What's a blurb? A blurb is a short promotional piece accompanying a piece of creative work. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear dust-jacket of a book, and are now found on web portals and news websites. [yes, I did copy from Wiki]

Blurb is important because it's what the readers read when they pick up a book. If the blurb does not interest them, it is unlikely for them to read the content. Generally, a blurb contains 150-200 words.

Here are my tips on how to write a decent blurb!

1. There are many types of a blurb, written in different styles. To make one for your story, it's good for you to read others' blurbs first. That way, you will get more familiar with it and be able to write yours. 

2. Once you get familiar, the next step is to know your target audience. Female/male/both? Children/adult/young adult/new adult? Who do you want to hook with your blurb? It is important for you to know this, that way you can craft your blurb in the right format. 

- for the general public, you can use engaging, informal words.

- if your story is intended for professionals (e.g. academic books, etc.), use formal and theme-specific/technical language.

- if your target audience is children and young/new adults, use simple and fun words that they could get into.

3. It is also important for you to know your main characters and their characteristics. That way, when writing blurb you can use that to describe or give hints about these characters. e.g. the notorious playboy Ethan Hawke, the bad nerd Tyler Vincent; the independent, no-nonsense Avery Montgomery. 

4. In order to get 'curious' and want to open the pages, your readers need to know what your story is about. Try to write what's going on in one or two sentences using catchy, interesting words. e.g. The bad nerd Tyler Vincent plans his revenge on his father long before he steps into Carlton High; The independent, no-nonsense Avery Montgomery navigates herself in her journey of finding her other half in this tale of courage, friendship, heartbreak, and love.

5. Combine what you have with an emotive word or two that can give your readers an idea of the story and make them want to know more. Write in the third person, present tense. 

Some tricks?

- hook your readers! The easiest way of trying to do this is by envisioning the first line of your blurb as a pickup line for a date. Avoid something cliché that might put some potential readers off. 

- focus on the important/vital parts of your story! Write something similar to a logline so what you need to do is sum up the most important parts of your story in 1-2 short sentences. It's better to keep your description short to add a bit of mystery into it. This way, whoever picks up your book want to find out more, which of course, they could do so by reading the content. 

 - end it with a bag of a cliffhanger! Make them want to dig more! Ensure that your potential readers and viewers stay interested with an exciting final sentence — something that will have your readers asking, "so what happens?"

- no false advertisement! There is nothing more annoying than thinking you're going to get something and end up with something else so avoid misleading your readers. If it's not a werewolf story, don't give hints as if it is one. 

-  re-read them! Double-check your grammar and spelling. If you have shite grammar and spelling in the blurb, some readers will automatically assume that the story will have bad grammar/spelling too.

That's all from me (for now)! If I have more tips and tricks in the future, I will update it here. Thank you, fam! I wish you all the best with your story blurb and writing journey. If you have questions/doubts/want me to check out your story blurb, please write them in comments! 

loads of pizza, agatha x