Karen S. Wiesner: Blurbs Series, Part 6: Series Branding

 Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner 

Based on Writing Blurbs that Sizzle--And Sell! by Karen S. Wiesner 

Blurbs Series, Part 6:

Series Branding

This is the last of six posts focusing on writing effective blurbs for your books. 

In the previous part, we talked about blurb sizing and branding. Let's continue.    

Series Branding 

Rule 1: Associate the Series With Each Title 

To me, this one is so out-and-out obvious, I feel a bit foolish even mentioning it. If your readers don’t know that your book is part of a series, what’s going to prompt them to look for the next one and the next one and the next one after that? It should be so blatant, yet this is the number one series rule I see broken most frequently, and it’s such a missed opportunity. Look at the website of any book distributor, and you’ll often have a hard time finding out if a book is even part of a series. A few publishers are diligent about this, but most don’t bother. 

Make sure the title of the book is always, always, always associated with the series. In other words, never allow yourself or your publisher (if you can help it) to include just the title of your book. For instance, I never refer to my book Shards of Ashley simply by its title. Always, I refer to it as Shards of Ashley, Book 5 of the Family Heirlooms Series. Notice several things about this: I include the title of the book, the book number in the series, and the series title. In this way, new readers and long-time fans immediately recognize the information they need to know.

A new trend in the industry that needs to be addressed here is that many distributor websites are becoming sticklers about how your cover and title page have to match in terms of how the title, series and book number are listed. I've had books rejected for distribution because the cover creatively has the title in one place, the series in another, and just the number in some kind of artistic "seal" elsewhere. Because the title page has the book listed as, say, Shards of Ashley, Book 5 of the Family Heirlooms Series, the book is rejected as "not matching". This is beyond ridiculous, in my opinion, since they're clearly the same, though automated systems may be too dumb to realize it and you'll have to ask that a human at the place of distribution look into it. When this inquiry has been undertaken in my case, approval is always forthcoming. But authors and publishers need to be aware this is a growing trend and adjust accordingly. 

Additionally, my publisher for Writing Blurbs That Sizzle--And Sell! (and my fiction), Writers Exchange, always lists the series name first, followed by the title and the book number in the series, as in: Family Heirlooms Series, Book 5: Shards of Ashley. Her very sound logic is that, with the series name first, all the books tend to be listed together (and almost always in the correct order) on websites that list only based on the title in alphabetical order. If you have the title of the book first, the other books in that series can end up on totally different pages, which isn't ideal.

For those readers who try to follow a series, it’s extremely helpful to include the book number in the series whenever you talk about a particular title. On the listservs I patrol, I’ve heard a huge number of series readers say they won’t skip around in a series—they start at the beginning and read chronologically. Very few readers will skip around. Having the book number associated with the title (and even on the spine and/or front and back cover, as we’ll talk about soon) ensures that readers know exactly where this book falls in the series. Make a point of being consistent in the use of the title of each book and trilogy/series name by ensure that the whole title of the book is always associated with the series.

Even in the process of working with your editor, continue stressing this point to enforce to her that you see all the stories as part of the series—one book can’t be separated from the other because they belong together. Self-publisher authors need to do that themselves. 

While publishers and self-published authors utilize distributors for getting the books out to the customers, the people in control of publishing provide all the information necessary for distributors to sell the books. Hence, those people doing the publishing tend to not provide series information at all, or only incompletely, along with the basic book information. Talk to your editor/publisher about associating the series name and book number for every single title. Self-published authors, make sure you're doing this. Make sure this information makes it to distributors consistently.

 If your publisher isn’t diligent in this regard, you can change your information at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and other online distributors. While you’re logged in to these sites, the page for your book may have a section labeled with something like "Update This Information". Sometimes publishers won’t allow anyone to change the book information, but if you find that you can change it yourself, do so! 

Take my advice: If your publisher won’t follow through on this particular branding, rigorously follow the advice yourself. For every scrap of promotion you do for the series, make sure you include the complete series information for every title. Absolutely do this for your website. You might even consider putting a list of series on your website with the title in each series and the book number—and maybe even making this list printable. That way, your most avid followers can get the information they need without too much hassle. Remember, you can lose sales by making basic information hard to come by. 

