If you are reading this you may be thinking “what the heck is a blurb?” A blurb is the description of your book and they are typically quite difficult to write. Sometimes even more tough to write than your original book! I am not kidding… there are writers out there that you can hire just to write your blurb! I have even hired a writer myself to create my blurb when I first started.
So basically you have to write about 2-3 small paragraphs about your book that will intrigue the reader enough to buy it!
You should introduce your character, what issues the character is facing, and will they overcome? Or something like that. There are lots of different ways to write a blurb, and I suggest you do some research on it.
In the meantime, here is my blurb for my book “Old Red” to give you an idea.
Old Red dreams of her glory days while waiting in a barn… will she get a chance to be useful again?
Old Red used to love working on the farm. But when her farmer retired, she got stored in the barn. Abandoned.
Now Old Red just sits—slowly rusting and collecting dust. Her only friends are the spiders that spin their silky webs around her. As she rests she remembers how useful she once was.
One day an energetic young man comes to visit. He admires Red and looks beneath her faded paint to see the majestic tractor that she once was . . .
Will Red get a chance to shine in the sun again?
Old Red is a beautifully illustrated children’s book that shows the many things a tractor can do and teaches an important lesson—old items can be restored and made useful.
If you like an uplifting story, you will enjoy reading Red’s second chance at life to kids.
I hope it did! And I hope it gave you an idea of how to write your blurb.
You should try to end the blurb with a call to action like “Buy Old Red today to show your children how useful tractors are!” Or something similar. I don’t always do it myself and should honestly start.
When writing your blurb, I suggest writing it, then letting it sit for a day or two and then go back to see how it reads. Or hire someone to do your first one which helped me immensely.
If you were lucky and the blurb creation was easy, you have one more step. Many sites need your blurb in a code format. That way you can get the bold text, or italics. If you are not sure what I mean, look at a few books to see how their blurb is formatted.
Format your own blurb with the bold, italicized first sentence, and whatever other formatting you want and then go to this site that will convert your formatted blurb to code. Yes! It is that easy to get it converted!
The site I use to get my blurb into code is Kindlepreneur. You can visit them here to convert your blurb. Scroll down on the page, and then copy and paste your blurb into the box. He also has tools to format your blurb, but I have found it easier to do it myself in word or PowerPoint.
Once you have your blurb in code, you can now copy it into the description area of any place you are selling your book!
Another step done!
Get writing that blurb!!!
More blogs to help you self-publish!
1-Do you need help beginning to self publish? Click here!
2-A publisher has contacted you? Are they a Vanity publisher? Click here to learn more!
3-Ready to start your files? Here is a blog that will help you set them up! Click here!
4-Need tips for finding an illustrator for your book? Click here!
5-What is a blurb? Click here for help creating one!
6-Feeling overwhelmed? This post will help you start your book… Click here!
Need an illustrator? I have illustrated many books of my own and other authors. Please visit my website by clicking here, to contact me or see examples of my work.
If I have helped you and you feel inclined to purchase a book of mine, please click here to visit amazon. Thank you!
I am also available for hire to help you publish! If interested, please contact me at artistmarnie@yahoo.com.
Art and Musings by Marnie 