I have often marveled at how writing a book is easy compared to writing a blurb about
the book. Keep in mind that a novel runs around 70,000 words and the blurb is just
250 or so. :)
The blurb, btw, is the description that is printed on the back of the paper, or hard, back
book, and it is on the book page on Amazon (or wherever you publish).
When people search for a new book online to buy and read, the first thing they
see on the search results page is the title of the book and a tiny image of the cover.
If you're searching via your phone, that image is even smaller.
Since the title and book cover are the first things a potential reader/buyer sees, if they're
not appealing or interesting, the reader won't even click the image to read about the book.
Both must be professional and engaging.
If you get past that, the book description, often call the blurb, is what will ultimately cinch
the deal and the sale.
The blurb is not a summary of the book, per se. It's a sales pitch and must give info about
the book in such a way that the person reading the blurb thinks, "I have to buy this book!"
You can't give anything away, of course. And all must be done in 250 words! Not an easy
task.
No pressure, right!?!
The nice thing about self-publishing though, is that if your book isn't selling, you can easily change the blurb on your book page and try something new. If you're publishing on Amazon, advertising through them can help track if people are clicking to read the blurb. If they're clicking the book's image but not buying, you know that it's time to tweak your blurb.
I think I've talked about kindlepreneur.com before. It's a great resource for authors, with
good articles and tips, as well as very useful tools. Below is a link about writing a good
book blurb/description.
Check it out and have some fun writing your blurbs. They say it gets easier...we'll see. :)