It can also be called a back cover blurb or a book description. It’s a short description of the book’s main character and conflict and is usually between 100 and 200 words long. It’s usually found on the back of a book or the inside cover.

The blurb is the second thing, the first being the front cover, that a reader will look at before deciding whether or not to buy your book. The cover catches the reader’s attention, the blurb is what sells the book.

If you’re a self-published author, you’ll most probably write your own blurb, and I know a lot of smaller publishers in particular will ask for the author’s input when they’re putting together the blurb, or might even request they write it themselves.

Here’s an example of one of my own blurbs. It’s from my contemporary romance, Starstruck:

‘When newly divorced Kate finds school friend, now super famous rock star Joseph Wild, on her doorstep, her whole quiet, ordinary life is thrown into disarray.

Joseph has broken up with glamorous actress Genevieve Moore, and needs somewhere to retreat to until the paparazzi interest in his marriage calms down. Kate agrees to help him out and drawn to his simple, self-effacing charm, soon finds herself falling in love.

But can she cope with the problems a relationship with such a high profile celebrity brings? What happens when he jets back to his regular life of stardom in L.A.?

And how will Genevieve react when she finds out Joseph has moved on? She can’t possibly allow anything to sully her ever-so-carefully crafted public image.

Falling in love with a rock star is tougher than you’d think…’

I think it gives a really clear idea of the story’s genre and what it’s about, and the use of questions draws the reader in and makes them feel involved.

Remember, the blurb should intrigue readers into wanting to read your book, it should leave them wanting more, and it should fit with the story’s genre. A good blurb provides a short summary, but it doesn’t give anything away. 

My video on this topic can be found on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKJKt8kmDXrWQAGkTV1VHMQ

If you’ve never heard of a synopsis, it’s a brief summary or general survey of something. As a writer talking about writing, the type of synopsis I’m referencing here is a synopsis of a book manuscript, which is basically an outline of what happens in your book. 

Publishers and agents may ask you to send them a synopsis, often along with the first chapter or first 3 chapters of your manuscript, so that they can get a feel for your work and quickly decide if they’d like to read your whole manuscript. It can also be requested before you’ve actually written the manuscript by an agent or publisher you’re working with so they can tell if your story’s on the right track before you go ahead and write 40,000 words of a book which doesn’t fit what they’re looking for.

Authors, including myself, can spend hours, even days, tearing their hair out about writing a synopsis, but hopefully these tips will make the whole process at least a little bit easier.

1: Your synopsis should not only tell the reader what happens in your book, but also make them want to read it, for this reason it must be well-written and not just a list of bullet points. It must showcase your ‘author voice’ meaning it must read like your writing. It must show the story’s full progression or ‘narrative arc’ and it must include the ending. 

2: Keep your synopsis to the correct length. This is usually 1-2 single spaced pages, or 2-5 double-spaced pages. Some authors recommend keeping it to about 500 words. Individual publishers and agents may specify how long they want a synopsis to be, make sure you send them what they want.

3: Your synopsis should be written in third person, present tense, regardless of the tense or point of view of your actual book. This helps the story to be told smoothly. 

Right now, it’s time to actually write the stupid thing…

4: Start at the beginning and when you get to the end stop. Start typing what happens in your manuscript from beginning to end. This does not have to be beautiful prose, just spew it out and make sure you keep events in chronological order.

5: Now, go back through what you’ve written and emphasise the important plot points, such as the inciting incident which sparks the conflict in your story, the climax and the resolution. Emphasise any plot twists – readers love a good plot twist.

6: Next, add character motivations at the beginning and end of the synopsis. Why did the character decide to do what they did at the inciting incident? Maybe your heroine has been looking for her long lost brother for years and the reason she gets on a plane to Venice is because she sees a man she believes to be him boarding it. That’s her motivation. The end of your manuscript should resolve this motivation: maybe the man boarding the plane wasn’t her brother but he helps her find him and they fall in love along the way. (That’s not actually a terrible story idea, I should be making notes on this).

7: If your book is told in the first person, say at the beginning of the synopsis who this is, e.g: The book is told from the point of view of a… whoever it is.

8: Make sure your storyline is clear and to the point – now is not the time to be vague and intriguing.

9: Edit out any excess words to get it down to the right length – take out any information and details that aren’t necessary. Check for word repetition! Look and just are my two overused words, I bet you’ve got a few.

