On Writing Blurb Your Enthusiasm: An A-Z of Literary Persuasion

December 3, 2022 | By Women Writers Women Books | Reply More

How do you sum up a whole book in a few words?

Your book is nearly ready to enter the world. You’ve got a title, a cover, even some endorsements. Then, something you’d almost forgotten rears its head: the jacket copy (or, as we call it in Britain, the blurb). It’s often an afterthought in the publishing process; the dowdy cousin to the dazzle of a cover design. But those few words can make a world of difference to a book’s fortunes.

So how do you encapsulate your work in a way that is enticing? That creates instant appeal, a sense of place and character, mystery and intrigue, and makes anyone who picks it up think ‘I must have this book in my life, now’? (No pressure then).

I have been a copywriter in publishing for over twenty-five years, and I know how hard it can be to find the right words. I began my career at Penguin Books, where there used to be an entire department dedicated to writing blurbs. There, in a quiet room lined with shelf upon shelf of books, we read, yes actually read at work, and learned how to distil thousands of words into just a few. Times have changed since those halcyon days, and we are folded into various marketing departments at what is now Penguin Random House. But is still our job to make every word count.

Now I have written something longer than 100 words. An entire book, in fact, called Blurb Your Enthusiasm: An A-Z of Literary Persuasion. It is all about that perennial question: should you judge a book by its cover? It takes in literary history (did you know prototype blurbs go back to Roman times?), authors from Austen to Orwell, genres from children’s books to crime, writing tricks, the science of persuasion and publishing secrets. I also touch on sexism: not just in the way books by women are packaged, sold and received by the literary world, but the gender bias inherent in the language used to describe them.

The most surprising thing I discovered while working on my book, however, was that writing short for all those years helped me write long: to keep things pacey and entertaining; to be on the reader’s side, asking, why should they care?

A professional copywriter is always thinking of their audience. At many publishing houses, blurbs are written by authors or editors or both. However, someone like me can bring a fresh eye to things. It’s hard to see the wood for the trees when a book has been part of your life for months, maybe years – some authors even say that writing the blurb is harder than writing the book. Here are some things I’ve learned:

Don’t leave your blurb until the last minute. Terry Pratchett recommended writing it as soon as possible because ‘getting the heart and soul of a book into fewer than 100 words helps you focus.’ I wrote one alongside my proposal. It forced me to think hard about the point of my book.
Identifying the core of your work can be an anchor for the rest of the blurb. The novelist Elizabeth Buchan, who used to write copy at Penguin, described it as ‘The backbone. In one sentence, what is it that makes that book that book? I wrote Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman. Its backbone was: “living well is the best revenge”.’ Buchan’s line snaps with the tension of opposing forces. Where does that fizz lie in your book?
Step outside your book and put yourself in the place of a reader who knows nothing about it. What will connect with them, and how do you want them to feel: curious? Amused? Unnerved? Blurbs need to start with an emotional hook. I love the opening of the blurb that has graced The Handmaid’s Tale for many years: ‘The Republic of Gilead allows Offred only one function: to breed.’ So much disturbing detail is packed into that short sentence.
Iris Murdoch described the blurb as ‘a mini art form.’ It’s not a synopsis. It should tell a story on a tiny scale, with drama and conflict. Most people wouldn’t describe Anita Brookner’s wonderful novels as action-packed, but one of my favourite blurbs, which begins ‘Into the rarefied atmosphere of the Hotel du Lac timidly walks Edith Hope, romantic novelist and holder of modest dreams’, creates a narrative of intrigue and incident.
Cut, and cut again. It’s familiar advice for writers, and the sine qua non of blurb writers. Look at your copy. Can its sentences have fewer words? Can those words have fewer syllables? The process of stripping away forces you to concentrate on what matters.
Now for the ‘don’ts’. Never start a piece of copy with the words ‘In this book’. It’s clearly a book, and there are clearly things in it. (See also: readable). Also avoid the opener ‘When’: it means a long sentence with at least two clauses is on its way. Kill those adjectives. Would you recommend a book to a friend by telling them ‘I just loved the exquisite, luminous prose of this dazzling, deeply moving mediation on life and loss’? Of course you wouldn’t. Stick as closely to natural speech as possible.
Do have fun. Experiment with different ways of telling your book’s story. Copywriting is just playing with words, after all.

—

Louise Willder has been a copywriter at Penguin Books for over twenty-five years. During this time, she estimates she has produced about 5,000 blurbs. She doesn’t follow people round bookshops, willing them to buy books she’s written the copy for. Really, she doesn’t.

BLURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: AN A-Z OF LITERARY PERSUASION

‘A small masterpiece. There is something funny, notable or awe-inspiring on every single page’ Jenny Colgan, Spectator

A joyful celebration of books – the perfect gift for bibliophiles, word lovers and anyone who’s ever wondered, should you judge a book by its cover?

We love the words in books – but what about the words on them? How do they work their magic? Here is a book about the ways books entice us to read them: their titles, quotes, covers and, above all, blurbs – via authors from Jane Austen to Zadie Smith, writing tricks, classic literature, bonkbusters, plot spoilers and publishing secrets. It’s nothing less than the inside story of the outside of books.

And it answers questions like:

Why do some authors hate blurbs so much they burn their own books?
Should all adjectives be murdered?
Is blurbing sometimes maybe lying?
Is it true that (checks jacket) you need an animal on a book’s cover to make it a bestseller?
What are the most terrible blurbs of all time?

Join Penguin publishing word wizard Louise Willder – five thousand blurbs written, mostly avoiding the phrase ‘unputdownable tour-de-force’ – to discover why we should judge a book by its cover. Even this one. (It’s an unputdownable tour-de-force.)

‘The bookiest book about books you’ll ever read – I loved it’ Lucy Mangan

‘Truly delightful…I couldn’t have had more fun’ Benjamin Dreyer

‘Very funny, erudite and profound. A delight!’ Nina Stibbe

BUY HERE

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