Here are my humble thoughts…

Since I’ve been writing-up a summary to go on the back cover of my latest book, I’ve been thinking about its purpose, and what makes a good one ultimately sell more books, regardless of the quality of the pages’ contents. Many writers work for days on a punchy, hard-hitting blurb to go on that all important back cover or Amazon store page. Word for word, it probably takes up more time than writing the book itself.

The more I’ve reviewed my old blurbs, the more I realise I must subconsciously keep a pattern, regardless of any of my works’ actual content, because they all fit the same kind of structure. So for anyone out there who’s writing their own, or for those who simply have an interest, I’ve laid out my four-step approach to writing this very important bit of marketing for any book:

1. Go straight-in with the setting, and build outwards.

If you’ve written a taut thriller set in Germany at the beginning of WW2, a simple first line of; Berlin, 1938, will speak more to anyone with an interest in the genre better than any amount of expository background. It will also save on word count, which I always plan to have at around 150. Any more than 200, and people switch off and continue skimming the bookshelf. It helps to keep the first line short and sharp to define a book’s genre like a slap round the face. It allows those readers without an interest to move onto something else, and for those that do, to read more.

2. Start personal, you can always explain your book’s world towards the end.

The setting / genre is defined in the first line. Now it’s time to introduce the main character(s). Whether it’s children’s fiction or adult, everyone wants to know who the characters are as soon as possible. They want to know why they should be invested in your character over the course of four hundred pages or sometimes more, and why they should root for them, sympathise with them, laugh with them. The best way I’ve found to achieve this, is to lay out that character’s motivation. If they’re a disgraced hero, put that down. If they’re setting out for vengeance or a lost love, write that in.

Imagine you’re in a lift with Christopher Nolan on your way to the tenth floor. You’ve got twenty seconds to give him a spoiler-free summary of the manuscript you really want him to turn into a movie. He’s not going to care that your main character has a cat called Stanley, works out at the gym four days a week, and has an intolerance to gluten (the main character, not Stanley). He is going to care that the same character was left for dead by her best friend who’s since run off with her husband. So tell him that.

I’ve been cringing at an old summary I once made for a short story I’m now determined will never see the light of day. In it, I described how the main character looked – in the summary. I actually put that in. Since then, I’ve grown up a bit, and I see characters in a blurb as store mannequins that people can project themselves onto. They want the outline of a human being they can care about, so give them one.

3. Don’t give away the plot

Some of the best blurbs I’ve seen hardly give anything away. They’ll grudgingly throw you some morsels before threatening to mug you and kick you out the bookshop. Check out George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones summary next chance you get. It mentions some guy called Eddard Stark who’s Warden of the North. There’s betrayal and vengeance mentioned, along with an Iron Throne, and a Dragon King. And that’s it. Outside the low-fantasy genre setting, you’re left with no idea what’s going on. It makes you want to read more.

Sometimes it’s tempting to show off the hard work you’ve put in with a certain plot twist, and I’ve had to delete entire paragraphs from a summary because I’m getting close to revealing too much without a single page being turned. Less is more, and creating the setting or main character’s motivation is often enough right there in terms of any plot explanation. The reader’s imagination will do the rest.

4. When you end it, don’t just end it

I recently read the summaries of a particular author’s romantic fiction serial since I’m writing my first and was looking for inspiration when it came to my own blurb for this strange and varied genre (my personal opinion). I was a bit put out when the summaries for every book in the series (I think there were four), just…ended. There was no wrap-up, no cliff-hanging teaser, nothing. It just ended after a connecting sentence as though the printer had missed off the last twenty words.

The blurb’s end is probably as important as the beginning, since it’s the last words any potential reader will see before they (might) turn to the first page of your book. For mine, I always stick to the same formula, and it may not be the best, but here goes; I essentially remind any future cherished reader why I think they should buy my book. I draw them from the bowels of the plot and give a wide-ranging view of the body of work. Maybe the setting changes from the wet and rainy streets of modern London to the dusty plains of the Australian outback? Maybe there are twists and turns along the way? Maybe the book is going to evoke feelings of nostalgia, or a sense of loss? If I was ever given an award for my writing (never gonna happen), I’d remind them of that. In short, I’m trying to give a closing argument on why they should take a risk with my book instead of going for the safe option from tried and tested James Patterson.

And that’s it. That’s what I think through when creating a book summary.

To illustrate the above points, here’s the blurb for my new book that will be getting put to market just as soon as I’ve finished the damned editing today. You can probably see the four rules I’ve followed in order to create it.

My method might not be the best way to create the most compelling summary, and it certainly won’t work for every genre and style. If you happen to be a wordsmith yourself, drop me a note on how you tackle this thorny issue – I’m always interested to see how other writers overcome the problems we all face, often alone.

Until next time, happy writing!