Rule 2: Utilize Series Blurbs 

It’s necessary to utilize series blurbs as much as possible to create brand awareness for it. Don’t underestimate the appeal of the series blurb. New and longtime series readers alike want to know how the current book connects with others in that series. If the series blurb is effective, those sentences will accurately reflect the premise of every book in the series in a concise, intriguing summary. Series blurbs can sell books just as surely as story blurbs can. An author would never consider skipping a story blurb—a publisher wouldn’t either. While some publishers write and use their own series blurbs, the series blurb is often underrated and underutilized—to our detriment. 

This is the second most common series branding rule I see broken. In this case, it’s not just the publishers who neglect to utilize the series blurb. Recently, I wanted to find out more information about a certain bestselling author’s series. The series had been around for a while, and several books were already available. I went to the publisher’s website, the author’s website, and even distributor websites trying desperately to find out what the series was about. The story blurbs were fine, but they didn’t tell me enough about the connections between the individual books to really appeal to me. (Not to mention that none of the books had numbers, so I had no idea about the order of the series, so finding out where to begin would have been a headache.) When I buy a series, I look first at the series blurb, since that tells me what I’m getting into. If that entices me, I’ll read individual story blurbs (in order). If I like those, I’ll make a purchase. In this case, the information I needed was nowhere to be found. I got tired of chasing after it, and this author (my apologies if none of this was her fault) lost the sale of all of these particular series’ titles.   

I do feel bad about that, because I know authors who aren't self-published have little if any control over aspects of publication when working with mass-market (and sometimes even small press) publishers. But that particular author did have control of her own website, and she failed to give me the information I needed to make a purchase enticing, or even inevitable. 

Utilizing your series blurb is critical to branding. It is part of what convinces a consumer to begin your series. If she likes what she reads, she may buy every single book in the series. But if she doesn’t know what she’s getting into, she may never bother. If enough consumers have this attitude because the publisher and/or author make it a hassle to obtain vital information, your series will fail to gain readers. A series isn’t like a single-title book. If you lose readers from the beginning or anywhere in the middle, you’ve lost them for its entirety. Some series authors never recover from this. 

Bottom line, the only reason for shortening a blurb that's already effectively good is because we're forced to because of publishing and marketing considerations and limitations, and blurbs are an important part of the branding package of author, books and series.  

In this series of articles, we went over the most basic considerations in crafting blurbs that not only sizzle but can sell your books. 

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of Writing Blurbs That Sizzle--And Sell!

Volume 7 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection 

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html 

Happy writing! 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Karen S. Wiesner: Blurbs Series, Part 5: Branding and Blurbs

 Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner 

Based on Writing Blurbs that Sizzle--And Sell! by Karen S. Wiesner 

Blurbs Series, Part 5:

Branding and Blurbs 

This is the fifth of six posts focusing on writing effective blurbs for your books. 

In the previous installment, we talked when to write your blurbs. Let's continue. 

Like it or not, authors do have to think about blurb sizing--in relation to promotional considerations--and branding, two things that go hand-in-hand. These days, writers are the masters of their own domains. Whether they're self-publishing or working with a publisher, they tend to wear all the hats (writer, publisher, editor, artist and marketer) and so they need to know how to promote their own brand. Preparing punchy, intriguing blurbs for our books and series that are the appropriate sizes for marketing applications is crucial. The idea of branding is to make something utterly memorable. Our author status and our books are what we're trying to brand and blurbs are almost always what we use to hook readers.

Blurb Sizing

Let's start this by stating the axiom of all blurb writing: Ultimately, it doesn't matter a whit if a blurb is long or short or somewhere in-between. We have a misconception these days that being short by definition makes a blurb good and effective while a long blurb is by default in opposition of that, but both flavor-of the-day trends are illusions that you can't afford to rest on. An effectively good blurb means it's both well-written and makes a person want to read the story inside the pages, not just the back--want to enough to actually pay money to do it. Promotional considerations are the major and the main reason for having short blurbs. 

