a tag line, in italics, works well: maybe setting time and place—eg, Moscow, June 1937—or introducing a main character, eg, Meet Septimus Drake, master magician—or an intriguing line of text from the book, usually from very early on, eg, It was supposed to be a foolproof plan…
What are your thoughts on what makes a good blurb? Do you have any favourite examples, either for your own books or those of other authors? Or even examples of blurbs that do anything but entice the reader?
Born in Indonesia of French parents, and brought up in France and Australia, Sophie Masson is the award-winning author of over 70 books for children, young adults and adults. Her latest books include Sydney under Attack (children’s historical novel, Scholastic Australia, 2022) A Hundred Words for Butterfly (adult novella, ES-Press, 2022) and Cock-a-doodle-doo (children’s picture book, (illustrated by Kathy Creamer, little Pink Dog Books, 2022). In 2019, Sophie received an AM (Member, General Division) award in the Order of Australia honours list.
Sophie, I’ve been writing back cover copy and catalog copy for a publisher for thirteen years, nearly 2,000 books, both nonfiction and fiction. This is all great advice, not just for the back cover but also for query letters, website copy, etc.
Often people think back cover copy will be easy to write because it’s short. “Hey, I just wrote an entire novel and I’ve been honing it for years, I think I can handle a measly 150 words.” And because it is short it can seem fairly inconsequential. In both cases, nothing could be further from the truth.
Many authors are not the best writers of their own sales copy — in fact, in my experience, I’d say most are not. They are too deeply involved with their books and feel that it is all important and so must all be mentioned. They often are not the best judges of what are the best hooks for the reader.
And while I think most sales are made by word of mouth, the back cover copy (which is also the copy you see on Amazon) is essential for browsers. Written well, it hooks the potential reader and makes them plunk down some money for your book. But if the copy falls flat, fails to entice, you’ve lost a sale.
It took me years to get good at writing sales copy, and it is still tricky to do for my own work because my perspective on it is as an insider who knows too much. If you’re publishing traditionally, your publisher will likely produce this copy for you (and hopefully they will run it by you before going to press). If you’re publishing independently, you’d do well to consider hiring a capable freelance marketing writer to help you with it, just as you’d hire a freelance editor to help you shape and polish your story.
I would add one more element I don’t think I saw in your list: a headline. You mention a tagline (though at my publishing house, that’s what we call the line on the FRONT cover of the book, when there is one) which I think is what you’re calling a headline, but it is mentioned last, almost as an afterthought. As a marketing copywriter, those 150 words or so of body copy are the easy part. The headline is always what takes the most time and thought, because that is what potential readers will see first. If you have a great endorsement or snappy bit of a review from an important publication, you can use that as your headline. If not, that bolded line at the top is what needs the most work and it is absolutely the hardest part.
And though it will be tempting to ask a provocative question, either as the headline or as a way of closing the body copy (“Will she be able to navigate the murky waters of betrayal before it’s too late?”) try to resist it. Because the answer is always, ALWAYS “Yes.” So why ask the question? (Full disclosure, I have done this on back cover copy, often at the behest of authors, but it is nearly always either a compromise or a cop-out.)
One last thing: I’ll reiterate your statement that shorter is better. Keep that in mind for every element, even the bio. No one cares about every single award you’ve won (those are often much more meaningful to other industry insiders than to regular readers). The more succinct you are, the more memorable you are.
P.S. – One last caution: try not to name more than three characters on the back. It gets totally muddled after that. Two is better. If you can get away with just your main character and I still want to read it, that’s gold.
Erin–yours is a great comment on a very useful post by Sophie Masson. Since you are an expert on the topic of back copy, I have a question regarding word choice. When I see book descriptions that rely on catch phrases and words–gripping, magical, spellbinding, heart-stopping, hair-raising, etc–it puts me off. The usage says “boilerplate” to me, and suggests the writer is phoning in the description, rather than actually trying to capture the essence of a particular book. I’d be interested to know what you and Sophie think about this.
If someone writes copy for a living, yes, you get to a point where there is a “formula” of sorts, though sometimes formulas pop up not because the writer is lazy but because, for most readers, they work.
It’s hard to come up with adjectives to describe the writing of the author that are fresh, adequately descriptive, and yet they don’t sound like something that was found in a thesaurus. A lot of those adjectives you mention are in reviews that get excerpted on back cover copy, so it was a reviewer, not a copywriter, who came up with them.
Descriptive words like that aren’t necessary, I would say, but as a reader I like knowing a little bit about the EXPERIENCE I will have reading the book. That’s, deep down, more important than individual plot elements. Is it mesmerizing? Is it something that will make me forget to stop and eat lunch? Magical? Man, I want that experience. I want a narrative to hold me in some strange power. I love books like that. BUT, often that is promised on the back but not delivered. Saying something is spellbinding doesn’t make it so.
