Summary

The web content provides guidance on crafting compelling back cover copy (BCC) for books, emphasizing the importance of selling the reading experience rather than just summarizing the plot.

Abstract

The article "Dear Writers: Three Tips to Write BCCs/Blurbs for Best-selling Books" outlines a methodical approach to writing back cover copy that captivates potential readers and publishers. It introduces the Movie Trailer Method, which focuses on selling the experience of the book rather than its details. The article breaks down the process into three key elements: the hook, which differentiates the book from others in its genre; the first 50 words, which are crucial for grabbing the reader's attention; and the final payoff, which teases the emotional journey the reader will embark on. The author uses the book "Neon Gods" by Katee Roberts as a case study to illustrate how a well-crafted BCC can effectively entice readers by evoking the story's mood, characters, and conflict without giving away too much plot.

Opinions

The author believes that a great book deserves an equally great BCC that goes beyond summarizing the plot to capturing the essence of the reading experience.
The article suggests that the hook is not just about the book's unique selling point but also about how it stands out emotionally and thematically from similar titles.
It is emphasized that the first 50 words of the BCC are vital in provoking a visceral reaction from the reader, setting the tone for the rest of the copy.
The author values the strategic use of specificity and vagueness in the BCC to intrigue the reader and leave them wanting more.
The final payoff in the BCC should not merely be a plot detail but a promise of the emotional journey that will keep the reader engaged throughout the book.
The author uses the example of "Neon Gods" to demonstrate how a BCC can effectively convey the dynamic of the storytelling and the emotional stakes involved.
The article implies that a successful BCC is an art form that requires careful selection of details to serve the overall experience the book offers.

Dear Writers: Three Tips to Write BCCs/Blurbs for Best-selling Books

Whether you’re selling your book to readers or a publisher, you need a great pitch for your book. Here are three tips to make your back cover copy/BCC irresistible.

We all know how to tell a story, right? But do you know how to sell one?

You write a great book, then you write a short summary of the most interesting stuff and hope it tempts the reader into seeing the rest.

Well, at least that’s how a lot of people write BCCs. I approach it a lot more like the Movie Trailer Method.

SEE ALSO: THE DISNEY METHOD

With the Movie Trailer Method, you’re not selling the reader — or the agent, or the editor, not even the publisher — on the details of your manuscript. You’re selling them on the experience of reading your book.

And the way you sell the reader on that experience may require you to be very specific about some things, and very vague about others. To highlight aspects that might not be as prominent on the page, and yet they are everything that will attract potential readers to your book.

THE PITCH

It’s sort of like if someone asked you out on a date by telling you every specific detail of the date.

Listen, no matter how cute you are, if you tell me it’ll be a great date by describing everything you did that morning (and this morning!), why it mattered, what happened on the way to meet me, how it reminded you of the first big fight you had with your mom —

I would have shown up for pizza if you’d left all that stuff out, and instead let me linger on the how funny you were when you made that joke about fan fiction being better than the stuff it’s based on.

For the record, fan fiction is 100% better than the stuff it’s based on.

ELEMENT ONE: THE HOOK

Now once you figure out the kind of experience your book gives readers — you’re way ahead of the game if you thought of this when writing — it’s time to find the hook.

What’s the hook? It’s what makes your book DIFFERENT. Like let’s say you’re writing a romance. Let’s go with…Best Friend’s Brother. Okay. That’s a very popular trope. But what the heck makes your BFB book stand out from a million books just like it?

And I’m not just talking about the difference in quality. Obviously if your book is awesome and all of the others suck, yours will stand out. But there are a ton of AWESOME BFB books. Thank god because I’m not ready to find a new addiction.

SEE ALSO: Books and Reading Are Two Different Hobbies (by Danika Ellis)

Why should anyone care about your book over any other? Answer the question and you’ve got the HOOK. A compelling twist on something familiar.

ELEMENT TWO: THE FIRST 50 WORDS

Go to Amazon. Look at your favorite books in your preferred genre. You’ll notice something important. See that little READ MORE option? Clicking or tapping that is Step One to get a reader to buy your book.

You’ve got six lines (or around 50 words). I think you actually get more now, but I’d say the research on a potential reader’s attention span holds true. You get them in those 50 words or you’ve probably lost them.

But if the reader clicks READ MORE, you’ve got them! Or at least they’re now your reader to lose.

That’s why to me, those first two lines better grab the reader or you’re in trouble. But it’s not just about grabbing their attention. You need to PROVOKE the reader. Make them feel what the book will make them feel. Then use each detail to escalate the intensity of that feeling.

Imagine the opening seconds of the trailer for Pretty Woman. I mean it makes you laugh and fall in love with Julia Roberts. I know your BCC doesn’t have her smile, but we can give it something like that.

Is your book funny? Make the reader laugh. Is your book dark? Make the reader’s heart clench. It’s so tempting to want to explain and summarize, but that’s boring. The key to a great BCC is to get VISCERAL.

ELEMENT THREE: THE FINAL PAYOFF

That brings us to the third element, the final payoff.

You’d think that the hook at the end of the BCC depends on some sort of plot detail. But it doesn’t. It depends on you frustrating this feeling you gave to the reader in the first two lines.

But sometimes, you want to reverse the order and start with the payoff. That’s the feast you dangle in front of the reader that’s just barely within reach…if the author will invest in reading your book.

EXAMPLE TIME: NEON GODS

To explain this, I want to take a deeper look at the BCC for the Katee Roberts book NEON GODS. First, the full BCC.

Now let’s take it apart one…uh…part at a time.

THE CONCEPT/HOOK

This hook doesn’t tell us very much about the story. Then again, it doesn’t need to. What Katee (or her copywriter) evokes is the promise of the EXPERIENCE of reading the book.

Katee is telling us the dynamic of the storytelling, the romance, the emotional conflict, the sex.

It tells us what genre we’re in.

The hero has attitude and sass and may refuse to be subdued.

THE MINI-BCC

The BCC could launch into the story, but Katee added one more line. Call it a closer, the line should only be there if it will sink your opening hook a little deeper into the reader’s heart.

Katee’s, as usual, does just that.

Think of this as the mini-BCC.

Whatever you tell in the long BCC needs to serve the experience the mini-BCC promises. Be selective about what details serve that purpose.

THE BCC

What kind of heroine would use this phrase? The reader not only wants to answer that question, they’re now looking forward to it. Well, if they’re into that sort of story, you know? They like a character with irreverence and just enough fear to remind the reader how bad this could be. But what’s life without a risk?

THE PAYOFF

That last line hooks us with the conflict the hero will face in order to keep the heroine close.

Think about what else this implies that the author is careful not to say. You don’t need to have read the book to see what I mean. Just from the BCC, you can imagine all kinds of scenes that will fill out the book.

Stop.

Do you feel the possibility of that space? The BCC’s job is to put the reader in that same space.

There are, of course, deeper secrets to get into. Advanced insights that we can discuss only now that we already went over so much. And I promise, we will…

But that’s a story for another time.

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