10: Read your synopsis out loud to yourself. This is the best way to be able to see if your writing flows. It should read like a good book review – one of a book you’d really want to read.

Ta-da, that’s it! With any luck you now have a fantastic synopsis to send off to interested publishers and agents. I’d love to know of any which result in a contract!

x

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Or have you ever forgotten that the back door is through the kitchen in chapter 3, but is exited via the utility room in chapter 10?

Don’t worry, you’re not alone! This kind of thing used to happen to me all the time, and it’s a real pain to correct them in later drafts of your work as they may have repercussions for later scenes.

Thankfully, I’ve come up with a little trick to help: what I now do is I draw a little map of the homes of each of my main characters in the back of my writing notebook.

I start a new notebook for each of my romances, and it must be A4 sized and with fairly narrow lines. Ideally it should be hardback, but let it not be said I won’t accept the right softback, especially if it’s a Moleskine. The back few pages are full of basic layouts of my protagonists’ homes – including any important pieces of furniture, such as favourite chairs, and where windows are, and, sometimes, what can be seen out of them if that’s relevant to the plot. I keep it very roughly to scale, so I know, for example, what room is above what other room. 

Here’s the sketch I did for a manuscript I’m currently working on, it’s my heroine’s tiny London flat. Obviously, this is a very simple home so there’s not much involved in drawing it out, especially as it’s all on one floor, but you get the idea.

This tip really doesn’t take very long, but it’s made a huge difference, saving me editing time, and having the drawings in the back of my writing notebook makes them super easy to check.

Of course, you could always take it one step further if there was a particular town or village which was going to feature heavily in a book or book series, and draw a map of the area. I really wish I’d thought to do this for Tonnadulais, the fictional Welsh town which features in my romances ‘The Green Hills of Home’ and ‘Snowed in for her Wedding’ – it would have made things a lot easier when I returned to it!

Ever since reading Little Women as a child I wanted to be a writer.

So, how are writers, and romance writers in particular, dealing with setting their fictional works in either 2020 or 2021 i.e. a world dominated by Covid-19? A world where we haven’t been able to hug, kiss, go out to meet new people, or get stuck in a log cabin in Colorado with a hunky cowboy for two weeks.

My own romances aren’t set in any particular year, so I’ve been able to skirt around this issue with my latest book, ‘Her Sister’s Baby’, due out June 1^st, but I asked around to see what others are planning to do.

A few authors have embraced the challenge. During the first lockdown, I can remember the cover image of an erotic novella doing the rounds on Facebook. Apparently the book depicted a ‘romance’ between a woman and the Coronavirus… not my cup of tea, but good on the author for coming up with an (extremely) original idea and getting it out there, I say.

But for more ‘regular’ romance authors, staid enough to want the focus of their book to be on love between humans, are any brave/daft/imaginative enough to set a contemporary romance in the middle of a global pandemic? Perhaps unsurprisingly, most say they wouldn’t touch Covid with a barge pole:

“…my books are a complete Covid-free zone. Had so many readers thanking me for the escapism and I think that’s why so many of us read. And I don’t want to write about it either. Been a grim year & just want to escape from it between the pages.” Jessica Redland.

https://www.jessicaredland.com/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jessica-Redland/e/B00PO9I1Y4?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_3&qid=1619691102&sr=1-3

“I’m definitely pretending COVID doesn’t exist in my books, but what I am including is lots of crowd scenes, hand holding, hugs and closeness because we need to see and feel these things again after 12 months missing out!”  Kiley Dunbar

http://www.kileydunbar.co.uk/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kiley-Dunbar/e/B07NQKQS64?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1619702433&sr=1-1

Others, like romantic comedy author, Jane Lovering, may write about it in the future:

“I won’t be writing about Covid until it’s all well in the past. Rather like with the war, I think people want to know how the end works out before they start reading about the subject. I don’t think they can suspend disbelief enough to enjoy fiction on the subject just yet.” Jane Lovering.

https://www.janelovering.co.uk/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jane-Lovering/e/B003NYBX9M?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1619702487&sr=1-1

Of course, some writers are lucky enough not to have to worry about whether or not to include the C word in their books:

“Good question! I’m able to avoid mentioning it because my novels are set in the medieval era. As a reader, I’m loving escaping to parallel contemporary worlds where the craziness of real life is not happening and people are able to hug and travel.” Ella Matthews.

https://www.ellamatthews.co.uk/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ella-Matthews/e/B085WN62LF?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1619702297&sr=1-1

                I’ve recently begun work on a very different type of story set in a different genre. For part of this tale, I’m actually going to ‘utilise’ the lockdown period. I want to place my protagonists in this very unusual situation, where they’re stuck together with all their joint and individual issues, and wait to see the sparks fly! I’ll let you know if it all comes together as I hope!