There is some worth, I think, in finding the right adjective for the kind of writing the reader may experience. For suspense, is the writing taut, tension-laced? Does the story proceed at breakneck pace or is it a slow burn that sends chills up my spine? Those are very different reading experiences in the same genre. (I’d choose the slow burn, myself, because I don’t like feeling frantic.) :)
So yeah, you see a lot of the same words thrown around, and for you they may turn you off (because you are naturally suspicious of language that is trying to sell you something — as a marketing copywriter, so am I). :D
But for someone else, that may be exactly the word that makes them click Buy.
Thank you for this wonderful addition to Sophies’ post.
Thank you, Erin–what a fantastic response to my post, and full of absolutely invaluable advice!
Hi Sophie,
Thanks for the article I am interested in your blurb services.
Wow! Thank you, Erin, for the very useful additive to this post!! Do you do blurbs on the side for a fee??
Thanks for your background of experience as a copywriter, Erin.
I noted that on the back cover blurb of This Elegant Ruin, you describe four characters; I assume your mention of not describing more than two characters applies to novels only.
But what if a novel has four major characters driving multiple story lines in the first novel of a series? Still go with two; pick the best from the four that represents the novel?
Again, thanks for your generosity of insight into the importance of good back cover blurbs.
Don
Thank you! I’ve been struggling with how to approach this for some time. I’m a new author, but I know the importance of that blurb. As a reader, the cover art, or even just the title on the spine may catch my attention, but it’s that back cover piece that determines whether I read or not. Now I have some great tips for how to write my own. I’m so glad I came upon this post.
Thank you, glad you found it useful.
Sophie (and Erin) –
Thanks for the great post and comment. I find the back cover content up there with the synopsis and “elevator pitch” as big time challenges.
I’ve found that no matter how long I work on it, and despite editorial feedback, as soon as I see the back cover copy in print I want to revise it (included too much/ included too little/lame/etc). Recognizing the following is far from great I submit the following from the first book of my medical suspense/thriller series :
Drake Cody is an emergency doctor and medical researcher with a past no physician is allowed to have. His experimental drug may help the paralyzed walk, but rogue elements within the trillion-dollar pharmaceutical industry will stop at nothing—including murder—to steal his priceless research.
When Drake’s rescue helicopter flight touches down at a Lake Minnetonka estate, he finds the glamorous attorney representing his breakthrough drug dead of an apparent drowning. Within hours, one of Drake’s research colleagues is shot and arrives at the ER near death. Drake battles to save his dying friend while gripped by fear that a devastating secret from his past has resurfaced. The stakes ratchet ever-higher as Drake, his wife Rachelle, and their two children are swept into a firestorm of greed and violence. Together Drake and Rachelle struggle to save what matters most—their children, their love, and their lives.
Disclosure – last line of “Will they survive?” was withheld here. I acknowledge Sophie’s point on this though have wrestled with inclusion of the “provocative question”. I’m not sure if it adds, detracts, or is neutral?
My initial feeling upon reading the description is that it feels like it probably gives too many plot points away. A useful exercise may be to stick to only information that can be found in the first 3 chapters of the book and simply hint vaguely at complications to come.
More specifically (and I’m putting this all down only because you asked for feedback, not to be critical for critical’s sake)…
1.) The phrase “a past no physician is allowed to have”…what does that mean? Because it is mentioned it feels important, but it is so vague I forget it by the end of the copy. Is it necessary? If it is and the reader knows what this past is within a few chapters, you might actually tell us. If it’s a big reveal later, leave it out. But as it stands now it’s just a bit confusing.
2.) Your second sentence hints at the conflict to come, and then the next paragraph seems to tell us exactly what happens — including who is murdered. Is this giving away any big moments? Have you taken the wind out of things that are supposed to be surprises in the book?
3.) While they are not all named, you mention six people and a nameless entity that is trying to steal the research. And yet, despite all the people mentioned, it feels very impersonal. The stakes (his life and his family) are mentioned at the end, but until then it is just about his research. I don’t feel any emotional connection to Drake or Rachelle. Yes, this is hard to do in a short space, but readers come for the internal story more than the external plot.
So I think if I were to revise this, I’d ask myself, who is Drake, what are the stakes, and why should my reader care?
First, who is he? He’s a medical researcher who helps the paralyzed to walk (which I would put front and center — it tells me that this is a guy I can root for because he is a good guy). But then he’s worried about people stealing his research, which makes him seem like he cares more about money than patients, which makes me not like him quite so much. Plus he’s an ER doctor? Where does he find the time for all of this? Who is he really? What’s the most important part that you can give me that can help me immediately form some sort of image of him that makes me want to run with him for 400 pages? Is he dedicated to his job? His family? Is he a workaholic is fears life is slipping away? Is he trying to make up for a dark chapter in his past? Give me enough so that I can root for him. Right now he’s just a guy whose friends are dying.
