Showing posts with label Blurb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blurb. Show all posts

Monday, April 22, 2013

#CoverReveal : Crossroads by Jonathan Lister #Thriller #Werewolves


All I can say is OOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Check out this cover for my publisher's Nov 2013 release!!!





Crossroads

Release Date: November 4, 2013
Target Reader: Adult
Keywords: Thriller/Suspense, Werewolf

Werewolf. Bar bouncer. Dad. Standard traits for any self-respecting, reformed criminal, living under the radar in Demos City. For Leon Gray, normal is what he wants—for himself and his not-yet-changed teenage daughter.

Playing bodyguard to crusading reporter David Hastings would totally ruin Leon’s peace, especially since Hastings has hired killers on his trail, pros who know how he takes his espresso in the morning, andwhere Leon lives. 
The payoff, though, would fill up Shauna’s empty college fund, and in a battle between opportunity and ordinary, money wins. He just has to keep Hastings alive long enough to cash the check.
If only he didn’t have to save his daughter, too. 
As a budding wolf, she’s piqued the interest of a local pack Alpha—one Leon knows will steal Shauna right out from under him the first chance he gets. 
Leon isn’t about to give up on his daughter or Hastings, and will fight for both longer than it took Demos City to see werewolves as equals to humans.
He can only hope it doesn’t take a thousand years.



Pretty freakin' cool, right??? The cover alone is enough to give a person nightmares. Well done JTP! Almost as good as my Eye of the Soul cover.  ;)

Can't wait to get my paws on this one. 

Whatcha think??


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

5 Tips For Writing the Dreaded Blurb #Writetip #blurb


I'm not a blurb goddess by any means, but I want to share what I've learned on the topic so far.

For Eye of the Soul which releases in Oct of this year, the publisher and I went back and forth 7 or 8 times with blurb tweaks before we were both happy with it. I would love to post it here for the world to see, but alas, my contract keeps me from doing so until March 18th when the biggie cover & blurb reveal takes place.

But enough about me. Let's dive in.

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We'll start with the basics - what IS a blurb? 

It's a short description / summary of a book used for promotional purposes. Short? Yes. But how the heck can I pack what happens in my 80,000 word novel into less than 200 - 250 words???!?!?!?! 

Start out by just DOING. Write your summary. Be wordy, then grab that red pen. 






Be mindful of these 5 things as you're writing, slicing, & dicing.



1. Use a compelling (seductive) pitch to draw readers. It's a 'hook' like the one required within the first paragraph of a novel to nab attention. For example, let's look at the first line of Blue Moon, a paranormal romance by J.A. Belfield.


"Someone is watching the Holloway pack, and this time, the female isn’t the target."

Catchy. Raises questions. Makes you WANT to read the next line, doesn't it? 


2.  Plot. Give enough to set the stage, but don't bore. This is where you want to introduce the MC and the conflict they face, internal or external. Just make sure it's concise and spoiler free!

Here's an example from Sacrificial Oath, my short story in the Make Believe anthology.


"An impetuous act unwittingly makes Alesuela the fulfillment of the Sovereign’s Blood Oath to their Goddess. In five days, she’ll be forced to make the greatest choice of her life: become the virginal sacrifice already promised, or force the man she loves most to die in her place."

3. Use YOUR unique voice. Your tone. 


4. Use riveting words. Ones that will draw on the reader's emotions and create images in their minds. Be sure they're specific to your book's genre, too. If you're writing a fantasy blurb for a D&D type story, I'd suggest leaving out wordings like 'belly butterflies' or 'the hot guy next door'. Here's an example from my favorite fantasy novel of 2013 (so far) A Cast of Stones by Patrick Carr.


"In the backwater village of Callowford, Errol Stone's search for a drink is interrupted by a church messenger who arrives with urgent missives for the hermit priest in the hills. Desperate for coin, Errol volunteers to deliver them but soon finds himself hunted by deadly assassins. Forced to flee with the priest and a small band of travelers, Errol soon learns he's joined a quest that could change the fate of his kingdom." 

