If you mean the back cover blurb, in general, it's 250 words or less long, and reads a lot like the voice over for the film they would make of the book. Its purpose is a teaser to make the reader open the front cover. If you mean the front cover insert there are no standards. It can be an excerpt, praise from reviewers, or anything the publisher thinks will help. That being said, you don't get to write it if a conventional publisher says yes. They have copy people who know what their readers respond to and they do the copy for the back cover.
Exactly. It is part of the marketing, and publishers have their own marketing staff for that and similar purposes.
as far as i know, there is no style sheet or template for writing book flap/back cover summaries/blurbs... all you need do is see how they're written on bestselling books... that said, as noted above, unless you're self-publishing a jacketed hard-cover book, you won't be writing it, the publisher will... and if you are going to self-publish, not only would the cost of having a jacketed hard-cover printed be extremely high, but so few other than family and friends would be likely to buy it, that you wouldn't be able to recoup anything near the total of what you'd have to spend...
Thank you for your responses -- informaative and helpful. I have joined a small critque group and I wanted to prepare something to give the group the same kind of teaser you have explained so that they would know the premise of the book. I think these teasers, synopsis, summaries, whatever labels you choose are useful for first-time authors looking for beta readers and even for self publishers who are also self-marketing. Another reason I would like to have a polished one. Next question--is there any place on this Forum that you would recommend posting such a piece for review / critique?
it would have to be in the 'writing workshop section' to get it critiqued... and if it's a blurb for a novel, that would be the best section...
Thank you mammamaia. I read the short (approx 150 words version) yesterday to my small critique group that meets once a month. They were helpful. I will now rewrite that short one and start developing the longer summary (synopsis) that I would need for a query. I have plenty of time as I have not yet finished the first full draft of this novel. I do have enough completed to work periodically on these side issues.
in re a query letter, the summary portion should be no longer than a single paragraph... a synopsis is generally only sent if requested... and the most requested length is the 'short' [1-2 pages], or 'medium' [2-5 pages]... a 'long' is rarely asked for, so seasoned writers usually keep just a short and medium ready to send, in case an agent asks for one...