Second, what are the stakes? His life is in danger, okay. The lives of his wife and kids are in danger, okay. That’s true of almost any suspense novel. What’s really at stake for him? What is he most afraid of? That his secret, shameful past will be revealed? We all fear exposure, so that is a possibility. Someone stealing his research is not enough for me, because research is not human. The stakes I care about as a reader are the internal ones.
And that’s why my reader should care — because what is important to Drake is important to the reader.
Bottom line, the story is less about helicopters and shootings than it is about the people involved in them. And I would leave off the question of whether they will survive. Because most likely yes, yes they will. And I don’t read to find out if they physically survive, as in they don’t die, though in a good suspense story I will be in doubt as I am reading. I read to find out how they emotionally survive, how they manage to make it through adversity and not lose their humanity or their relationship, etc.
I hope this is helpful. It’s hard to offer critique without having read the book.
Thank you!
I agree with Erin that too much is given away in the blurb–you need to pull back on it, make it short, sharp and intriguing. I also think it mentions too many characters. I’d maybe start with an italicised line something like:
Even heroes can have dark secrets…
then go straight to something like(not these exact words but similar feel maybe)
‘Emergency doctor and gifted researcher Drake Cody saves lives for a living–but not everyone is a fan of his work, and when he is catapulted into a deadly plot that threatens his whole family, Drake must keep one step ahead if they are to survive.’
Then maybe at end, and:
But secrets don’t always stay hidden….
Anyway, might sound a bit corny as is, but I think it could work with the right spin!
Hope that helps.
Great advice from two real pros! This is an area I have struggled with myself. The information provided in the blog and comments is timely as I am composing a blurb for my upcoming release
Hi Erin,
Interested in your service.
Hi Sophie: I struggle with back cover copy all the time. Same thing for the blurbs on Amazon.com. You make some great points. Thanks for the tips!
Thank you, glad you find it helpful!
Thanks for this. I’m saving it for when I get to write my back cover copy!!
When my first novel was published I had the wrong idea about my role and the publisher’s role so when my publisher asked me for a back blurb, I thought ‘Isn’t that YOUR job?’ Composing the blurb in a rush to meet my publisher’s deadline wasn’t the best way to go about it and I knew I needed to be prepared the next time.
With that in mind, I wrote a logline for my current WIP as soon as I began writing. Not long after that I wrote the back blurb to keep me focused on the main plot line.
I’ll dissect my blurb carefully now and during the many revisions I know it will go through before I finish the novel, making sure I’ve covered the important details you’ve outlined. Thanks so much for the post, Sophie. Very helpful.
Yes, it can be a bit daunting when you first realize that you’re expected to at least take some part in writing the blurb: it seems at first that you’re being asked to boil down the story when of course it’s more a matter of setting atmosphere..Best of luck with your latest blurb, glad you found my post helpful, and thank you for your nice words.
Yes, atmosphere! That is exactly it. Showing the reader how they will feel when they read it.
Love this. I definitely agree that most authors are probably not good at writing blurbs. I know I’m not. I seem to do it a little better for others, but definitely not for myself. I have these pointers in a place where I can refer back to them later. Thank you.
Thank you, Scarlet, glad you found it helpful.
I’m slow to come to this, but helpful article, and Erin’s thoughts only augmented it. Thanks, ladies!
Very helpful, thank you
Hi. I appreciate you doing this post. I’m an author who has a hard time writing blurbs. I have a book coming out this summer, and I’ve been working on writing one that I need feedback on. If you’re willing to do so, cool. If not, no worries. I just thought I’d throw it out here. I know it’s too long, so I have to figure out a way to shorten it. I also know it ends with questions which you advised against, so I have to think of how I can end it in a captivating way. Here it is . . .
Legends of Deceit
22-year-old sassy and headstrong Haven Evergreen has always dreamed of a fantastical land where a unicorn freely roams, fairies like to have a good time, and a baby dragon melts her heart, but little does she know her dreams are actually suppressed memories filtering through a compulsion spell cast on her for protection.
When Haven comes home one night, tragedy hits, altering her life. The truth of who she really is begins to unravel after a handsome warrior with piercing green eyes saves her life.
Larkin Vestergaard is part of an elite group of soldiers on a special assignment to save the daughter of his king. When he sees her, he’s shaken to his core. Could she be the girl who he fell in love with long ago, only to be taken away from him at such a young age?
When Larkin escorts Haven to the magical world of her dreams, Haven discovers who she really is, her place in this beautiful but yet frightening realm, and an ancient power that dwells in her that can destroy her or make her a force to be reckoned with.
Will Haven accept her place in this new world, give into her fierce attraction for Larkin, or will she disregard what’s expected of her and instead go back to her old, familiar life where things made more sense?
Thank you for a blog with concrete ideas and advice. Composing a blurb is miles harder than you would ever think.