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Writing The Dreaded Book Blurb by Jenny Jensen

September 19, 2019 by Jenny Jensen in category On writing . . . by Jenny Jensen tagged as Blrubs, clickbait, Marketing, writing

A popular post from our archives.

The Dreaded Book Blurb | Jenny Jensen | A Slice of Orange — Cartoons by John Atkinson, www.wronghands1.com

Writing The Dreaded Book Blurb

Every author faces this last crucial challenge. You’ve already spent untold hours researching, writing and editing your book. Your title hits just the right poetic note. You’ve gone several tense rounds to find the perfect cover. All that remains is the book blurb, the opening salvo in the promotional war. This is the first (and sometimes only) chance to grab a reader and compel them to buy the book. And so, like click bait, you need to lure your reader with an honest but irresistible snap shot.

It’s an Art

It’s an art, this writing of a synopsis that isn’t a synopsis, this sell copy that isn’t an ad. And for something that isn’t a science there are strict rules: you have to be honest – no misleading the reader. No spoilers or why bother to read it – which can be tough since the spoiler is often the most exciting part of the story. Keep it at 200 words or less and don’t make it one run-on paragraph. Use the proper keywords for your genre. Reveal something about the antagonist – readers like to know if they can root for the hero. This isn’t the place to relate the entire plot but you have to provide the zeitgeist, the feel of the tale. No easy task.

A lot of the writers I work with find this daunting and ask for help, which I am happy to provide. I think it’s difficult for the writer to step far enough away from their work to pick out the enticing, salient points and present them with the tension and intrigue that make for a successful blurb. To the author, all story points are important. I get that, but as an avid reader I know what works for me in a blurb. It’s not how much is said, but how compellingly it’s said.

An Example

I start with a deconstruction approach. It’s possible to distill any story down to bare bones. In his book Hit Lit – Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century’s Biggest Bestsellers James W. Hall provided the most distilled example I’ve ever seen. This is a beloved tale that we all know intimately: “A young girl wakes in a surreal landscape and murders the first woman she sees. She teams with three strangers and does it again.” It’s short, accurate and intriguing but would it sell the book?

I wouldn’t distill it down that far but it makes a great beginning. What if we knew something about the young girl – an orphan, a princess, a refugee? And what about the surreal landscape – gaping desert, oozing swamp, forbidding mountains? Then the three strangers – female, male, older, menacing, kindly? Is all this murdering spurred by necessity, thrills, defense, the three strangers or is it unintended manslaughter? And finally, what is the young girl up to – revenge, enlightenment, finding a way out of the surreal landscape? Flesh out those points, add some genre keywords, reference any kudos and you could turn those original 24 spartan words into a 160 – 200 word blurb that would peak curiosity and entice the shopper to buy.

If you can step away from the totality of your story and deconstruct the plot to the primary elements, then present those elements in a provocative way you can create an effective selling tool with your book blurb. BTW, that book Hall described? The Wizard of Oz.

Jenny

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NEW RELEASE, NEW PLAN

September 5, 2019 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as Marketing, Marketing for Authors, Planning

Author typing on an old typewriter | Tracy Read | A Slice of Orange

Before I get into my post, I have to apologize for not posting last month. I completely forgot. I took a much-needed break and my mind was elsewhere. I think it must have been the 111 degree temperature I was sitting in. Here’s the funny part, I took my iPad and laptop on holiday with the intention of writing. I figured, with the few days away from everything, I’d write a novella. That never happened. I take that back. I did write a couple of pages, but can’t find them. No biggie. I had started this book a while back, but couldn’t find it. When I returned home, I dug deep into my hard drive and found the original pages. I was able to recall some of what I’d written on holiday and included it in the new book.

Now to this month’s post.

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on my upcoming release, A Southern Gentleman Vol 2. I was going to hire a publicist to help with the release, but changed my mind. I’m not saying I’ll never use a publicist, but right now isn’t the time. I paid a lot of money on a course to teach me to market my books and I need to make sure I’ve given it a fair chance to work. I tried the techniques twice. Once with some success and the second with very little success. I need to make sure I can do this before I can tell someone what I want them to do.

So, what’s my plan. PRAY. Smile. Okay, I need to do a little more. I’ve learned a lot about marketing since I released my first book five years ago. My very first release, consisted of me accidentally pushing the Publish Button and hoping. I didn’t know about Facebook or newsletter ads. I did book a blog tour, which earned me a few reviews, but few sales. I decided to go wide, so I burned or used a lot of ISBNs because I thought you needed one for every platform. I sold quite a few print copies to family and friends. Unfortunately, those are one-time sales, which I’m grateful. However, I need and want fans, avid readers and followers of my stories.

I have a plan. Now I sound like a politician. SMILE.

I am going to take what I learned in the course, plus what I’ve learned from the various Facebook groups, blog posts and authors I’ve met and formulate a strategy. Will it be my road map from here on out? Maybe, maybe not. Every book is different and what works for one book, may not work for another. Now I should a little confused. Let me clarify. I’m building a basic plan which I will tweak with each release as needed.

