The Five “S” of Blurb Writing—5 Awesome Tips

In simple terms, a blurb is the short yet descriptive account of the book that goes on the back cover. The blurb should include any information that represents the book best and intrigues the readers. For instance, in an academic book, the highlights of a study’s findings would appeal to new researchers. An extract that reveals an interesting detail of the story and leaves the readers wanting for more would work best for a thriller.
Often, a big name does the work of a good blurb. Just like in advertising, where a celebrity endorsing a product increases the sales of the product, a famous name on the cover makes a book popular. Imagine if you had Malcolm Gladwell’s quote on your book’s cover saying, “I haven’t read something like this before!”—the book will find enough readers in Gladwell’s fans.
However, if the celebrity’s endorsement is too ambiguous or does not really talk about the book, then it will not help in promoting your book. An example would be the vague endorsement by Nelson DeMille for the famed The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown: “Dan Brown has to be one of the best, smartest, and most accomplished writers in the country. The Da Vinci Code is many notches above the intelligent thriller; this is pure genius.” .

Here are the five “S” to remember when writing a blurb:

A book travels the world. You never know which reader, in which part of the world, will lay their hands on your book. Keeping in mind the vast readership that your book will target, it is always best to keep your blurb as simple as possible. Long and convoluted sentences, jargon, specialized terminology—all make the blurb appear complicated and limit the readership. Unless you want your book to address a niche audience, the blurb should be written in layman language.

Most people don’t have the patience, or the time, to read a page-long description of a book. A short, crisp blurb that says a lot in a few words should be sufficient to pique the interest of a reader. Coming back to McDonald’s, “I’m loving it!” is a short yet catchy tagline that people all over the world remember—and it’s just three words. Additionally, most bookselling websites have a word limit and your entire blurb might not be visible to the readers, unless they click on “read more.”

Look at as many blurb samples as you can. Visit a bookstore, browse through blurbs for all genres. You might find something that fits your book’s requirements. If not a bookstore, then any bookselling or book review website should give you access to a pool of blurbs. This should help you discover what will work best for your book, and give you an idea about what authors are writing and what readers look for in a blurb.

Does your blurb tell a story? Will it make the readers want to know more? A good story can begin from a blurb. Particularly in fiction titles, there is often a “twist” that makes the book sound interesting, and the blurb is the perfect space to drop hints about the twist. Even in the case of non-fiction titles, a good story connects with the readers instantly. For example, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders has all the elements of a good story with a twist. The author picks up from the death of President Abraham Lincoln’s eleven-year-old son, Willie, from typhoid fever during the Civil War, and builds a story of the corpses in Georgetown’s Oak Hill Cemetery, where Willie is laid to rest.

This blurb not only played with the readers’ minds, but also included the main selling point of the book—the love story of a vampire—and it did sell!
The blurb is not just the text printed on a book’s back cover; it is the content that spreads all over the world through various websites, social media, print media, and even word of mouth. A lot of thought and research goes into writing a good blurb. When considering the amount of time and energy that will go into writing a book, do also include some time for writing a blurb—every good book deserves a good blurb. Once your blurb is ready, it becomes one of the most powerful weapons that defines the course of your book. Every single word on the cover has the power to create a lasting impression on the reader, just as this beautiful blurb for Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey does:

This blurb not only played with the readers’ minds, but also included the main selling point of the book—the love story of a vampire—and it did sell!
The blurb is not just the text printed on a book’s back cover; it is the content that spreads all over the world through various websites, social media, print media, and even word of mouth. A lot of thought and research goes into writing a good blurb. When considering the amount of time and energy that will go into writing a book, do also include some time for writing a blurb—every good book deserves a good blurb. Once your blurb is ready, it becomes one of the most powerful weapons that defines the course of your book. Every single word on the cover has the power to create a lasting impression on the reader, just as this beautiful blurb for Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey does: