The blurb

According to Colin, the copywriter working on Lachlan's War, all blurbs need to have the following:

1) A hook - something to draw the reader into the story (I think all books need a hook, as well).

2) A powerful or atmospheric opening statement, as people browsing in bookshops often hold a title in their hands for a mere handful of seconds and if you fail to grab their attention in those seconds, you've lost them.

3) Emotion. To engage with any kind of writing - ie get a connection between author and reader – there must be an emotive response - whether it be suspense, tension, sadness, love, lust, joy, laughter, hate, fear etc.

4) A pay off or intrigue - a promise. This basically means leaving our prospective book buyer wanting to know more. It's a contract, if you like, between blurb and reader (though I don't think anyone ever successfully sued a blurb writer or author for defaulting).

Colin the copywriter says that he fails in his job when a prospective customer decides to put a book that he has blurbed down in a shop. After the book has been picked up - for whatever reason, be it attractive cover, heard of the author, liked the author's previous book, recommendation - the job of the blurb and the quotes (which are on the back and out of sight until it is picked up) is to keep the book in hand until it is bought.

So for Lachlan's War, here is our copywriter's first rough draft:

1941, Russaig, a tumbledown village on Scotland’s west coast, and Dr Lachlan McCready is called to an isolated farmhouse. There, he finds a small evacuee boy named Frank, who will neither talk nor eat. Taking the boy into his home, Lachlan gives Frank the care and attention he needs to emerge from the past that has cast a shadow over his young life. But there are others who war has forced on the small community – three land girls – and their integration into the village causes ruction and division. For Lachlan and the villagers, the newcomers can’t help but reveal some unwelcome truths …

VB

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Comments

[Papyrus]

Just for the record I love browsing among the "new books" section of our bookstore but I never by a book the first time I pick it up. If it's worth reading, it'll make me go back for it.

[James]

Surely:

But there are others whom war has forced upon the small community...

Rather than:

But there are others who war has forced on the small community...

Also, lovely as the blurb is, personally I find the opening sentence more chewy than arresting. Russaig, Lachlan McCready - if you're not Scottish/British those words might be a bit difficult to absorb.

(Hoping I'm right about that whom thing - I checked with my wife first. Upon is probably optional.)

[John Gooley]

As HG Wells said, "No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft".

"1941. The west coast of Scotland. An isolated farmhouse. Dr Lachlan McCready discovers Frank, a young evacuee. Frank has been traumatised. He won't talk or eat. Lachlan takes Frank into his own home. That's when the murders begin..."

Sorry about that. I'll shut up now.

[Craig]

Lovely post. I'm going to use Colin's ideas as the basis for an English lesson this week. Thanks.

[Anil]

Three things to do with blurbs.

If a reader is only going to rely on words the blurb-writer writes rather than that of the author then there is something wrong somewhere. Because the blurb-writer may not give a glimpse of the content in the author's style, thus hiding the author's voice. I would imagine it might make more sense for the prospective buyer to catch 'active' prose in the book rather than rely solely on a blurb.

Moreover, why bother so much with a reader who has only a few seconds to spare on a book to the extent that a blurb turns out into a desperate lunge for the reader's throat?

Having read umpteen blurbs I find most of them similar in style and sequence. There is nothing in them that can give the reader the pulse of the book in the author's writing style.

Sadly, the format and approach of a blurb follows the same formula.

[helen]

Why do blurbs ALWAYS end with "..."? It's SO cheesy, and lazy too. Do the blurb-writers think that otherwise we won't realise there's more to this 300-page book than what they've managed to fit in that one paragraph?

[Catherine Duffy]

I always found the creation of a blurb interesting - is it possible to become a blurb writer or does one become a blurb writer by accident?