You have to have various sizes of blurbs because there are so many restrictions on blurb length these days. Being forced to have a blurb no longer than 150, 100 or a groan-out-loud 75 words can be incredibly limiting. There's no doubt about the fact that how you present your blurbs when you're forced into a word count limitation necessitates extreme creativity (and a few tears). As for the how to go about whittling your blurbs to the required desired promotional lengths , I strongly think it's always best to work directly from the original, full-length blurb instead of starting from scratch in any areas. Full-length blurbs are usually the strongest version of a blurb since it has everything it needs to be intriguing and compelling for readers, luring them into wanting to read then entire book. 

Promotion of your books, whether a single title or a series, offers meager space for blurbs--and, in this case, that may be wise. Promotional ads are "sound bites" of information, so the shorter and catchier, the better. However, I don't believe a blurb that includes only high-concept blurb will ever be effective in making the reader jump right to buying the book. With that kind of thinking, authors have skipped an absolutely vital step. This is very definitely a progression. The reason for a high-concept blurb is to lure the readers in with a punch of intrigue so they'll want to read the rest of the blurb (which will hopefully make them want to read the book). So the high-concept blurb tempts the reader to read the back cover blurb and the back cover blurb incites the reader to make the commitment to read the story. When I see a book promotion that has a high-concept blurb that really speaks to me, makes me want to know more, I'll go looking for the back cover blurb. I rarely skip right to buying the book because I need to know more in order to make the commitment to buy. Think of it as an equation (the arrow stands for "leads to"): 

High-concept blurb PUNCH --> Back cover blurb to find out more information --> Commitment to buy and read the book 

Authors need to be aware of this progression to be effective in distributing and marketing their books. 

Branding 

While an author may have little or no control over the process of the publication of her book or series, she can still influence the outcome and specific areas of consideration in order to do this. The place to start is with branding--and this is something that applies to the books, series, as well as to the author of them. In her article “The Basics of Author Branding" author Theresa Meyers (do an internet search for the article title and author) talks about building an image or perception that’s used to create a loyal readership through branding. Essentially, branding is name recognition, creating a distinction for what you’re offering. I’d go so far as to say that every author should have an “author branding statement” that she uses in every piece of promotion she undertakes. For instance, my branding statement (another catchy blurb!) is “Creating realistic, unforgettable characters one story at a time…” In this statement is a concise summary of what I’m most known for with my fiction: realistic, hauntingly memorable characters. This one simple sentence captures every story I’ve ever written and everything I will ever write. 

Branding is very much an implied promise to consumers that you’ll continue offering something similar and you’ll do so consistently. While it takes quite a bit of time and effort to build brand recognition (Theresa mentions ten or more impressions in her article, but I’ve heard it’s closer to fourteen these days since the market is so saturated, consumers are harder to entice, and the state of the economy plays such a huge factor in purchasing habits), it’s essential that branding is put in place as soon as possible. Create a distinction for your book(s), your author voice, what you want to be known for (go-to author for {fill in the blank}), and what you're willing to provide consistently as an author, and then market it ever afterward. According to Kimberly Grabas in her How to Build Your Author Brand From Scratch (and Why You Need to) article, "a powerful author brand is designed--not stumbled upon by accident." The author is almost always his own designer. Decide what you authentically want to be about, what your books stand for, and continue to evolve the story of your brand. 

A series is one of the best places to brand. You want to begin branding your series as soon as you have the first book in the set blurbed. While patrolling listservs for series readers, I overheard comments such as: 

“I always check any information on the author or books on their websites, especially if I need to know the order of the series. I don’t want to start in the middle and miss any inside jokes or cool continuities.” 

“Author websites are the first thing I check if I’m interested in a new series.” 

“I think it would pay for authors and publishers to make it easy to know if a book is part of a series and where each title fits in that series, since each story prepares you for the coming books.” 

These comments don't necessarily have to be applied only to series titles but all books written by authors. (Re-read the comments with that in mind). Put in these ways, it’s logical for publishers and authors to make it as easy as possible to find out about or purchase all author titles including those that fit into a particular series. But sometimes it does seem like they’re doing the opposite.  