I was interested to find out how the pandemic has affected writers in particular, both in how they go about their writing and taking into account how the publishing process may have changed.

My husband and I already worked from home and so our day to day work lives haven’t really been very different, but I’m aware that an awful lot of writers have had to change their writing habits, either because they are now needing to teach children who are usually at school, or because their house is now too noisy or their previous writing ‘spot’ has been taken over by a spouse because it’s the ideal place to make Zoom calls and it’s close to a kettle!

Corners in bedrooms have been turned into home offices, spare rooms and attics have been tidied up, given a lick of paint, and brought into play. I know a couple of people who’ve turned camper vans into writing sheds. I’ve even heard of writers renting hotel rooms to work in during the first lockdown, but that’s financially not possible for most authors!

What I found when I spoke to writers on Facebook was that the biggest struggle was staying motivated during these strange times. They may have plenty of time to write, even somewhere perfect to do so, but being able to is quite another thing! Sharon Booth said:

‘It’s been a case of having to get on with it by sheer will power. I’ve really struggled to write. Last year I only released two books – usually it’s three or, more often, four. I’ve had to resort to force. I got a planner, which includes a weekly to-do list. I write down what needs to be done for the month, the week and then each day. I set a target of 2,000 words per day and tick each block off my to-do list as I finish it. It’s satisfying to see all those ticks, and the sense of achievement keeps me going. I allow myself weekends off now and that’s helped a lot. I try to get all my writing done in the morning because my concentration’s much worse in the afternoons, so that’s a good time to make social media posts, update my website, admin etc.’

 https://sharonboothwriter.com/

Some have tweaked their writing habits to help, like Jen Gilroy:

‘For the first time ever, I’m lighting a scented candle when I write. It’s a sensory way to delineate writing time and help me focus on getting words on the page no matter what else is going on around me. I’m also giving myself ‘permission’ to be flexible with my usual approach and write a very rough, occasionally non-linear, first draft. I’m a linear writer (and thinker) so the latter is hard but it’s also helping me keep my word count going at present.’

www.jengilroy.com

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jen-Gilroy/e/B01NCI49QS?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1611237351&sr=8-1

Others said that writing has been their lifetime, a bit of normal when everything else seems turned upside down. Judith Barrow said:

‘I escape into my writing and it’s been my way of not having to think about why we’re in lockdown; a way of escaping the real world for a time.’

https://judithbarrowblog.com/

and Jane Cable wrote:

‘Having a deadline helps and I have been busy writing my second novel as Eva Glyn for One More Chapter. Overall though, writing has been something of a saviour as it’s a joy to escape into a different world.’

http://www.janecable.com
http://getbook.at/AnotherYou

http://getbook.at/EndlessSkies

David Thorpe had some very interesting points to make about how the world of publishing itself has changed in the last year, and how it’s affected him:

‘Because libraries have not been open, like many others I have suffered a 90% drop in payments from PLS send ALCS. Many of my books are academic and universities’ libraries have been closed. The support of a grant from the Society of Authors pandemic fund was invaluable. Editors and agents have been taking much much longer to look at manuscripts. I was teaching a creative writing class in the real world before the first lockdown and this had to stop. We went online for a few weeks, but then the group has petered out – there’s nothing like meeting people in real life. However I have got a few students on an online writing course. A lot more people are writing books during the time that the lockdown has given them. To begin with in the first lockdown there was support for running online workshops on well-being and writing, and I did run one for Literature Wales and one for another community organisation but in the subsequent lockdown these haven’t happened. I’m glad now that I haven’t had a book published during the pandemic as those writers who have have been unable to have any physical launches and sales have suffered. I do understand that people are reading more books according to figures from Nielsens, but I’m not sure that these translate into sales for most authors, it’s mostly the A list writers who seem to be benefiting –and authors of cookery books! What publishers are looking for has also changed… More escapism and more uplifting, feelgood narratives. Fortunately I also write journalism and there has been no reduction in the need for this.’

https://davidthorpe.info/

It seems the key is to roll with the punches somewhat! Writers have gotta do what they’ve gotta do to get those words on the page. They may have to be more patient when waiting to hear back from publishers and agents, and accept that they may either have to hold on to submit a manuscript which might not fit with what’s been taken on right now, self-publish, or change what they are writing, at least temporarily.