Here we go. I’ve given myself approximately 30 days in the Pre-Order period. During this time, I’ll send the book out to my ARC Readers and people in my various groups to read and post reviews on release day. Next, Take Overs. I’ve been doing a few of these for other authors with pretty good results. So now it’s my turn. ADS. I’ve made a list of sites and a posting schedule. Not only do I need ads for release day, I need them for afterwards as well. I’m considering doing ads prior to the release day for A Southern Gentleman Vol 1 in order to draw attention the duet with new readers.

Where it gets a little tricky is Facebook. FB ads can be tricky, so I’m going to start testing graphics a couple of weeks prior to release. I know I’m going to do BookBub Ads, I would love to do a feature ad, but I think I waited too late to apply for one. I am going to try for a paid new release ad, but it might be a little late for that one as well.

All of that will be moot if I don’t do one thing…select a cover. I hear you cringing now, but let me explain. I had a cover, then I went into rebranding mode and it didn’t work. I have two covers and have done a soft test. Before I commit to a cover, I need to do a little more testing. So far, the one I like is winning. However, I don’t need the cover to do pre-marketing, although it would help, a lot. Right now, I’m as busy as a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest. [That statement reminds me of one of the characters in A Southern Gentleman Vol 2]. But it’s the truth. There’s quite a bit to do prior to release. Grant it, I could do nothing or the minimum and see what happens, but I want to make this my best release to date.

So here’s the plan:

Book to ARC Readers
Confirm cover
Book Ads
Book Takeover slots
Get reviews
Do tease or coming soon posts to social media week
Push for Pre-Order Sales
Reader Group Release Party
Sell a lot of books

I almost forgot. I have a new release date, October 8th, which means I have a few days before the plan goes into play.

I’ll update you next month.

Happy end of summer. Tracy.

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REBRAND: SURPRISE BOXSETS

July 5, 2019 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as boxsets, Marketing, rebranding, Tracy Reed

Happy July

OMG! I almost forgot I needed to post. I was watching the Hallmark Channel and recouping from Fourth of July eating.

Before I start with this month’s topic, I want to share something with you that will be revealed in the next few days. If you’re in my facebook group, Tracy’s Reeders, then you’ve seen the revised cover for A Southern Gentleman Vol One. I love it and the test results were very favorable. I’m excited to see how it performs.

The new cover is bold, sexy and tells a different story. I was about to upload the cover and decided to change the blurb. The original blurb just didn’t work. This entire rebranding process is sort of like that stray thread you try to pull, but it unravels and causes more anxiety. I’m patient because I know this is all going to work out.

I pushed the release date back a month because I want to hire a publicist to help with the launch. She needs three weeks of prep and I just finished cleaning up the final draft.

So here’s the cover:

SURPRISE BOXSETS

Earlier this year, Skye Warren posted the Romance Author Roadmap on RWA earlier this year. When I finished reading it, I had a plan for the year. In creating the plan, I discovered, I had left a lot of money on the table in the form of boxsets.

I have one boxset, which is compilation of novellas centering around romance at different stages. It never occurred to me to create boxsets within my series. I started doing a little research and found quite a few authors had created boxsets out of some of their series. By that I mean, combining the first two or three books in a series.

When I finished, going through my books, I came up with four boxsets.

Boxsets:

Falling For Her Boss: The Good Girl Part One and Part Two

Loving Her: What MY Friends Need To Know and Love Notes

Real Love : Generational Curse and Intentional Curse

Secret Love: Girlfriends & Secrets and What My Friends Don’t Know

I think this new packaging will appeal to readers not connecting with the original titles. I’m very curious and excited to see how this works. I’m still working on the pricing. I have to be careful not to overcharge and work within the pricing allowed by Amazon.

I’m also not sure if I should release the boxsets all at once or one at a time. I do know initially they will only be in ebook format with print only available on my site, eventually.

Time will tell how these are received.

See you next month.

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June Featured Author: Denise M. Colby

June 29, 2019 by Denise M. Colby in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Christian Historical Fiction, Denise M Colby, Marketing, Social Media, writing

Denise M. Colby loves to write words that encourage, enrich, and engage whether it’s in her blog, social media, magazine articles, or devotions. With over 20+ years’ experience in marketing, she enjoys using her skills to help other authors. She treasures the written word and the messages that can be conveyed when certain words are strung together. An avid journal writer, she usually can be found with a pen and notepad whenever she’s reading God’s word. Denise is writing her first novel, a Christian Historical Romance and can be found at www.denisemcolby.com

She’s a member of RWA, OCC/RWA, Faith, Hope & Love Chapter of RWA, ACFW (where she is a semi-finalist in the Genesis contest Historical Romance Category), OC Chapter of ACFW, and SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference (where she will be teaching two workshops in June – Brand and SEO Marketing for Your Website).

In addition to Denise’s column The Writing Journey on A Slice of Orange, you can read some of her magazine article here.