Friday, May 29, 2009

Are you a wordsmith or a blurb expert?

Yes, you say. You know how to work and manipulate words. In other words, you’re a skilled writer. But can you write a short message in a very short space? I can if I try hard enough, but not very good. :-)copywriter

You know, I envy the poets, songwriters, hip-hoppers and rappers. Using just a few stanzas and they can convey their messages so easily. I wish I possessed their talent. Why? One of the biggest hurdles I face is writing blurbs for my stories.

Readers, maybe not all the time, once they have spotted a cool looking cover will pick up the book then turn the book to see the back cover to read the blurb. So we all know how important it is for us writers to come up with a good one. And that’s what I want to learn—how to write a good blurb. 
 

Just tonight, I struggled to find the right words to write a not so blurb-y blurb. I must have tried at least three times to come up with one that perhaps will catch the reader’s attention. At 11:11 PM, I finally gave up and sent the Author Information Form to my editor. She might not like it. We shall see.

 

I am sure there are books on how to write powerful, eye-catching blurbs. I don’t have it. Any recommendations, anybody? If you have tips on how to write blurbs in simple steps, please share it. I’ll take all the help I can get. :-)

 

Tierney

 

5 comments:

Desirée Lee said...

I feel your pain. I love writing the stories. I hate writing the blurbs. Very few blurbs actually come easily to me. If you stumble upon the magic formula, please share! *LOL*

Carpe Noctem,
Des

Desirée Lee
Putting the Romance Back in Necromancy
http://www.desireelee.comdes@desireelee.com

Tierney O'Malley said...

Hey Des,

I will definitely share the secret formula--let's hope kind souls drop by to share their secrets.

BTW, I love your About Me info. Reading it made me want to find the crooked house you called your perfect writing cave.

Sierra Wolfe said...

Sorry, I'm not much help there. I'm no blurb expert myself. I'll be glad to try and help you with one, though. Just IM me anytime.

Carrie said...

Okay, this may be late, so I don't know if you'll see this, but just in case you do, there isn't a simple trick.

Writing in a confined space is hard, so you have to know how to make each word count and be powerful. The best suggestion I can offer you is to take some time to study conciseness exercises. This will help you not only with your blurbs, but with you synopsis writing as well.

Think of blurbs as your way of "selling" your material. In order to close the sale, you have to hit the high points. However, with your books, you have to hit the high points without giving too much away.

Oh, and a few poetry classes wouldn't hurt either. I may not be a great poet, but those classes made me a more powerful writer.

Carrie

Tierney O'Malley said...

Hey Carrie,

Good morning! I am about done polishing my draft. Thank you for your comment, I will try your suggestion this afternoon. Thanks for stopping by. :-)

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