by brooke thompson
Whether you’re writing for an online audience or trying to sell your youth book in a store, it’s important to entice your audience to read your story. While a compelling book title is half the battle in attracting a potential reader, an engaging blurb is a must.
You are reading: Blurb examples for children’s books
Sometimes creating a blurb can be tricky as we can get caught up in the details (or lack thereof). And that can easily turn away potential readers, including teens and young adults, and buyers, like parents and teachers.
then: how to write a blurb for a book? How do we, as authors, create an eye-catching blurb that gives the reader enough information about the book but doesn’t give away the plot?
First, let’s understand the purpose of a book blurb.
what is book propaganda?
an advertisement must satisfy three things:
who is the main character(s),
what the story is going to be about, and
what is the genre of the story.
When formulating a blurb, go ahead and write what your story is about. after you’re done, reflect on it. ask yourself these questions:
Does the blurb seem too long?
does it contain too much information?
Does advertising leave my audience wanting more or less?
does it make my book sound interesting or cliche?
sounds pretty easy, right?
Common mistakes authors make when formulating their ads include writing an ad that has too much information, is too long, or has an odd combination of dialogue and synopsis.
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or, what is worse, the synopsis does not adequately capture the essence of its own story, which causes a great rejection among the readers.
But how can you avoid making these mistakes when writing a blurb? Here are four ways to write a stunning review for your kids’ book.
Check out my conversation on how to write a stunning blurb here
You may also be interested in: How to Self Publish Children’s Books Without Crushing Your Spirit (A Complete Guide)
how to write a review for your children’s book
1. be mysterious
Human beings by nature love a bit of mystery. The key to creating a successful blurb for your children’s book is to tell the audience enough about the story without giving explicit details about what will happen.
While it’s okay to reveal one or two plot points, try not to reveal several. if you add too much information, your story will lose the element of surprise.
so, this will make your potential reader wonder, “what’s the point of reading this book if I already know what’s going to happen?”
you don’t want that.
At the same time, don’t make your comment too vague. this makes your book sound clichéd or boring.
To give an example, look for the ad for looking for alaska.
is the epitome of vagueness. while the blurb gives you an idea of what kind of story you’re going to read, you don’t really know what’s going to happen.
based on the blurb, all he knows is that it will be a coming of age story starring a boy named miles who goes to a new school and is looking for a “big maybe”. he meets a girl named alaska who rocks his world.
Sounds like the start of any cliche romance or coming-of-age story. however, this sentence at the end of the blurb shakes the mold: “later. nothing is the same.”
The last sentence makes the potential reader think, “next? after what happens? ‘nothing will ever be the same’ after what happens?”
The mystery of that line is an example of what draws people to read a book like that.
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2. add a scene from the book that captures its essence
If you’re having a hard time creating an interesting blurb, why not add some dialogue or even a short scene from your story?
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your reader gets a sense of what’s going on and gives them clues as to what kind of book they’re choosing.
twilight is an example of how an excerpt from a book can create a successful blurb. The fragment in question was taken from a scene in the novel in which the beautiful protagonist reflects on her thoughts about Edward, the mysterious boy at her school.
To give a simplified version of what was chosen as propaganda, it states that: edward is a vampire; he’s dangerous to be around, and bella has a crush on him.
propaganda satisfies these three things: (1) who the characters are, (2) what the story is about, and (3) what kind of story it is.
While it accomplishes that, the blurb also adds an element of suspense, as the reader (provided they haven’t seen the 2008 film) will wonder how the relationship between a human and a vampire will work out.
3. write a book summary of less than ten sentences
This one can be a bit controversial, but speaking from personal experience, nobody likes to read a wall of text. As a book lover, it’s easy to lose interest in a book whose blurb is longer than 15 sentences.
This guy is related to being mysterious. remember: less is more. try to summarize your story in about ten sentences.
look at the propaganda of the hunger games. six sentences make up the entire blurb, yet readers have a basic understanding of what the story is about, who the main character is, and what kind of book they’re getting into.
Also, just as it’s important to have an engaging first sentence of a story, try applying this principle to the first two sentences of the blurb. Although it depends on the website, some, like quotev and wattpad, will only show the first two sentences of a blurb in the description function.
Therefore, it is imperative that there is a hook in those sentences, something that really draws the reader in.
4. get feedback
just like any other piece of writing, receiving feedback is very important. If you’re not sure about your blurb, ask a friend to look it over. ask them (and make sure they are honest) if they would read your propaganda-based story.
if not, ask them the four questions at the beginning of the article and modify your blurb from there.
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final thoughts on how to write a stunning summary for your children’s book
Creating an awesome blurb for your kids’ book isn’t exactly rocket science, but it can be when we’re trying to attract readers to our stories.
Your propaganda is a presentation of your story to the world. and we all know how important first impressions can be, for books or otherwise. so make sure you take your time.
If all else fails, remember: be mysterious and write less than ten sentences. or, if you feel stuck, use a cutscene or some dialogue as propaganda.
Using these simple tactics can really help you create an effective blurb that will wow readers.
what do you think? Do you have any tips for creating an effective blurb for your children’s book? let us know in the comments what you think.
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