Connecting Readers and Writers discussion

I just came from a downloading frenzy of free ebooks and found myself not bothering to read the descriptions (when I say I judge a book by its cover, I mean it literally)when they required me to click the "more" link.

The thing is, when I get a hard copy of a book and the back is not a blurb but the many raving reviews from readers, I am ticked off and it makes me not want to read the book. However, when I get a book (ecopy or hard copy) and the blurb is long (like more than two paragraphs if that) then I don't read it. It's almost like reading a preface; I wanna just skip it IF it isn't short.

As readers, do you prefer long or short blurbs?

Short. If they're long I usually just read the first few sentences to get a general idea of the story.

I prefer for them to be on the more concise side of things. Enough for me to get a feel for what the novel may hold, but not so much that the whole story is spoiled.

Unless it is a concept that I feel that I cannot live without exploring, if it seems like the author already gave me all the important plot twists in the blurb I'm far less inclined to read it.

Melissa

I don't mind if they're short or long, so long as they aren't confusing to read,or bogged down with unnecessary details or strange world building concepts.

I prefer short. When I'm ready to ready a book, I'm ready!

Short. I like the mystery of an unopened gift ...

Book X is the story of X, who must overcome X in order to achieve X.

@Raymond That's a tiny bit short for my liking :P

I prefer them to be on the brief side. I am also more inclined to read a short one over a huge block of something. In these cases, I tend to read the first one or two sentences from these 'blobs' and give up. If they can't make a synopsis readable, I can only imagine what the book will be like.

If they are split in smaller more manageable paragraphs I will be more tempted to read more and if I like what I read, I don't care if it was long, it just gives me a better idea of the writer's skills.

On the other hand, if it's too short and doesn't give me enough feel for the book I will put it back. If the author decided to go with a short blurb, it had better be catchy or else it will most likely look like any other books I have read already.

If it's a fantasy/sci-fi or whatever, and they go on with lots of words that exist only in their world, I tend to give up and put the book back on the shelf. I want an idea of what's inside, not a dictionary.

As you can see, I am not that difficult, am I? :p

@GG I know but after writing 90k words, I'm always frustrated trying to sum it up in 100...if I was that good I'd be a poet I instead of a novelist lol.

Oh, heck! I understand you Raymond. I officially changed my synopsis 3 times already in as many months, and that's not counting how many times I just re-wrote it but didn't publish it.

It's always one or the other: not exciting enough, tells too much, doesn't tell enough, etc. etc....

I HATE having to write one, and I will need one soon... *Cry*

G.G. wrote: "Oh, heck! I understand you Raymond. I officially changed my synopsis 3 times already in as many months, and that's not counting how many times I just re-wrote it but didn't publish it."


This is a very important discussion. As a reader, I want to know the subject matter and to be given a HINT of the story. The blurb needs to ENTICE me to read the book.

I know the author has written many words and put many hours into the work but if they don't have the ability to be concise and relevant then I'm probably not that interested. The author has to have passion for their story or the writing won't be any good, but the blurb requires subtlety and a tease to the readers' interest.

If the author doesn't have the skills (or fails to use them) to show restraint in the blurb then
(A) possibly the quality of writing isn't fantastic
(B) they haven't weighed up the importance of word choice and demonstrated the knowledge that each word has been considered for its relevance to the story, and thus
(C) the book may not be well edited so again may not be worth my interest.

Sometimes more is less. I think this is particularly the case with blurbs. Overly wordy blurbs put me off as they appear self-indulgent.

This is just my opinion as a reader, but it's important as I know I'm not the only one who thinks this way.

I hope the comments help here!

Cheers!

As an author I loathe writing blurbs as much as I hate writing author bios. As a reader I don't like seeing a bunch of reviews instead of a blurb or an entire novel of a description either. It's hard finding that balance. There's been a couple of books, read the description, start reading the book and they don't match. Though, if I'm reading a series I don't read the description for the sequels...

I used to hate writing blurbs and synopses, etc . . ., but I've grown to like them. I'm not sure why. I guess it's just as much an art as the actual writing.

Shorter is always better, too. Just like movie trailers and drugs; give 'em just a taste and they'll want more.

Create space actually offers a service that writes the back of the book. Terrible as it may sound I am sooo tempted to pay someone just so I don't have a 3 star blurb on a 5 star book.

Raymond, if you had an editor sometimes they can help. I've worked with two different editors and I've bounced ideas off them.

The front cover of a book may be what initially catches a potential reader's eye; but it is the backmatter that convinces the reader to purchase and read the book.

What works for me:
-short and snappy plot overview
-no spoilers
-no long winded descriptions that tell the whole story
-written in plain English that I can understand instead of being full of names and weapons and places I can't pronounce!

My decision to read or not to read seems to be guided by content more than word count. However, I have probably huffed, rolled my eyes and put a book back on the shelf if it's too wordy. I also agree with G.G. about language. If I can't understand the made up words (especially if I am actively using context clues to try to figure them out) in a blurb I sort of lose interest and it will probably go back on the shelf.

As a writer I find the task of writing the blurb to be fairly challenging, and all of my first (second, third....) drafts end up being way too long. Kind of like this post.

Hey, Raymond...if you're still here... I read your blurbs on your Creepers series. I think they're great. Did you end up using the service? I'm interested to hear how that experience was if you did.

