Get paid to write a book

The “blurb” is the back cover material for your book — the selling points which will get people to buy the book. If you write the blurb before you write an outline, you’re guaranteed not to wander off the track as you write your book.

I can’t emphasize the importance of your blurb enough. If you’ve been thinking of skipping this section, please don’t. Here are some reasons to write your blurb first:

· it keeps you focused on the theme of your book;

· it makes writing the outline easier;

· it makes selling your proposal easier;

· it will assure your agent and editor that you know what you’re doing, and they’ll feel comfortable working with you and handing over the advance;

· when you’ve sold the book, and the time comes to write it, you’ll have an easier time because you can keep the blurb at the forefront of your mind.

Your blurb helps your agent and editor to get a contract for you

Your blurb is the “sales story” for your book. If your agent becomes enthusiastic about your book, she’ll become enthusiastic on the basis of your blurb. She’ll use the blurb as her sales pitch to other people. For example, when she talks to an editor at a publishing house who may be interested in your book, she’ll start with your blurb. The conversation will stop there if the editor doesn’t see the book’s potential. Let’s say that the editor likes the blurb enough to look at the proposal. If she’s still keen, it’s her turn to sell your book, on the basis of the blurb, to the other people in the publishing company. She’ll need to convince Sales and Marketing that they can sell your book. If they’re not keen, you won’t get an offer.

When you’ve written your book, your publisher will try to sell your book to book distributors, and later to booksellers, all on the basis of the blurb that you started out with. So the time that you spend working on the blurb is not wasted, it’s the most important part of your book. Without a good blurb, your book will not come into existence.

Having said all that, it’s also important that you don’t obsess over your blurb. Everything you write can be fixed, so focus on getting your blurb written, in various lengths, rather than striving to make your blurb perfect. Your blurb may well go through many incarnations: you’ll make changes, your agent may want changes, and your editors will definitely want changes.

Tags: Write book // Add Comment »