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Writing Good Blurbs

Hello Wattpaders!

You’ve spent days, months, even years to write your book. How do you convince readers with just a number of paragraphs that your work is worth the read? That’s when your blurb matters! Hook readers with a good blurb and save yourself from having your work ignored. Below are step-by-step guides to writing a blurb. This isn’t the ultimate and perfect way to write a blurb, but it’s what I’ve observed from reading books, including New York Times bestsellers. It works for every genre.

1. UNDERSTANDING THE PURPOSE:

Determine the primary goal of the blurb, which is to mostly intrigue readers, give a hint of the book’s plot, or highlight its unique aspects.

2. KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE:

Why does this matter in blurb writing? Well, if you’re a speaker going for a talk and you know the kind of audience that would be there to listen, my bet is you’ll use particular terms for different audiences to send your message across. No speaker wants to give an hour talk only for the readers not to grab anything said.
Identify who your target audience is and what they’re looking for in a book. Tailor your blurb to appeal to the interests and preferences of your audience.

For instance, if you’re writing a children’s book, you definitely want to write a short blurb using simple vocabulary as much as possible and a lot of pictures at the back of the book.

E.g 2. For an action adventure, you can start with something fast-paced, and exciting...

This is the blurb from Dan Brown’s book Angels & Demons:

When a world renowned scientist is found brutally murdered in a Swiss research facility, a Harvard Professor, Robert Langdon, is summoned to identify the mysterious symbol seared onto the dead man’s chest. His baffling...

This blurb is indeed catchy, at least for me it is, because it contains terms particular audience will be interested in. There’s no way I will skip a book that has murder, brutally, mysterious, and identify... in it.

3. CAPTURING ATTENTION:

Start with a compelling hook or question that grabs the reader’s attention and makes them want to know more about the book.

This is the blurb from A.J. Finn’s Book, The Woman In The Window.

What did she see? It’s been ten long months since Anna Fox last left her home. Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house like a ghost, lost in her memories, too terrified to step outside. Anna’s lifeline to the real world is her window...

This blurb starts with a question; what did she see? This suggests a lady or a woman has seen something (a witness). This is an intriguing question, that any reader would want an answer to. What did she see?

[  ] SENTENCES 2 & 3

It’s been ten long months since Anna Fox last left her house. Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house...

Now, this arouses a lot of questions. Why would someone stay indoors for ten good months? Unless the person is in quarantine or has a medical condition where he or she can’t get out, we expect a normal person to at least go out and commute... do something, but not Anna Fox.

A blurb like this is catchy and compelling, not only because of the question in the beginning, but also it arouses a lot of questions. And the more the questions, the more readers want answers, and the likelihood they would pick up your book in the sea of books to read.