Writing Romance Blurbs That Actually Sell Books

By Jennifer Connor

Do you equate blurb writing with tears and torture? Well, this one's for you…

 

Your blurb can propel your book's sales…or tank them. And sadly, readers will never tell you if your blurb is awful.

 

They just won't buy your book.

 

But blurb writing doesn't have to be painful. In this guide, you will learn:

• What a blurb should and should NOT contain
• How to keyword-load your blurb
• How to handle trigger warnings and tropes
• The art of the perfect hook
• A simple formula for 3rd AND 1st person blurbs (dual and single POV)
• How to incorporate calls to action

You'll also find examples of blurbs that would sell books, and a few that would NOT.

 

So, dry your tears, and get ready to blurb like a pro! After all, your book is amazing. Why shouldn't it have the perfect blurb? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jennifer Connor
• Release date: Mar 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215307571

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

FOR THE SKEPTICS

Why should I trust YOUR advice?

Hello to all the cynical, don’t-trust-easily writers out there in the reading audience! *waves*

I’m old, y’all. I’ve been working steadily since 1993. In that time, I’ve done everything from copywriting to project management in the ad agency world, and book marketing and advertising for my author clients in the publishing world. In the past 7 years, I’ve ghost written more than five hundred author blurbs for bestselling romance authors all over the world, and I’ve critiqued over a thousand blurbs for others. My clients report steady increases in sales after I’ve worked with them.

I’m also a romance super reader. I read more than five books a week, almost exclusively in the romance genre. Name a common trope and I can give you at least ten great romance recommendations that fit it. I also do a ton of paid beta reading for my author clients.

My blog, Romance Rehab, has been awarded a top reviewer badge by Reedsy for three years running. It gets thousands of views daily, has over ten thousand subscribers, and I post new reader and author content every week.

Point is, I know a thing or two (or ten) about romance. Will my advice help you sell a crap-ton of novels? Maybe, maybe not. But I’m willing to bet you’ll get something useful out of what I have to say. Heck, even if my advice helps you sell one or two extra books a month, it’ll more than pay for the cost of this book. Can’t really argue with ROI like that, can you? (That’s rhetorical. No one should ever argue with good ROI.)

Blurbs can’t be THAT important, right?

Did you know the romance novel market is HUGE? No, seriously. The romance novel industry is worth 1.44 billion dollars a year, outselling every other fiction genre EVERYWHERE. (Curcic, 2023)

That’s all great, right? It means there is a ginormous group of people buying what you’ve written.

But…

(There’s always a but, isn’t there?)

That also means there’s a ton of competition for reader eyeballs. If you don’t believe me, go to your favorite book seller right now, type in romance novels, and watch how many books pop up in that search. You’ll be shocked. And appalled.

Do you mean my little book baby has to compete with all those books just to get noticed???

Yes.

You have to compete with not only huge bestselling juggernauts, but also millions of other authors struggling to keep their heads above water in the publishing game.

So, how do I convince people to buy my book baby instead of the latest Nora Roberts novel???

Awesome question! I’m glad you asked. There are actually a TON of things you can do to make sure your book shines prettily in the crowd, beckoning folks to buy it. But there’s ONE thing that’s a bigger deal than all the rest, and that is… *take a deep breath and brace yourselves*…

A killer book blurb.

Your blurb is your book’s best chance to grab readers by the throat and force them to buy your book. (Sorry…that sounded violent. Accurate, but violent.) It’s the most effective marketing tool you’ll ever have. Throwing a crappy blurb out on a seller’s site is the fastest way to make sure shoppers keep scrolling instead of buying when they see your book.

So, long-story-short…yes. Your blurb is THAT important.

Yeah, but of course YOU’RE going to say that. It’s your job to convince us that blurbs are important and sell your author services!

Just to be extra transparent, as I mentioned above, yes, I still revise, critique, and ghost write romance novel blurbs for authors from scratch for Romance Rehab. And while I’m happy to keep providing that service to romance authors, selling my services is not the goal of this book. I’m plenty busy.

My goal with this book is to help all the authors who don’t have the inclination or the funds to hire someone else to write/edit/critique their blurbs. This book is for the authors who want to learn to do it themselves without all the pain and tears that usually come with the process. By the time you reach