Support for Indie Authors discussion

I see so many books with blurbs that spoil the plot for readers, so I've written a detailed article that can help prevent this problem. Too many details in your blurb really can stop potential readers from reading any further. Read this article and offer your own feedback or tips.

http://www.kathysnotes.com/blog/is-yo...

Amen.

Thank you Kathy!

It's not enough to learn to write book blurbs anymore. Now we have to learn to write book blurbs trimmed down to tweet size!

o_0

True, Micah. And what a chore.
When all else fails, fill in the blanks.

When _____ (Catalyst Character or Antagonist) ______ (verb clause), will _____ (protagonist) ______ (verb clause)?

:D

I think, as the author, we don't realize that something in the blurb is a major spoiler. I recently read a blurb that told me about practically every tragedy the heroine encountered. As soon as I started to read the story, I thought, why bother? I already know what happens to this person. Anymore, I read blurbs one word at a time, looking for the signal to quit reading.

Kathy, as you say, I think the key is to study blurbs in your book's genre. Different genres exhibit different expectations, and figuring out what those are can be a challenge.

I see all different manners and styles of blurbs out there on successful books: some quite long and detailed, some short, some with "spoilers", some with very little data. What a good blurb is, is very much in the eyes of the beholder. (Like pretty much everything else.)

Micah wrote: "It's not enough to learn to write book blurbs anymore. Now we have to learn to write book blurbs trimmed down to tweet size!

o_0"

Not always. The question is: who do you want to reach? We write blurbs not to entice people, but to filter them. Our books are not intended for a wide audience, and we don't want people buying them who won't enjoy them. That leads to returns and grumpy buyers, which benefits no one.

So we do what we can to let people know up front what they are getting: not just subject matter, but 170+ word sentences that our new editor chuckles over because they stress the limits of English punctuation. (We haven't published that one yet.)

So blurbs that are tweet size would be a mistake for us, as they are unlikely to filter readers well enough.

My main issue with blurbs is the focus on too many details.What good is a secret that's told before a person reads the book. There are certain things that have to be shared in advance to help readers decide if they want to read the book. I, myself, like to know if a book has graphic violence or rape or child abuse; with romances, I like to know the nature of the sex involved: explicit, erotica, etc. I've noticed that many authors state these details right at the beginning of the book's description or at the end with comments like: graphic violence, rape, steamy, erotica etc. As a reader, armed with that knowledge going in, I don't want to be told beforehand which character was attack or for that matter, who has sex with whom.

I've read blurbs that give every detail of a rescue, right down to the kind of airplane used and the problems the rescuers encountered. So, why would I read that book?

Kathy; Giving away too many details is also my problems with a lot of REVIEWS of my books. I have refused to post some critiques from reviewers who may have praised me and given the book 5 stars, but whose observations had been too synopsis-laden.

Edward wrote: "Kathy; Giving away too many details is also my problems with a lot of REVIEWS of my books. I have refused to post some critiques from reviewers who may have praised me and given the book 5 stars, b..."

Edward, I totally agree! I recently asked a person I know who reviewed my book to add a spoiler alert. I tend to steer clear of reviews that go on and on unless there is a declaration that there are no spoilers. It is amazing the way people write a review that give away so much of a story. When I come across those kinds of reviews, I ask the reviewer to add a spoiler alert--too late for me, of course, but it should help others.

I love that GoodReads automatically asks you to reveal if a spoiler alert is necessary in your comment.

Edward wrote: "I love that GoodReads automatically asks you to reveal if a spoiler alert is necessary in your comment."

Yes, and I think a person can report if a review contains spoilers.

I read a blog post somewhere that to write a good blurb you should start with a single sentence to describe your story, then expand that sentence no more than four times
So...

A Girl meets a Boy
A Lonely Girl meets a Dysfunctional Boy.
A Lonely Girl with domineering father meets a Dysfunctional Boy with drug addict mother, can love survive?

That might be a bit too brief, but it's pointing in the kind of direction I mean.

I've come to the conclusion over the past few years that blurbs should really only cover one thing: The major source of conflict in the story.

There may need to be slightly more exposition than that if the book takes place in an unusual setting, but the real point is to sell the conflict.

Obviously the purpose is to entice someone to read more, but if you focus only on enticement, you're likely to oversell the book:

"And epic adventure in which..."
"You will be astounded by..."
"An engrossing and exciting tale about..."

That's all cliché BS that tells you nothing. It's hype talk.

The entire plot need not be revealed. That's the notorious spoiler blurb. But just as bad is the Ninja blurb that refuses to give any details and tries only to sell you on the mystery:

"Johnny seems like any ordinary college student...but he has a secret (that I will not reveal to you in this blurb)."

I know I get too wordy in mine, and I still have some that need pruning, but I try to stick with "here's the set up (the conflict)" and a bit of explanation of the setting.