Ebook Description: Feedback Wanted

[queentess]

Originally Posted by randyflycaster

To me, writing descriptions of my books and stories are harder than writing anything else, especially because I have such a limited space, certainly not enough to answer all, or even most, of the questions about my story. In fact, I wouldn't want to anyway.

You might ask one of your beta readers to write a blurb for you. Kind of difficult for us to critique the blurb when none of us has read the book.

[jrlewis]

I find a good structure to be:

1. The Pledge. Introduce the main character and her status quo. "Amanda's mother has run off with a strange man and her grandmother has terminal cancer."

2. The Turn. State the new problem or change in her life. "While looking for her lost grandmother, Amanda and her friends discover [what? you need to give us an actual event so we know the stakes]."

3. The Gloss. Throw out a lot of grand but vague descriptors of what happens in the rest of the book without giving anything away. "Amanda is swept up in a wild adventure of fly fishing, stray dogs, crazed alcoholics, and heart-stopping car crashes that challenge her faith and lead her to a renewed sense of purpose."

Don't use open-ended or rhetorical questions.

Don't provide a plot synopsis.

Don't make the book sound dull or depressing. Use active, exciting, intriguing words.

That's all I know!

Here's the description I wrote for my last novel, Heirs of Mars:

Asher Radescu was the last human to come to Mars, but he didn't find the romance and adventure he craved. Instead, he lives in a truck delivering supplies to frontier habs and secretly builds neural clones to keep civilization from collapsing. When an android bounty hunter discovers that Asher is one of the people responsible for the dangerous cloning technology, the entire population of Mars is threatened with annihilation. With the help of underground cloners, resurrected colonists, android defectors, and one gorgeous racing celebrity, Asher must end the first war on Mars before the violence consumes them all.

[randyflycaster]

jrlewis,

Great, great formula for writing a short, description. Thanks so much. I'll use the formula to revise my description.

Randy