Check this discussion on The Source on blurbs/pitches.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

For those who are interested to have all my blurb advice in one block, I streamlined the information in a blog post.

Short blurbs every time. I agree with the comment above that the author should have the skill to give an exciting impression of the story in a few short paragraphs.

Short makes sense but based on what I'm reading here, I got the impression that a 'few short paragraphs' seems like it would be leaning toward long. So what's the general consensus on what makes a blurb short and what makes one long?

I was told to 'blurb' in about 100 words... I came close!

That's a good guideline Ken! I know we leave a lot of the story out when we blurb, obviously, but is it possible to leave something fairly significant out and still have a true representation of the story?

So Ken, if I can use your blurb for 'A Darker Shade of Black' as an example where you write, "Add in a megalomaniac Transylvanian hermit, seven cloned dwarfs and an Irish giant, and you have to ask ‘who’s going to save the world now?’", we can clearly see that this story has a lot to tell that isn't in the blurb. It's a great blurb and that particular sentence is an awesome hook but how did you determine what you wanted in the blurb and what you would save for us to discover on our own?

Hope you don't mind me picking your brain but I think a lot of people could benefit and I open the questions here to everyone to add their insight. Ken if you want me to delete this post because I referenced your book and blurb just message me :)

The way I tackle blurbs is to list significant words from the story e.g. ancient magic, the Internet, computer hacker, time travel. Then I try and use some of those words to build a really short story which gives a flavour of the book without giving anything (much) away. After that I fiddle with it until I feel I'd be happy to use it as my elevator pitch for the book.

Personally, I also like to follow some of the classic blurb rules e.g. write in the present tense and include a question.

PS Dianna, I'm delighted that you referenced my book... thank you.

Jim wrote: "The front cover of a book may be what initially catches a potential reader's eye; but it is the backmatter that convinces the reader to purchase and read the book."

That's never been the case for me. I distrust blurbs too much. Traditionally published authors don't write their own blurbs and far too often the blurbs are just flat out wrong or misleading.

No, covers help bring me in, but if I'm buying online, I look at the sample material (amazon's Look Inside feature, for example). If I'm in a bookstore, I read the first page or two and then a couple randomly selected pages to see if I like the author's style/content.

I'll look at the blurb but I can't ever remember seeing one that sold the book to me.

So, short or long, I don't care...as long as it's accurate!

Short is stronger, has more of an impact.

Short. Catch me in 2 sentences, and you've got a buy.

My editor asked for a 250 word blurb for my back cover of my debut novel coming out in 2015. It's a romantic historical which I think needs the time, place, main character and the inciting action to familiarize the reader. I also have it in 3 block paragraphs and I started with a log line. I share a similar mindset as Micah when choosing a book. I notice the cover first, but I like the blurb second (it pulls me in) and then I read the first two pages. If all of this intrigues me, I usually buy it. However, nothing beats word of mouth. I loved the Outlander series discovered through a friend and the blurb is not that short, nor is the novel. :-)

What's the shortest blurb anyone's read? Can a blurb be too short?

As a general rule I would go for a shorter blurb. The more work the blurb is having to do, the less clear the concept may be.

I also find I am hostile to 'power adjectives'.

But Cynthia has a good point when aspects of time and place need to be clear. That will take more explaining.

Ken wrote: "What's the shortest blurb anyone's read? Can a blurb be too short?"

Of course they can! Like this one:

"A young couple goes to great lengths to return an unwanted piece of jewelry."

That's the blurb for Lord of the Rings as put forth here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/th...

;D

I would love to see a similar blurb for the Ring of the Nibelungen.

Micah wrote: "Ken wrote: "What's the shortest blurb anyone's read? Can a blurb be too short?"

Of course they can! Like this one:

"A young couple goes to great lengths to return an unwanted piece of jewelry."

..."

That is wonderful... I'm off to buy the book!

Micah wrote: "Ken wrote: "What's the shortest blurb anyone's read? Can a blurb be too short?"

Of course they can! Like this one:

"A young couple goes to great lengths to return an unwanted piece of jewelry."

..."

This would never motivate me to buy the book. What do I care or find interesting about a young couple (which implies to me a guy and a girl) trying hard to return a bauble they don't want in the first place? Boring. LOL IMO, Joel C. should rethink this one.

What I like to do is divide the blurb in three stages:

The Elevator Pitch (One-liner about the story)
The Main Pitch (Short 'back flap' introduction)
The Promise (Why should you read the book?)

I've elaborated on this idea in this blog article.

I did a little, completely unscientific, experiment when putting a blurb together for a YA book. I created one blurb that was 250 words and one that was 150 words. The content and message were the same, one was just 'fluffed' a little more than the other.Then I had a sampling of readers in the target audience read and comment on both blurbs. By far, they preferred the shorter one. The general consensus for the longer one sounded something like this: "Ugh, enough of this already." Interestingly, the readers said they would read the book based on either blurb but they were more annoyed by the longer one.
I recognize that this was a YA audience and the first thought might be that a younger audience would be less interested in putting the time in to read, but these are readers who actually choose to read as a means of entertainment. Through conversation I found that there is a mindset when reading a blurb that is different from reading a book. The idea is that they want the blurb to be quick, not time consuming and then they would invest in settling in to read the book. They also weren't looking for a blurb that was thought provoking, just more 'interest-piquing' :).