Unfortunately, authors who aren't self-published don’t always have a lot of influence over many aspects of branding, but even if your publisher ultimately doesn’t back your series with an aggressive marketing track, nothing is stopping you from discussing upcoming issues in your series with your editor or publisher to get branding running hot and fast, and trying to set a good example by offering as much as you can to your fans on your own website or blog. In the sections below, I’ll include methods that authors who are both self-published or working with a publisher can employ to promote branding (even if the publishers don’t cooperate). Associations and utilization of all types of blurbs are crucial for your author, book, and series branding. It is usually with a series that branding is so essential and so we're going to address that now, but keep in mind that many of these principles apply to single-title author branding as well. 

In the next part, we'll talk about series branding. 

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of Writing Blurbs That Sizzle--And Sell!

Volume 7 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection 

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html 

Happy writing! 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Karen S. Wiesner: Blurbs Series, Part 4: When to Write Your Blurbs

 Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner 

Based on Writing Blurbs that Sizzle--And Sell! by Karen S. Wiesner 

Blurbs Series, Part 4:

When to Write Your Blurbs

This is the fourth of six posts focusing on writing effective blurbs for your books.

In the previous installment, we talked about how long blurbs should be and other basics about crafting blurbs. Let's continue. 

When to Write Your Blurbs 

No two authors are the same, and each one has preferences about when to write their blurbs. While I was working on my writing reference Three-Dimensional Fiction Writing (formerly titled Bring Your Fiction to Life: Crafting Three-Dimensional Stories with Depth and Complexity), one of my critique partners was blown away at the prospect of crafting the back cover blurb before a single word of the book had been written. It was inconceivable that this could even be possible, and it seemed backwards to her—writing the story was a prerequisite, in her opinion, since she could only be clear about what needed to go on the back cover after she wrote (and figured out) the story. 

After her comments, I can actually see that this makes a lot of sense for most unpublished or newly published authors. However, I'm on the opposite end of this. From my point of view, I can't imagine not starting a project with a blurb. Literally, it's the first thing I do once I have the original idea for a story (and/or series) and I’ve decided on a title. It's really what helps me solidify a story with characters and conflicts that haunt my mind. 

I usually write my blurbs years in advance of doing any other kind of writing on a book or series. The blurb finalizes the gist of the story and/or series clearly. Once the blurb is written, I can send it to my fiction publisher, knowing I have a solid story/series concept and I can, without question, write a full story based on it. She accepts the project based on this because she's learned from experience that, based on this blurb, I'll craft a thrilling story/series for her to publish…possibly years down the road from the time she first sees the proposal. Though I sometimes have to tweak the blurb(s) once the book or series are finished, my ideas for the story/series only become clear to me after I've written the (albeit long) blurbs, but I will say that it's a rare thing that any blurb is rewritten extensively after the book or series is finished. I believe it almost goes without saying that my long blurb is money in the bank when written in advance of any other writing on the project, given how it catapults the final story/series development and captures the essence of what will later become hundreds of pages when I begin writing that book or series. 

As I said, my initial back cover blurbs do tend to be fairly long, and I strongly prefer to start with the long version so the core of my story is encapsulated in these paragraphs. After the book is written, I'll whittle the long-form blurb (which can be around 450 words in length) down to something shorter that pops. I like to have a 150-word, 100-word, and 75-word blurb versions for each story so, whatever size is needed for various applications, I have something available. Those three sizes do seem to be what's expected for marketing and distribution purposes. I'm a firm believer that longer blurbs can be more effective than short ones, though my original 450-word ones are usually too long to be final back cover blurbs. (I will also note here that I strongly think it's always best to work directly from the original, full-length blurb when whittling instead of starting from scratch in any areas. Full-length blurbs are usually the strongest version of a blurb since it has everything it needs to be intriguing and compelling for readers, luring them into wanting to read the entire book.) 

So what's the best time to write a back cover blurb? As a general rule, professional published writers who are allowed to submit story/series proposals that can be accepted by their publishers long in advance of writing the book(s) should learn how to write a blurb before beginning any serious work on a project. For newer writers, the easiest way might be to wait until the story is written before attempting any kind of formal blurb, but give it a try beforehand at least once to see where it takes you. Even if you write 2000 words or even more, your story ideas will be much clearer and you can use that to write a more concise, less kitchen-sink blurb. 

