Back Cover Blurbs

[Heijan Xavier]

Are there any good guides for what should be in a back cover blurb? I can obviously look at currently published books to get an idea, but are there any industry standards or definite do's and do not's?

Also, would your back cover blurb be pretty similar to what you'd write in a query letter?

 

[sknox]

There's lots of advice, even templates. Do some searching around and see what resonates for you.

That said, I have yet to write a cover blurb I'm happy with. I'm forever tinkering. It's painful.

 

[.matthew.]

I generally hate blurbs. They either tell you too much or not enough.

Try not to surmise your opening though, that's the worst for me

 

[tinkerdan]

I think in another thread they were talking about advertisement and some suggested emotional appeal.

If you understand your back blurb to be your advertisement; perhaps something with emotional appeal.

 

[JJ Maier]

I don't know much about this in a formal sense, but as a reader I can tell you what my personal expectation is.

I expect to determine a few quick things from the back blurb:

Who is the protagonist? Male or female? What is the genre and tone? Is this fantasy, scifi, fiction, some obscure sub-genre? Does the voice/tone already bug me in the blurb? Is there a question to be answered or something to be discovered in this book? Are they alluding to something that I want to know more about? Is there a mystery or something to be resolved? Do I want to know how they did it? I also look for fun elements that may not be the main point but fun, like timetravel or pet Dragons or mining asteroids or something about the world.

A few of my pet-peeves:

I hate it when the whole blurb is just quotes comparing this book to that or what its won. That tells me nothing! I don't care what important people are saying about it- I can find that information elsewhere.

I will put the book right back on the shelf if I feel they told me too much. Did they write a summary and already tell me the ending? I'm not interested in a journey if I already know what the finale is. Unless you convince me the journey itself is worthy of intense scrutiny. Soul searching type stuff.

I also don't like preach-y stuff. Don't tell me this book will change my life or it's a new classic. I'll decide that for myself you just tell me what I'm going to be reading about.