First just to make sure I have my ducks in a row (you can't have a good duck firing squad without them!), what exactly is a blurb? I have limited experience reading them, mainly being familiar with press releases for self-publishing.
I'm honestly not even sure how one would blurb my first book in the Voreth's Promise Saga psuedo-series. It's one of those books that kept changing in nature as time went on. Like first it was a 2,000 word short story, then it become a novelette, et cetera. I'll save the rest of the evolution.
Like in short fiction, I know to keep it within a short period of time and one or two scenes. But I'm not sure what of what makes a good press release.
It depends on what type of blurb you are talking about. Anymore, a lot of blurbs are just quotes from other writers about the book. If you are talking about a summary of the book, it's a bit trickier. For my collection, my summary blurb was:
"A small town hangs a murderer. An ancient civilization is threatened by a cannibal horde. A psychopath pursues his most insidious desires. In the first collection from Jack Campbell Jr., you will find tales of obsession, paranoia, lust, greed, vengeance, and insanity. You will find both the supernatural and the psychological. Inside, you will find all manner of dark things."
I just sort of glossed over a couple of stories.
Press releases are a very specific skill, but they aren't terrible. Here is an idea of the basic layout: http://www.indiegamegirl.com/press-release-template/
That being said, PR is just as specific of a writing skill as fiction writing or journalism. There is a fine line between intriguing and cheesy. Generally, you are using an inverted pyramid style of writing similar to journalism. Start with the important stuff, because the beginning is the only thing you can be sure they will read. Depending on where you are sending your releases, they may get swamped by the things every day. They may only read the first couple of lines to determine their interest.
Proofread the hell out of it and spend some time condensing your message as much as possible.
It seems like the easiest way to do that would be sort of like an extended logline: leaving out the subplots, and sticking mainly to the essential plot components. I'll take a look at that press release thing.
So, so far it will be: A human coming to face their own mortality, becomes a cyborg in search of lost memory amiss the fragility of youth, meeting a drug-dealer and his girlfriend, as well as two strange lovers from the rival Barbershop faction. -- Volume 1
I'll see if I can craft a press release from it. Thanks!^^
Blurbs for your own stuff are the hardest thing to write. I can never do mine until the story is done because, well when you start you never know where they're going--I try to make my blurbs like newspaper headlines--enough to catch a reader's interest but without going into detail..it's a tough science..
Yea I find it easier for 10,000 words. But when you get to 20,000 words roughly it gets tricky. That's one of the reasons I'm reluctant to turn any recent short stories into novellas.
Like roughly I have: A suicidal boarding school escapee survives death and becomes a cyborg, meeting a drug dealer and his girlfriend who allow him to stay in their flat while. But soon memories reemerge of the city-sky above, and he wonders what's it's like to be a star up there.