Bottom line, when you write yours is completely up to you and your particular situation. That said, learning to do it early will immensely benefit you, your story (and series, if you're writing one), as well as your submission/promotion efforts. 

The axiom of writing blurbs that we mentioned earlier applies here: If your blurb doesn’t illicit intrigue or the desire to read the books or the series, it’s not effectively good. When I begin writing a new blurb (series or single title), I can’t imagine a more exciting time for me. Writing your own blurbs should bring forth so much excitement about writing the story/series you’ll barely be able to resist jumping into each one immediately. That's another reason for writing them early. 

While size shouldn't be a factor in writing effectively good blurbs, unfortunately it is these days. There are maximums so strongly encouraged they've become the norm. However, armed with the knowledge of what we're ideally shooting for in terms of length as well as the appropriate application (distribution or marketing--two completely different things), we can approach blurb sizing with true discernment. When to write blurbs depends on the author but writing them as soon as possible will benefit you, your story/series in crazy-good ways. There's no doubt that learning to write effectively good blurbs is critical to your success as an author. Remember, be sizzling in your blurbs if you want your books to sell! 

In Part 5, we'll talk about branding and blurbs. 

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of Writing Blurbs That Sizzle--And Sell!

Volume 7 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection 

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html 

Happy writing! 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Karen S. Wiesner: Blurbs Series, Part 3: Crafting Blurb Basics

Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner 

Based on Writing Blurbs that Sizzle--And Sell! by Karen S. Wiesner 

Blurbs Series, Part 3:

Crafting Blurb Basics 

This is the third of six posts focusing on writing effective blurbs for your books. 

In Part 3, we talked about writing series blurbs. Let's continue. 

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single author in possession of a good book must be in want of a blurb. But writing blurbs is hard and it's something a lot of authors put off until the last possible minute. Two of the most basic blurb questions that might be circling right now are: How long should a blurb be? What's the best time to write a blurb? 

First, we should establish that writing blurbs requires an entirely different mindset than writing stories. That might be a good reason for not writing one as soon as you've finished writing the book. Give yourself time away, just enough so you've still got the story firmly in mind, but you've gained sufficient distance to allow yourself to go at blurbing like a fitness coach to make it lean and mean. 

Second, yeah, I'm going there: Facts are facts, and the fact is some authors are just not good at writing blurbs…for whatever reason. Too many think that just because a blurb is generally short, it's inconsequential, as evidenced by this quote from Ben Cameron in his 10 Top Tips on How to Write the Best Book Blurb article: "You've just put your feet up when you get a reminder from the designer that they still need text for the back cover. Another small decision at the end of a long line of decisions, you knock something together in a few minutes and send it off. You may have just doomed your 75,000-word masterpiece…" Did he learn to regret his former blasé attitude about blurbs? Probably. 

Others are simply too deeply involved with their own work--therefore, everything is important and must be mentioned. Those authors need to look at the story from a reader's perspective and have a disciplined method for getting down to the heart of the story. Some authors can learn to be better or even good at blurb writing with a solid process and practice behind them.    

Finally, there are authors who are given literally no say in what makes it on or into their back cover blurbs. The publishing house does that work, and sometimes that's a relief and actually carries rewards. Other times, especially when blurbs are misleading or just downright wrong, that may lead to a lot of embarrassment or even loss of sales. The best case scenario would be for the one who knows the book best (the author) to write the first draft of his own blurb then send it over to a professional blurbologist (that's a real thing!) to revise into something sizzling, and lastly, the blurb goes to a marketing expert to finish it off with whatever a blurb needs promotion-wise. But, let's face it, that situation doesn’t happen too often these days. Learning how to do it yourself is probably the way to go for the vast majority. 

