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gmw · 12-14-2012, 08:48 AM

To say much that's useful in a blurb about my second book in the series could give away surprises that appeared in the first book. This is either going to mean some additional creativity in the blurb, or it's going to risk spoiling things for readers that read the blurb of the second book before they pick up the first. The risk with a creative blurb is to make it unnecessarily obscure for people that have read the first book.

Obviously this is not a new problem. To a certain extent any "next book" will give away something just by their existence. But when something you've made a big deal of in the first book is revealed in the blurb of the second then it really could be a spoiler.

I see this as particularly risky in this wonderful world of websites - where my books will be listed together with a certain amount of blurb visible for each (at least according to my current design/intention).

So what's the protocol here? Is it tough-luck to readers that look ahead, or do you risk making the blurb obscure?

12-14-2012, 08:48 AM	#1
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,809 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	Blurb for the second book in a series? To say much that's useful in a blurb about my second book in the series could give away surprises that appeared in the first book. This is either going to mean some additional creativity in the blurb, or it's going to risk spoiling things for readers that read the blurb of the second book before they pick up the first. The risk with a creative blurb is to make it unnecessarily obscure for people that have read the first book. Obviously this is not a new problem. To a certain extent any "next book" will give away something just by their existence. But when something you've made a big deal of in the first book is revealed in the blurb of the second then it really could be a spoiler. I see this as particularly risky in this wonderful world of websites - where my books will be listed together with a certain amount of blurb visible for each (at least according to my current design/intention). So what's the protocol here? Is it tough-luck to readers that look ahead, or do you risk making the blurb obscure?