Fiction Blurbs The Best Page Forward Way: The Step-by-Step Guide to Win over Readers, Sell More Books, and Market Like a Pro

by Phoebe J. Ravencraft, Bryan Cohen

Ready to give your novel the best chance at success? Learn eye-opening methods for penning sizzling descriptions that maximize sales.

Are you brought to tears distilling your 80,000-word epic into punchy, irresistible lines? Does switching from author to marketer leave you trembling at the keyboard? Is adapting your story’s synopsis into compelling copy like pulling teeth? With over twenty-five years as a professional marketing writer, BPF Editor-in-Chief Phoebe Ravencraft has led Bryan Cohen’s skilled team in creating over 5,000 sharply concise blurbs for published indie authors. Now she’s here to show you how to craft power phrases that drive readers wild for the buy button.

Fiction Blurbs The Best Page Forward Way is a meticulously detailed look at the precise words, format, and language underpinning a high-converting book description. Delivered in a friendly, conversational style, Ravencraft employs easy-to-understand examples that break down the art and science of marketing copy into a sentence-by-sentence masterclass. And by practicing these skills, you’ll learn how to make your unique story leap off the product page and into the hands of rabid new fans.

In Fiction Blurbs The Best Page Forward Way, you’ll discover:

Tricks for signaling genre and tone in the opening line to entice your ideal reader to devour more

Why tropes matter and how you can leverage them to grab the attention of hungry bookworms

How to identify the inciting incident and why including it turns casual browsers into diehard devotees

Two key paragraphs authors get wrong and how to mold them into tantalizing calls to action

The importance of rising stakes, grammar and style notes, innovative exercises to sharpen your commercial acumen, and much, much more!

Fiction Blurbs The Best Page Forward Way: The Step-by-Step Guide to Win over Readers, Sell More Books, and Market Like a Pro is your essential resource for becoming a copywriting ace. If you like clearly outlined advice, fun and relatable sample exercises, and encouraging in-depth teaching, then you’ll love Phoebe J. Ravencraft & Bryan Cohen’s sure bet for authors.

Buy Fiction Blurbs The Best Page Forward Way to catapult conversions today!

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

209 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 19, 2022

Reviews

[Kara Jorgensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish the author included several finished examples for well known books or movies at the end. That was my biggest gripe.
I don't think I'd use all the advice in it, but it was a useful book for my purposes.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read a few writing advice books by this time, I've learned to go into them with a highlighter in hand, ready to highlight the valuable portions and skip any bloated or unhelpful content, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised how much there was to highlight here. While I didn't always find all the examples very engaging myself, I had to give a lot of kudos as I struggled through some of the surprisingly difficult to achieve acrobatics of the homework myself. Not only that, but the psychological aspects--and how they made so much sense alongside the often surprisingly counter-intuitive advice--was fascinating! While some of the chapters are admittedly a little less trim or helpful than others, as I started writing my own blurb, I found myself referring to my homework and the book again and again. I know this will be a crucial resource for me moving forward.

[Rebekah Donaldson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Help... A Bit Confusing in Structure

I found this super helpful and i still highly suggest reading it. However, the way it was structured had some information that would have helped me a ton far from where it would have helped me. After being told not to do something, then being told later you do it but a different way actually REALLY through me off. Calling out my problem directly and telling me "not this" then several chapters later saying "ok you should do it but this way". Even just a note of "Well almost never but we'll get to that" would have saved me days of discouragement and confusion. But other than that, great. Hense only 4 stars. Without that one hiccup 5 star for sure.

[Angela Boord · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never know how to rate these how-to business books right after I read them, but I'm trying to write a blurb right now and this book has been helpful. Writing blurbs is one of those things I would rather put off indefinitely until after I catch up on my laundry (I will never catch up on my laundry), and I liked that this book not only provides a template for the blurb as a whole, but for every sentence that goes into the blurb. I still am not finding blurb-writing easy, but the other books I've read give you a lot less hand-holding and I apparently need the hand-holding.