There are techniques (discussed in-depth in my book and workshops titled Writing Blurbs That Sizzle--And Sell! as well as touched on in my many articles on the topic of blurbs) that can help and may even infuse you with the same enthusiasm I have for writing blurbs. I am wildly, wonderfully in love with writing, revising and evaluating book blurbs--for my own books and for the books of other authors, regardless of the genre. Even the most shockingly underwhelming blurbs I've been asked to write or revise have thrilled me with their challenge. For most authors, that's inconceivable. 

Let's go over the two most basic questions authors have when it comes to writing blurbs: How long they can and should be and when to write them. 

How Long Should a Blurb Be? 

Ultimately, it doesn't matter a whit if a blurb is long or short or somewhere in-between. We have a misconception these days that being short by definition makes a blurb good and effective while a long blurb is by default in opposition of that, but both flavor-of the-day trends are illusions that you can't afford to rest on. You can have a thousand word blurb that's so amazing readers devour it and immediately want to read the book just as you might see a short, punchy blurb that's incredibly well-written but doesn't make someone want to read the book. Hence, effectively good means it's both well-written and makes a person want to read the story inside the pages, not just the back--want to enough to actually pay money to do it. If a blurb isn't good enough to make someone want to open the book and read, it's not effectively good. An effectively good blurb either is effectively good in making a reader open the book or it's not. That's the bottom line, and all that matters. A blurb can be good and not effective, or effective and not good, but either it's both or it won't work. End of story. 

As we alluded to previously, there's a huge trend going on these days about short blurbs. I personally believe distributors and a certain high-profile publishing company associated with one of the major book distributors in the world is behind this trend. Many publishers, printers, books packagers, distributors and book promote websites actually do have a limit on how many words can be included as a description. You might have noticed at Amazon, if you want to read any more than the first, say, five sentences, you have to click "read more"--twice, if you can believe that!--to get the full amount that was allowed to be put in by the publisher or author. At Lulu, a printer, you're given a very small amount of space for your blurb and you can't go over that maximum no matter how much you might want to (and you will want to!). 

I don't deny that if your blurb is short and punchy, it’s practically guaranteed to be intriguingly memorable. But it's a fact that short is not always best. A too-short blurb may be less than dazzling. Instead of being memorable, it can lack details to capture true interest in readers. Once, I was revising blurbs for two different authors. One gave me about five total sentences. The other gave me five long paragraphs. Guess which one I enjoyed the most? Yes, I've admitted I prefer long blurbs, but with the short blurb, I couldn't find anything to connect to. Not enough information was given for me to feel any intrigue and desire to read more. The five long paragraphs weren't enough to satisfy me for the other book. I loved everything I read and I was just eating it up! But, as a blurbologist, I knew it was far too long for the average reader, so I did suggest cuts. My point is, an effectively good blurb isn't going to fit into any word count minimums or maximums because the point isn't about whether it's long or short. All that really matters when it comes to blurb size is whether it's effectively good. 

Genre will play a part in the size of your back cover blurb. Science fiction, fantasy, and historical books (especially if part of a series) may have longer back cover and series blurbs: up to four paragraphs instead of the standard one or two. That's because the blurb may have to make sense of whole worlds, cultures and philosophies, which, in many cases may seem vastly different from what a modern reader is used to. Less weighty genres set in time periods and worlds modern people are accustomed to--such as romance, suspense, general fiction, maybe even speculative stories--rarely have more than two paragraphs that make up the back cover blurb. So, here's a go-to list of our size figures for each blurb type: 

A high-concept blurb is rarely more than a single sentence long but can be up to two sentences in length. Actual word count is certainly not a factor in this unless your sentences are long enough to be shocking. Most are rarely more than 20 words long. 

A back cover blurb can be anywhere from one to four paragraphs long. Back in the day when there were only print copies of books, they used to have to fit blurbs solely on the back cover of that physical book (whether it was a mass market paperback, trade or another size). Depending on the size of the paperback, 200-450 words was about the maximum comfortable fit on a back cover. Anything longer and the font would have to be made smaller, or less "blank" space would be available for margins. It is possible to fit about 425 words on a trade size paperback and still have it look attractive and be fairly readable. I've done it with my own. But, as we said, this can be at the expense of a largely readable font size and open space.  