Missives, hermit priest, coin, band of travelers, quest, kingdom. All fantasy related. Urgent, desperate, and forced to flee all bring images to mind of what might happen to Errol.



5. A cliff hanger ending. Ask a question or use a last line that will have the reader dying to know more. For example, check out the last lines of The Glass Man, an Urban Fantasy by Jocelyn Adams.

"With the Glass Man threatening everyone she loves, can Lila accept who she is in time to end his bloody reign? Or will she succumb to his dark power and become the vehicle of destruction for the human race?"


If you're still at a loss, head to the library or local book store and grab a few of your genre books from the shelves. What makes you want to read one over the other? Look for similarities in length, wording, tension, and the desire it instills within you.



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What's your favorite or the worst part of blurb writing ? Any must-haves I missed? Tips?

Monday, May 21, 2012

Make Believe Cover Reveal!!!

Here it is, folks - my name on the cover of a book. *major dork dance* It's my first anthology publication with the great





Let's go ahead & let that SQUEEEEEEEEEEE out, shall we? hehe

And yes, I DID re-do my blog & website to match. It's that OCD thingy that sometimes rears its silly head.





So what is this anthology about???


Sacrificial Oath by Terri Rochenski
An impetuous act unwittingly makes Alesuela the fulfillment of the Sovereign’s Blood Oath to their Goddess. In five days, she’ll be forced to make the greatest choice of her life: become the virginal sacrifice already promised, or force the man she loves most to die in her place.
With an impossible choice in front of her, she searches for ways to undo the oath, and in her quest, finds not everything in her life is as she expects.

The Amulet of Ormisez by J. Keller Ford
There is only one way to save Elton Fletcher’s brother from an insanity-ridden death.
After years away from home, fighting for his people, Elton returns to discover his only sibling, Cayden, possessed by greed and malice, and responsible for malicious, unthinkable deeds. Cayden, though, isn’t the only one afflicted by the Amulet of Ormisez, and Elton finds himself in yet another battle, where the price of failure could be his own life.

Birthright by Lynda R. Young
Christa can mask the pain and hide the scars, but running from a birthright is impossible.
She’s tried to escape her grief by fleeing to a small town in Florida. Much to her frustration, the locals think they recognize her even though she's never been there before. To make things worse, a man named Jack spouts outrageous theories about her.
Both spur Christa to bolt, to start fresh yet again, but there’s something about Jack that intrigues her enough to stay. The only problem? Someone else wants her to leave, and they won’t stop until she’s dead.

Petrified by Kelly Said
A mysterious storm has replaced summer with winter, devastating crops and smothering Castle lands in snow.  Prince Sterling August stands alone as a leader, lost in personal grief as well as a desire to help his people but with an inability to do either.
The answers he needs await him, but without Lochlyn, a woman who’s just as isolated as Sterling, he’ll never see what stands before him, cloaked in illusion.

Last Winter Red by Jennifer M. Eaton
Emily is a Red, a woman whose sole purpose in life is to produce offspring. When her husband dies and leaves her childless, she risks her life and forsakes the safety of Terra—a disease-free city born after the nuclear holocaust. Beyond its boundaries, she knows, survives a man with whom she can be properly paired.
The Outside, though, holds secrets the government struggles to keep, and what Emily discovers on her quest for a mate will change her life forever.

Escort to Insanity by J.A. Belfield
From a charity auction, to a stroll in the park, to the craziest night of her life. Nicole Harrington can’t help but wonder how a simple event went so drastically wrong.
Of course, the male escort she booked is wholly to blame. Not only charming but shrewdly intelligent, Benjamin Gold drags Nicole into a platoon of unimaginable problems—ones from which she’ll have to find the courage just to survive.

So are you excited? Gunna gobble this one up on December  3rd or what!??? Can't order one yet, but add it to your Goodreads shelf by clicking HERE.