Why do authors find it so hard to ‘sell’ their book with a simple, short description that lets potential readers know the kind of story it is and provides enough excitement, intrigue, love or sheer brilliance that will entice them to read it?

For most of us, distilling 80Ks worth of words (give or take the odd tens of thousands) immediately seems like a truly daunting task. So many complexities, so many subplots. There is just so much! What should we include, what should we leave out?

The moment we start to ask ourselves those questions we have already gone down the wrong path. The what should we put in and leave out approach is an attempt to summarise our story in a very limited space, and summarising is very definitely not what we are trying to do in a blurb!

What exactly is a blurb?

The blurb is there to catch the reader, and it can not be more that a tasty morsel quite bite that will leave the Reader-Fish caught on your hook. Every top chef knows that it is not just the brilliant taste of a three course meal that is important but the presentation as well.

The blurb has to present activities and characters in the book in such a way that it catches readers’ attention. It SHOUTS out some of the events, but never the resolutions. And it must always be fundamentally honest!

The book cover is eye-candy to pull the ‘fish’ closer, and the blurb must be enticing and tasty!

How do you construct a good blurb

I think of the blurb as having its own structure, and the one I generally follow is the sandwich. A sandwich is something which can be eaten quickly on the go, makes your feel better but maybe only holds you until you get to feast on the main meal.

This particular concept has with it the following parts (and yes, I am totally ignoring the usual technical descriptions that experts would use for them!):

• Hook
• Top
• Filling
• Base

Hook

A hook has to have impact, like a hammer, and it should make the brain go ‘what`? It is there to get the attention and entice a reader to go and read the rest of the blurb and find out what on earth the book is about.

This Hook does not get the reader to the book. It gets the reader to take the blurb!

Top

Set the scene! Here is where we set out a general premise or situation. It should actually be relatable. Having sucked a person in with the hook, we now need to assure them that everything is organised and understandable.

Filling

The filling is where we can list out some of the events within the book. A simple rule for this is that you do not have to list every subplot and major event. Pick some highlights and tie them together in a coherent manner. Never explain how things are resolved (avoid spoilers!). Typically, we are just listing issues — interesting and exciting issues —that have to be overcome.

Base

And just what is to be done with all these issues? This last bit needs to ‘promise’ something extraordinary without touching on the details given in the filling section. A battle cry!

It should be energising. Galvanising. A call to action.

The idea of the base is that it opens up the story. I like to think of it as a trap door that the reader starts to fall into. Will the hero survive all of this? Let’s go and see …

Here is an example (from True Angel):

Just remember that the sandwich style blurb will not fit every single situation.

Now go and catch those Reader-Fish!

Copyright (C) Alyson Madden-Brooker