A series blurb can also be anywhere from one to four paragraphs in length--but preferably one unless it's for a genre that requires a bit more room, as we've already covered. 

Between the high-concept, story and series blurbs, you generally have an absolute maximum of 450 total words to use, but 250 or less for all three combined is recommended. 

Promotional considerations are the major and the main reason for having short blurbs. I don't believe a blurb that includes only high-concept blurb will ever be effective in making the reader jump right to buying the book. With that kind of thinking, authors have skipped an absolutely vital step. This is very definitely a progression. The reason for a high-concept blurb is to lure the readers in with a punch of intrigue so they'll want to read the rest of the blurb (which will hopefully make them want to read the book). So the high-concept blurb tempts the reader to read the back cover blurb and the back cover blurb incites the reader to make the commitment to read the story. When I see a book promotion that has a high-concept blurb that really speaks to me, makes me want to know more, I'll go looking for the back cover blurb. I rarely skip right to buying the book because I need to know more in order to make the commitment to buy. Think of it as an equation (the arrow stands for "leads to"): 

High-concept blurb PUNCH --> Back cover blurb to find out more information --> Commitment to buy and read the book 

Authors need to be aware of this progression to be effective in distributing and marketing their books. If you don't have any limitations, go with the most effectively good combination of all three blurbs for the proper application, whether it be distribution or marketing. 

In Part 4, we'll talk about when to write your blurbs. 

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of Writing Blurbs That Sizzle--And Sell!

Volume 7 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection 

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html 

Happy writing! 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Karen S Wiesner: Blurbs Series, Part 2: Series Blurbs

 Writing Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner

Based on Writing Blurbs that Sizzle--And Sell! by Karen S. Wiesner

Blurbs Series, Part 2:

Series Blurbs

This is the second of six posts focusing on writing effective blurbs for your books.

In Part 1, we talked about writing high-concept and back cover blurbs. Let's continue.

Part 3: Series Blurbs

At its crux, a series blurb strives to be a concise, breathtaking summary of your entire series that includes the major internal and external conflicts and the goals and motivations of the main character(s), perhaps as a group or some other concept (the driving force of the story). A series blurb will be a generalized sentence or paragraph that accurately covers, reflects and describes every single book in the series. A series blurb can make or break the sale of an entire set of books. Many publishers and certainly readers buy the first book in the series and every single one after it based on a sizzling series blurb that convinces them they absolutely have to read not only the first book but all of them in that set!

Let's first establish that the point of a series is that readers who follow it from one book to the next will get a richer, more complex, and emotional experience than those who only read a single book in the series. Those readers will understand the subtle nuances that one-time browsers won’t pick up on. For that reason, the author has to make enough vital connections from one book to the next in their series or readers will lose the purpose in reading that series at all. Therefore, the first step to writing a series blurb is to figure out what ties the books together.

Types of Series Ties

If each book in a series doesn’t somehow tie together or have a touchstone that helps the reader figure out how they’re connected, you could hardly call these books a series. There are three distinct types of series ties, but always keep in mind that authors frequently combine one or more of these in a single series.

·         Recurring Character or Central Group of Characters

·         Premise/Plot Series

·         Setting Series

The series ties will also help us figure out what the "who" aspect is of our series when filling out the next section of the Blurb Worksheet.

Finding the Focus of a Series: Story and Series Arcs

A story arc is introduced, developed, and concluded in each individual book of a series. In a series story, a story arc is short-term because it will be neatly tied-up in a single book within the series.

A series arc is the long-term thread that's introduced in the first book in the series, is developed in some way in every single subsequent book, but is only fully resolved in the final book in the series.

The series arc is usually separate from the individual story arcs, but both are crucial and must fit together seamlessly. As an example, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the story arc is the chamber of secrets plotline. The overall series arc, in the most simplified terms, is good (Harry) overcomes evil (Voldemort)—and that’s true for every book in that series. The series arc runs beneath the individual story arcs in each book.

Certain types of series don’t really need series arcs because they’re open-ended. No clear end is in sight, and therefore there is less need for a tightly delineated series arc that must resolve in the final book. In an open-ended series (such as some sleuth mysteries with a single recurring character—i.e., Hercule Poirot and the like), each book in the series is a standalone.