For someone who’s already a professional author, and is hopefully being paid good money to write, it’s their job, they can write 9 til 5, or whatever hours they choose. But it’s not so easy for those unpublished, or not-quite-making-enough-to-give-up-their-day-jobs writers. Even the most dedicated writer will have times when they get in from a long day at work, or they’ve finally got the kids into bed, and the very last thing they feel like doing is turning on the computer and fiddling around with a tricky scene. The thing is though, no one else is going to finish that novel for you, so if you really want it, you have to find the time to write it! And often this is a case of changing priorities. Yes, it would be nice to settle down in front of your favourite soap with a glass of wine, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s a prime example of a time when you could be writing!

Here are a few tips on carving out some writing time that I picked up whilst writing my romances, I hope they help!

1: If you’re a morning person, maybe you could get up a little bit earlier and fit some writing in before the day starts? If you’re more of a night owl, get something down before you head to bed!

2: At the end of your writing session, plan what you’re going to write next, not only will you look forward to getting back to it, but you won’t waste time by wondering where to start when you next settle down to work, and you may have been able to do some planning in your head in the interim.

3: Try to make the most of every writing opportunity you have, however short, and always carry a notepad and pen around with you. It’s amazing how much you can scribble down in ten minutes waiting for someone to meet you for coffee.

4: Similarly, keep writing materials next to your bed so that if you have an amazingly, fantabulous idea during the night, you’re able to jot it down quickly before you forget it.

5: Be very time aware, if you have an hour to write in, make the most of it. Don’t faff around checking Facebook and Twitter for the first twenty minutes, get down to work!

6: And finally, make sure everyone around you knows that, short of an emergency, your writing time is sacred, YOU ARE NOT TO BE DISTURBED! If you prioritise your writing, others will too!

Best of luck!

Inspired and carefree, I rattled off thousands of glorious words of prose as they came to me. I was delighted at how organised I was being, making use of tiny snippets of time to write little scenes or, more often, parts of scenes. Typing up my handwritten notes, I’d slot them into ‘approximately’ the right place in my master document, and eventually I had a romance novel length piece of writing.

Thrilled, I printed out my draft and began my first proper read-through. Just a couple of pages in and I was close to tears: my story made no sense! It was full of inconsistencies and had ended up just a series of pretty disconnected, random scenes. Important issues begun in chapter 1 had been disregarded in chapter 2. Characters eyes changed colour, sometimes within a single page. In short, my manuscript was a bit of a mess. It took months of hard work to beat the story into submission.

I was very pleased with the end result, but I couldn’t help but think the whole experience would have been a whole lot less stressful, not to mention shorter, if I’d just planned effectively.

With my second novel, ‘His Secret Daughter’, I’ve been much more organised. I now use my small snatches of time to work on smaller jobs (guest posts, interviews, book reviews…). I only ‘properly’ write when I have a decent chunk of time at my disposal, usually at least an hour. I also really tried to write the book in order, from start to finish (although I’ll admit I wasn’t ALWAYS completely successful in this aim!).

The best piece of writing advice I’ve ever been given is simply don’t jump straight in! Authors use various methods to plot their storyline BEFORE they start writing. I like to make a fairly basic sketch of the novel over a couple of pages of A4 paper – I then fill in extra details as they come to me. I divide the pages into ten areas, as that’s the number of chapters my books typically have. When I have each of those ten chapters sketched out I produce a page of notes on my hero and heroine: I’ll comment on their ages, hair colour, family members… I also find it handy to create a Pinterest board full of photos of places my characters might live or visit, as well as photos of people who look like I imagine my characters do. Only when I’ve got everything straight in my head do I actually start writing.

At the end of the day, every writer works slightly differently. I’ve found that proper planning really helps me, but it may be that what I do would make another writer feel stifled. It’s all a question of knowing how you work best, so you can decide how to plan effectively for you!

Happy writing!