Should it be written in whatever tense you are writing? Or is there a firm standard that it needs to be?
Good question. I never thought about that before. I automatically wrote mine in present tense although the novel is in past tense. Hm, I wonder if I did something wrong...
Why don't you just read the back of a book and see what tense they write it in? But I was under the impression that the publisher will take care of the blurb, and not the author, or am I wrong?
Mckk: some people say (at least were I live, which is not UK or US by the way) that it's a good thing to include something like the summary/back cover text in the query. Then of course the publisher might change it before it's published, this one is just for getting them interested in reading it.
The synopsis is always written in present tense and most back cover blurbs are also written in present tense. Although I've seen a couple back covers that did something a bit different like quote from the story and since most books are written in past tense the blurb was in past tense. Yes, the publisher takes care of the backcover blurb but there are a myraid of different times that having one comes in handy and most of them happen long before a publisher even thinks about the backcover of your book. Like Tersoro mentioned, one time that having that short synopsis is handy is when sending a query to an agent or publisher to get them to consider your book. Plus, I find that it is much easier to stay focused on where my story is going if I have taken the time to write a blurb. It really cements the stories direction in my head.
a summary is needed in all queries, tesoro, regardless of where one lives... but while it will be similar to a book blurb, it shouldn't have any questions and most agents want to know how the story ends, which you wouldn't be telling potential readers on the back cover... it should definitely be in present tense, jh... and you wouldn't be writing a back cover blurb unless you're self-publishing the book because the publisher does that, not the author...