The series blurb should tell readers how all the books in that series are connected. If the series blurb is done well enough, those sentences will accurately reflect what every book in the series is about in a concise, intriguing summary. If readers don't understand the premise of your series in the blurb, they may not bother try reading the first book.

Now that we know what a series blurb needs to include, we can use a short form to provide the jumping-off point in crafting one of our own on the Blurb Worksheet:

Basic Series Information: Fill out as completely as possible, keeping in mind that you may not use all, much or any of this in your final blurb.

Series Title:

Genre(s):

[Who] Series Tie(s):

       Recurring or Cast of Characters Series

       Premise/Plot Series

       Setting Series

Basic Series Arcs:

[What] Conflict or crisis that sets the series in motion:

[Why] What's the worst case resolution scenario to the crisis situation?

We're going to use a modified variation of our "formula" for the series blurb:

Who

(Series Tie)

What

(Conflict or Crisis)

Why

(Worst Case Resolution Scenario) 

Note that resolutions are not usually needed in the series blurb, since you don’t want to defuse the intrigue or tension, but sometimes a resolution will work well in the overall series blurb. Play with it to see all the alternatives. 

Let's fill out the form and formula, this time with The Expanse Series. The books don't technically have a series blurb--not a definitive one anyway--the way the TV series does, but I've put together a slightly hybridized version below. 

Series Title: The Expanse

Genre(s): Science Fiction

[Who] Series Tie(s): Premise/Plot Series (though it could fit in other categories as well), in this case a futuristic galaxy that humans have developed and colonized. I.e.: Hundreds of years in the future, humans have colonized the solar system. 

Series Arcs:

[What] Conflict or Crisis that Sets the Series in Motion: The U.N. controls Earth. Mars is an independent military power. The planets rely on the resources of the Asteroid Belt, where air and water are more precious than gold. For decades, tensions have been rising between these three places.

[Why] What's the worst case resolution scenario to the crisis situation? A police detective in the asteroid belt, the first officer of an interplanetary ice freighter and an earth-bound United Nations executive slowly discover a vast conspiracy that threatens the Earth's rebellious colony on the asteroid belt. Earth, Mars and the Belt are now on the brink of war. And all it will take is a single spark. 

We're going to use a slightly modified variation of our blurb "formula": 

Who (Hundreds of years in the future, humans have colonized the solar system. The U.N. controls Earth. Mars is an independent military power. The planets rely on the resources of the Asteroid Belt, where air and water are more precious than gold. For decades, tensions have been rising between these three places.) Series Tie 

What (A police detective in the asteroid belt, the first officer of an interplanetary ice freighter and an earth-bound United Nations executive slowly discover a vast conspiracy that threatens the Earth's rebellious colony on the asteroid belt.) Conflict or Crisis 

Why (Earth, Mars and the Belt are now on the brink of war. And all it will take is a single spark.) Worst Case Resolution Scenario 

Here's the blurb for The Expanse Series: 

Hundreds of years in the future, humans have colonized the solar system. The U.N. controls Earth. Mars is an independent military power. The planets rely on the resources of the Asteroid Belt, where air and water are more precious than gold. For decades, tensions have been rising between these three places. A police detective in the asteroid belt, the first officer of an interplanetary ice freighter and an earth-bound United Nations executive slowly discover a vast conspiracy that threatens the Earth's rebellious colony on the asteroid belt. Earth, Mars and the Belt are now on the brink of war. And all it will take is a single spark. 

Remember the axiom we fixed in our minds earlier: If the blurb isn't effectively good, making you want to read the story inside the pages, it won't work. The goal is to get readers to read the book. Apparently, Tolstoy downed a gallon or two of vodka while trying to write the blurb for War and Peace. Truly, here is no better way to test an author's ability to write concisely in a way that engages and entices the reader into wanting more than with these three different types of blurb. Time to get down to that Blurb Hokey Pokey. 

In Part 3, we'll talk about some basics of crafting blurbs. 

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of Writing Blurbs That Sizzle--And Sell!

Volume 7 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection 

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html 

Happy writing! 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor