Research
I’ll reference the article on The Alliance of Independent Authors website. Still gaining insight there. I’m also a member, so I want to give them credit. Super good information here: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/book-blurbs/
I also highly recommend joining.
So I’m going to quote a few lines here from the article that totally made sense to me:
Orna Ross: “… let’s talk a little bit about power words because the blurb isn’t long. And you know, it’s kind of like poetry in the sense that every word has to earn its place.”
Boni Wagner-Stafford: “But for nonfiction, it’s all about establishing credibility, letting the reader know what they’re going to be able to do, say, think, or feel after having read the book. And so there’s, you know, you want to make sure that you’re painting a picture of the result that they’re going to enjoy once they have read the book. And you don’t want to give so much away. I think this part is similar between the two genres, you don’t want to give so much away that they don’t need to buy the book. But it’s quite a different approach from that respect.
Orna: “ … it’s much more about generating an emotion.”
This is no time to do a summary of the book, fiction or nonfiction. That is a synopsis—not a blurb. This is almost the scary elevator pitch—hook ’em!
Nonfiction Blurb
Boni: “Structure of nonfiction:
1) Identify the problem
2) Big picture solution
3) Bullet points of the elements of the solution
4) Then paint the big picture of what life looks like after the reader has implemented everything.”
Fiction Blurb
Adam Croft: Structure of fiction: “Blurb is about selling the book. Selling that emotion.”
Orna gives a suggestion of finding her author comps, where she finds their blurbs and uses those to create a list of words that might connect with her work. Good idea.
Keywords from Movies
So in the last post on blurbs, I gave examples of book blurbs from my own library.
This blog post, I want to explore blurbs and keywords from movies that I would term inspirational or true-life inspirational. Movies like: Hidalgo, Spirit, War Horse, and more. I’ll list them and try to state the genre and include some keywords used to sell the viewer. I have a feeling that this exercise will help me identify who my reader is, also.
Hildalgo: Genre – Action & Adventure. Words: true story, greatest long-distance horse race ever run, epic, one man’s journey, personal redemption, a matter of pride and honor, race for his very survival, attempt the impossible.
Spirit: Genre – Kids & Family. Words: majestic, regain his freedom, save his homeland, outwits, finds love, will touch your heart, bring you to the edge of your seat.
War Horse: Genre – Drama. Words: epic adventure, incredible loyalty, hope and tenacity, deeply heartfelt story, remarkable friendship, extraordinary journey, inspires the lives, most powerful, moving stories of friendship.
A Beautiful Mind: Genre – Drama. Words: powerful story of courage, passion and triumph.
Ford vs. Ferrari: Genre – Drama/Action. Words: true story, visionary, fearless, revolutionary race car, take on.
Dreamer: Genre – Drama. Words: make a comeback, together, road to recovery.
Lots of horse movies.
Here’s a different one …
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Genre – Drama. Words: epic, joys and heartaches, love of his life, one-of-a-kind meditation, precious value of love.
We Bought a Zoo: Genre – Kids & Family. Words: delightful, heartfelt, misadventures along the way, fresh beginning, restore, uniting his family, wonderful, warm, and witty celebration of the human spirit.
One more.
A Walk to Remember: Genre – Romance. Words: coming-of-age story, unexpected journey he’ll never forget.
Okay, found more.
I Still Believe: Genre – Drama. Words: uplifting true-life story, inspiring tale, search, dreams, love of his life, put to the test, tragedy strikes, incredible story, heights of love, depths of loss, healing power of the human spirit.
I Can Only Imagine: Genre – Drama. Words: life’s challenging moments, childhood sweetheart, guidance, begins a journey, power of forgiveness, no one is ever too far from God’s love.
Forever My Girl: Genre – Romance. Words: hearts entwine, sun-kissed romance, achingly appealing, soulmates with a past, uplifting story of second chances, told with gentle wisdom.
First of all, I’m learning that I need to publish under Christian whatever: whether Christian romance, Christian drama, or Christian suspense. I have avoided that category only because I didn’t want to limit my readers. I need to include it with every book. Unless, I start writing occult without a Christian theme! Which … I don’t do!
