3 Easy Tips to Crafting a Compelling, Cozy Book Blurb

Are you one of the many cozy mystery authors who would rather write another book than write your Amazon book blurb?

You’re definitely not alone. On the one hand, you know how important those blurbs are, at least if you want to sell any books. On the other, you just wrote an entire book! How are you supposed to summarize it in a brief, compelling manner that convinces readers to buy it?

I know, it’s tough. Which is why I wanted to share 3 quick tips on crafting the perfect blurb to sell your book.

But first, who am I and why on earth should you listen to me? Along with being a cozy mystery author, I’m also a direct response copywriter. I built a multiple 6-figure copywriting company that I ran for over twenty years, and my specialty was helping entrepreneurs with their online sales. While none of those entrepreneurs were fiction authors, the lessons I leaned over those years I was able to transfer to my fiction business, specifically selling cozy mystery books.

So, with that, let’s jump into the 3 tips.

Tip 1: Think small

One of the best examples is from one of my psychological thriller books. This book ended up being 110,000 words of a massive, sprawling plot about a college student who had cystic fibrosis, an angsty love story and a touch of mean girls and general college angst. The main character college student was also hiding a family secret around her twin sister disappearing when they were around five years old, and for most of the book she was being stalked.

As you can see, it was a very complicated plot.

So what did I write for my book blurb?

As a child, Kit’s twin sister Cat disappeared, never to be heard from again. Until one Halloween night. But is it really Cat?

That’s basically the opening scene. Nothing about the stalking or her disease or the love story (which is pretty prominent in the book) or really anything else.

Now, I will admit, part of the reason why I was able to distill that book into 3 sentences (which were so successful for this book that it ended up getting as high as #28 in the entire Kindle store) was BECAUSE the plot was so complicated. I was at a complete loss trying to fit all the details into a few paragraphs on Amazon. So I decided to focus on just one plot point. And it worked.

Over the years, I’ve had my best successes picking one or two plot points (especially if they’re trope-y) and leaving the rest. The books that have struggled more seem to be the ones where I’m not as good as whitling it down to one or two trope-y plot points.

So how do you pick which plot point to focus on? I’m glad you asked, as that leads me to tip #2:

Tip #2: Your blurb should capture the emotional payoff of your book

For example: one of my cozy mysteries that is very twisty mystery (and also one of my longer cozies) starts with these two sentences:

5 friends went into the woods. Only 4 came out.

For that cozy, because it was a very twisty and kind on the dark side for a cozy mystery, I emphasized the mystery part.

I have another, much lighter and funnier cozy mystery series that starts like this:

Emily Hildebrandt has run into a bit of a rough patch. She’s lost her job, her fiance and her apartment. Still, she never expected to be desperate enough to accept an invitation to live with her eccentric Aunt Tilde in Redemption, Wisconsin.

But, beggars can’t be choosers. Even if part of the deal is she has to pretend to work at her aunt’s latest hair-brained scheme, The Redemption Detective Agency.

First off, you’ll notice the second blurb is much longer. That’s because in that series it’s less about the mystery, and more about humor and relationships. There are silver sleuths, pet detectives, a strong romance subplot, and a lot of humor. Now, I didn’t capture all of that in the blurb, but I wanted to capture the feeling or emotional pay off the reader can expect. I barely talk about the mystery at all in the blurb (it’s hinted at in the end) whereas my other cozy mystery, the mystery is front and center.

That’s what I mean about making your blurb fit the emotional pay off. If you are more of an Agatha Christie cozy mystery author, you may want to focus on the mystery. You may especially want to lean into the mystery if it fits a common mystery trope (i.e. locked door, lost in the woods, amnesia, family secrets, etc.)

If your cozy mystery is more about the cozy, and especially if you have lots of cozy tropes, lean into that (i.e. small town, quirky characters, pets, baking, hobbies, fish-out-of-water sleuth, silver sleuths, humor, etc.)

Lastly, I would also make sure your cover fits the emotional pay off of your book. In other words, not only should you make sure your cover matches the top 100 of its category, but that it also fits the tone of your book. Remember, the cover is the first thing that is going to catch the readers’ eye. If the cover draws them in, they’ll read the blurb. If the blurb and the cover don’t match (i.e. your cover looks like a culinary cozy but it’s actually a vacation cozy) the reader is going to experience emotional dissonance between your cover and the description, which means they won’t buy your book.

Tip 3: The writing itself should match what the reader will experience

Is your book funny or lighthearted? Then add some humor or lightheartedness to the blurb. Is it more twisty or hard-boiled? Make it more mysterious or maybe even add a dash of high-stakes thriller writing if your book includes some of that.

If you have a very distinctive main character voice (or if your main character is an animal, like a cat or dog), you may want to have your character write the blurb, as that can be a very effective way of giving your readers a taste of the book.

Remember, readers are looking to be entertained as well as to feel a certain way. If they don’t care for your writing style, or the writing style of your book, they probably won’t enjoy reading your book, regardless of how well it’s written or how great the mystery is. Readers also aren’t going to spend a bunch of time trying to figure out if your book is a match for them, so if your blurb isn’t clear or if they don’t get a good sense of the experience they’re going to get with your book, they likely aren’t going to take a chance.

So, to recap, a good book blurb will:

Be short and sweetCapture the main tropes in as few as words as possibleCapture the emotional pay off of your bookCapture the experience of reading your book

It may seem a little daunting to approach book blurbs in this way, but once you get the hang of it, you might be surprised how quick and easy writing a successful book blurb is. Good luck and happy selling!

A USA Today Bestselling, award-winning author, Michele Pariza Wacek taught herself to read at 3 years old because she wanted to write stories so badly. It took some time (and some detours) but now she does spend much of her time writing stories. Mystery stories, to be exact. They’re clean and twisty, and range from psychological thrillers to cozies, with a dash of romance and supernatural thrown into the mix. You can learn more about her at MPWNovels.com.