What is a blurb? The blurb is the summary of your book, usually located on the back cover. It offers a glimpse into the world you’ve created. Arguably, it is the most difficult step in self-publishing a novel. You’ve invested months, perhaps years, in writing your story, and now you have to pitch it. That’s what the blurb is–it’s a pitch to potential readers.

The first step to writing a compelling blurb is understanding what the blurb should contain. There are varying opinions on this and it differs slightly from genre to genre, but generally, you want to introduce your main character, the plot, setting, a problem, potential solutions, and the risks and rewards.

The challenge of writing a book blurb is that you don’t have a lot of room to work. A blurb should be around 100 words, give or take, and offer enough to entice the reader without giving away too much of the plot. When you’ve written a complex 90,000 word thriller, this is easier said than done. But, fear not, it can be done.

To break down how to achieve this, I’ll use the blurb from my self-published novel, The Witch Hoax–a 99,000 word arcane thriller. The blurb is only 90 words, but it covers a lot.

Captivated by unfamiliar extravagance, intellectual misfit John Hallman ardently struggles to complete a series of initiation tasks to become a full member of the Avalonti Society–an elite university club founded by a family of eccentric billionaires.

Sparking humor, satire and widespread online commentary, John and his fellow pledges chuckle at the outcome of their final assignment, until a startling news broadcast brings their laughter to a crashing halt. They can’t believe what their social experiment has provoked, and time is running out before it spirals out of their control.

The first paragraph is an introduction to the character and the plot. How much can we learn from these 37 words? Let’s break it down…

Captivated by unfamiliar extravagance, intellectual misfit John Hallman

Here, in the introduction to the main character, we learn that he is not accustomed to luxury. We can rightfully assume that he is underprivileged. The word “captivated” is important to notice here, too. From that one word, we learn much about this character. He isn’t happy about being raised up in a modest household and is seeking to change his life. We also learn that he is intelligent, but doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere. He could be a loner, a rebel, a geek, a nerd–we don’t know precisely what makes him a misfit yet, but we know he isn’t your average Joe. Part of the enticing aspect of the blurb is to leave some ambiguity there.

ardently struggles to complete a series of initiation tasks to become a full member of the Avalonti Society–an elite university club founded by a family of eccentric billionaires.

Here, we learn about what John is striving to become–a member of a prestigious club. Notice the use of the word “ardently”. This shows that he is passionate and determined. We can assume that the “extravagance” he is “captivated” by, is coming from this club that was founded by “eccentric billionaires”. With the use of the word “eccentric”, we know that there’s something alluring and special about this club. Another thing that is critical for a book blurb is setting. Where is the novel taking place? Middle Earth? Jupiter? The bottom of an ocean? Here, with the word “university”, we know that we’re in an academic setting. From this, we can assume that our guy John is a college student.

Let’s break down the second paragraph…

Sparking humor, satire and widespread online commentary, John and his fellow pledges chuckle at the outcome of their final assignment

One important thing to remember about writing your blurb is that you not only want to give a sense of place, but time as well. Is your novel set in the 16th Century? 8000 years in the future? You want to give a concept of when, but you may not want to flatly write something like, “in 20th Century England”. There are ways to incorporate a sense of time in the description of the plot. Here, we achieve this through the words “online commentary”. Since there is no indication that this novel takes place in the distant future, we know that we’re in the 21st century, somewhere close to our current times.

Through “fellow pledges” and “final assignment”, we learn that John isn’t alone on this struggle to become a member of the prestigious university club. We also know that he has completed all previous tasks and is on his way to realizing his dream of social status. But, as in any good novel, conflict is the essence of drama. Let’s move on to the problem…

until a startling news broadcast brings their laughter to a crashing halt. They can’t believe what their social experiment has provoked, and time is running out before it spirals out of their control.

We know that John and his fellow pledges were assigned to do a social experiment and that this experiment is done through the internet, utilizing social media. We also learn that this social experiment has gone horribly wrong. How do we know this? Because what brings their laughter to a “crashing halt” is a “startling news broadcast”. This shows that whatever has happened is big enough to make the news.

The problem has been established. Their social experiment has provoked unintended consequences. We don’t know what yet (that’s part of the enticing aspect) but we know that this problem is threatening John’s chance of becoming the man he has aspired to be. So, he must solve this problem to keep his social status. (Reward.) If he doesn’t solve this problem, it could mean that he is doomed to obscurity. (Risk.)

Note: In many cases, you’ll want to describe what has to be done to solve the problem. What obstacles will have to be navigated to reach that goal? I chose to leave that ambiguous in my blurb, because it would’ve given away too much of the plot, but you’ll want to consider doing this with your blurb.

With “time is running out”, we establish a sense of urgency. Hopefully, by this point, we’ve hooked the reader. Of course, that depends if the reader is a fan of the thriller genre. Not everyone is going to want to read your novel. We’re a diverse species with many different interests. Write to your genre. Write to your audience. Be concise. Be brief. Use strong words. Hook your readers with a pitch that is theatrical and alluring. And don’t ever settle for your first blurb… you can always do better. 🙂 Good luck!