Movie Keywords Consolidated
Words for my blurb consolidated from the movie descriptions: (Starred are ones that fit my book.)
Closed doors
Nowhere to turn
Life is closed off
No one left but him
*Painful realization of the power of loss
*One man’s journey
*Personal redemption
A matter of pride and honor
Regain his freedom
Epic adventure
Moving stories of friendship
Love of his life
*Precious value of love
Heartfelt
*New beginning
Put to the test
*Depths of loss – or depths of pain
*Healing power of the human spirit
Use What I've Learned
So combine some: Rescued is “one man’s journey from the depths of loss through the healing power of the human spirit to his own personal redemption.”
Too wordy?
And that might work better for book 1, Released, since book 2 has another main character, Noell.
Since my first book sells, I am concentrating on books two and three.
So, book two, old Rescued back cover blurb:
“A pool—sink-hole, really—in small town Nebraska.
It’s either a blessing or a curse, depending on the heart of the person who explores it.
Ex-con Clarence and germaphobe Noell, are both being drawn to the pool. Clarence finds a yellowed newspaper article about it, stuck in his old law textbook. Noell stumbles across journals in her vintage camper, documenting pool drownings back in 1937.
Both dive in—or rather, Clarence falls in.
Neither bargain for what they find.”
I felt the old blurb was missing the magic of the book. Noell has gifts that are creepy cool but also powerful. For example, when she grabs a door handle to a very public place, like the Rural Public Power office, if she doesn’t protect herself, the molecules and cells deposited there from people who had touched that handle before her, absorb into her own skin. She sees and hears what that person has seen and done—good and bad. Especially Mr. Grimes!
So here is the new blurb. Let me know if it’s better.
“A pool—sink-hole, really—in small town Nebraska.
It’s either a blessing or a curse, depending on the heart of the person who explores it.
Ex-con Clarence and germaphobe Noell, are both drawn to that pool. Clarence finds a yellowed newspaper article about it, stuck in his old law textbook.
Noell stumbles across journals in her vintage camper, documenting drownings in that pool, back in 1937. Why would she want to explore a creepy pool, when everything she touches opens visions of people who had been there before her? And is that a gift or a curse?
Both dive in—or rather, Clarence falls in.
Neither bargain for what they find.
Rescued is the second book in The Great Escapee Series.
Buy Rescued to continue Clarence’s story!”
To put this blurb through the tests of my last post:
- Introduce your main character. Check. Well, two—Clarence and Noell.
- Set the stage for your primary conflict. Check—the pool and its mysteries.
- Establish the stakes. Check—Noell is taking a chance because of her gifts and Clarence is taking a chance, because, well, he’s old!
- Show the reader why this book is for them. Fail.
Bullet points from http://www.invisibleinkediting.com/blog/writing-tips-book-blurb/
- Hook. Kinda. Check.
- Focus on the main characters. Check.
- Don’t summarize. Check.
- Cultivate mystic. Check.
- Embrace the drama. I think I did. Check.
- Keep it short. Check.
- Consider your blurb in a marketing context. I don’t know!! This ain’t easy!
New try with adding in some of the above keywords from the movies:
“A pool—sink-hole, really—in small town Nebraska.
It’s either a blessing or a curse, depending on the heart of the person who explores it.
Ex-con Clarence and germaphobe Noell, are both drawn to the pool. Clarence finds a yellowed newspaper article about it, stuck in his old law textbook.
Noell stumbles across journals in her vintage camper, documenting drownings in that pool, back in 1937. Why would she want to explore a creepy pool, when everything she touches opens visions of people who had been there before her? And is that a gift or a curse?
Both dive in—or rather, Clarence falls in.
Neither bargain for what they find.
Rescued is the second book in The Great Escapee Series. A story of people who survive from the depths of loss, through the healing power of the human spirit, to their own personal redemption.”
Buy Rescued to continue Clarence’s story!”
The possible reader would understand the genre—inspirational fiction, mystical realism, Christian fiction, hero’s journey, Christian redemption. Christian drama. Still exploring where it actually needs to go. Maybe I should have decided that before I wrote the books!
Still maybe needs work.
Moving on to the third and last book, Restored, in The Great Escapee Series.
