Blurbs

These pesky things can be the bane of any Writer or Author. Write a hundred word summary of your entire novel including the main character(s) and enough of the basic plot to draw a reader in and hook them from the back.

If done successfully your book could be flying off the shelves whether they be electronic or actual shelves.

But if done wrongly your book could slump to the bargain bucket within weeks.

There is no right or wrong way of doing a blurb, no format for writing a star winning blurb every time. It is hit and miss and it will always be hit and miss. What's the point of this post then? To go over a few things to include and to show my approach to writing a blurb. (Even I'm uncertain with them)

Okay, so, key things that need to be included in your blurb;
1) Main character (or characters if there's two)
2) Genre. (Subtlety is key. This is a science fiction story about.. <- no. On the way back to Earth the starship Apollo... <- better.)
3) Main problem (Sandra is a sad girl who doesn't feel comfortable in social situations. But then there was a guy.. <-nah Nobody understood the way her mind worked and this was why Sandra couldn't get along with people. Until.. <- I prefer this approach)
4) Drama. Suspense. Mystery.

Okay so that might not make much sense (In regards to numbers 3  and 4) but points one and two are easy. Name and where they/what kind of world they live in/what to expect. The genre comes with the main problem and the drama/suspense/mystery you're talking about. The main problem is the single point in your story that sparks the adventure to begin. For example, in Aries that I'm writing, the single point would be when a ship appears out of nowhere on radar and seconds later it becomes an emergency beacon. The drama/suspense/mystery is not knowing how or why that ship was there and where it appeared from.

Now, as I said there's no set way to write a blurb but just pick up a few books you own (or somebody else does) and just read them.Think about what they contain. The main character, a problem, a worrying thought and within all that the genre to some degree. Now, not all books may have the characters name on the back, or it won't have much of a problem in the blurb.

But in my opinion, as a general rule, make sure to contain the previously mentioned four items within your blurb. Keep it short and you're 90% of the way there. Even I haven't mastered how to write a blurb and I am still learning. But keep at it. Change your first blurb. Tweak it. Make it different. Make many different versions and keep going until you've found the one you love.

Happy Writing.