Hi SEers! Denise here to talk about writing a book blurb. I’m in the final stages of editing my current book, and my thoughts are turning to create the dreaded blurb. It can almost be harder to write than the book.

Instead of writing my blurb, I wondered where the term originated. Here’s what I found: “The wordblurbwas coined in 1907 by American humoristGelett Burgess(1866–1951).[2]His short 1906 bookAre You a Bromide?was presented in a limited edition to an annual trade association dinner.”— Wikipedia

With that out of the way, I refreshed my skills by researching what makes a good blurb.

Length

I stay between 100 and 200 words. I’ve seen plenty of shorter and longer ones. Shorter blurbs might not pull the reader in, while longer ones might give too much information.

Content

When approaching writing a blurb, I do it from…