Writing Book Blurbs for Different Genres

When it comes to writing a book blurb, there are different rules for different genres. Some of these rules are pretty simple, but you want to make sure that you follow them. However, it can be difficult to know what these rules are without reading book blurbs often from every genre out there. That can be almost impossible, so we have scoured the expert advice for writing blurbs in lots of different genres to give you some tips no matter what type of book you have written. Let’s take a look at several different genres and reading levels for some terrific tips.

Epic Fantasy

Epic Fantasy, also known as High Fantasy or Sword-and-Sorcery, is a type of fiction that takes place in a world like Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire. There may be knights, dragons, wizards and magic. To create a blurb for an Epic Fantasy novel, make sure that you highlight the fantastic world and the epic quest. Readers love these kinds of books because the heroes are in an amazing new world on a quest to save everyone.

Other Fantasy

Other types of fantasy like Urban Fantasy or the Harry Potter series takes place in the real world – or a world very similar to the real world. You want to highlight things like the transition from the normal life of the hero to the magical one, or in the case of Urban Fantasy, the grittiness of the magical world the heroes live in.

Middle-Grade Fiction

Middle-grade fiction blurbs should always be written in a lighthearted tone. Middle-grade fiction is read by kids from around 6 years old all the way up to 11 years old, depending upon the age of the main character. The exciting and fantastic elements should always be highlighted.

Young Adult

With young adult fiction, or YA, you want to focus on the relatability of the main character and what they are going through – even if what they are going through is a dystopian future like in The Hunger Games. Almost every young adult novel has some kind of romance in it as well – so you may want to mention that in your blurb.

Romance

With romance novels, you want to focus on the main characters in your blurb as well as the circumstances behind the “will they won’t they” of the plot. You can mention the secondary plot, but mostly focus on the romance.

Science Fiction

With sci-fi, make sure that you write the blurb to include the futuristic or scientific nature of the story so that people know it is sci-fi when they read the blurb.

Mysteries

When it comes to writing mysteries, always focus on the strangeness of the crime as well as how difficult it is to solve. You also want to focus a little on your main character and why he or she has the detective skills to solve a crime that no one else can. Think of Sherlock Holmes.