If you've never written a blurb, or if you, like me, would rather do laundry than write blurbs, I would definitely recommend this book.

[Lynne Spreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a relief to find this fantastic book! Following Phoebe Ravencraft's helpful, step-by-step guide, I not only updated my book blurbs (sales pages), but I also created a blurb to guide me in writing my newest novel. Fiction Blurbs is logical, easy to follow, smart, and entertaining. The author, an English major and professional marketing coach, has a background that inspires confidence. This book is now one of the most important how-tos on my shelf. If you're an author looking to get visible, I highly recommend Fiction Blurbs.

[Emily Michel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a book that breaks down in minute detail what a fiction book blurb needs to be in order to attract readers. This was the most helpful book I've read in this department - most other marketing books only give a general idea of how to put together a blurb. This one spends the time describing what each sentence should do and gets you to exchange your author hat for your marketing one. All without making me feel stupid or incapable. Well done!

[Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't implemented this process yet, but it was very well described and I feel like I can make a great blurb now. I'm kind of confused why Bryan's name is on the cover as it seems to have been written entirely by Phoebe, but the content is great. I read through it, taking notes, and getting ideas about my own novel. I have not ready any other blurb books so I don't know how it compares to anything else out there.

[Diane Werckle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A veritable college course on writing book blurbs

Fiction Blurbs by Bryan Cohen and Phoebe Ravencraft is a must read for the world be copy writer struggling to create engaging back matter or sales copy.
It is informative, relatable, and surprisingly humorous. This is the first non fiction, self help book I've actually enjoyed reading in a looong time. Highly recommended for indie authors and anyone trying to market their fiction book.
Now to get that blurb written.

[Sara Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a step-by-step guide for how each sentence in a blurb should flow. Each sentence is given it's own chapter, which I found super helpful. It makes it easy to reference the chapter in the future.

Since blurbs require copy writing skills, I realize that will take time to master. But after reading this book I feel like I have the foundation necessary to build upon.

I highly recommend this book to all writers struggling with their blurbs.

[Philip Jarnhus · Rating 5 out of 5]

For people who like structure and processes this is the ideal guide to writing blurbs. Phoebe J. Ravencraft takes us through a step by step guide on how to write a blurb, providing useful exercises along the way.

I really like the way the book balances general grammatical advice with blurb specific structures.

[Kerri Lukasavitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference book for fiction authors looking to write marketing blurbs for their books. Ravencraft and Cohen take each sentence of a blurb chapter by chapter so their method is easily understood. Their examples and editing show what makes an okay blurb turn into one that will grab the attention of a potential reader. Very helpful book. I highly recommend it.

[Connor+Lindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Useful, sensible and practical

I have been writing my own blurbs for years and this has helped me find a better way to do so.
It’s not “formulaic” like some. Sure, it has an ‘outline’ of a sort, but you have to put the work in to fill out each section, and then polish, polish, polish.

[Bellamina Court · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the way through the book I was convinced that I had just spent the last 6 months writing a novel that no one will want to read. Talk about major impostor syndrome. But with the help of this book, I crafted a first draft of a blurb - and it sounds like a book I would want to read. The homework is daunting but worth it.

[Emersyn Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t normally read nonfiction or self-help (this is self-help for authors), books, but this one came highly recommended. I’m glad I got it. While all of the information may be obvious to some, it was very helpful in explaining the “why” as well. I loved how it is black and white, and anyone can apply it to their book description.

[Lisa McCombs · Rating 5 out of 5]

As craft books go, Phoebe Ravencraft has nailed it. This is hands down one of the most valuable texts on the market. Ravencraft is relatable in her no-nonsense explanations of blurb writing. I have performed her practical exercises multiple times and plan to internalize the instruction detailed in this important addition to my growing writer's library. I will use Fiction Blurbs again and again.

[Sumi Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing blurbs are hard especially if you've written your own books. You're too invested in the story and cannot step back to write a selling blurb. This book is all about getting you there, but it's time- consuming figuring it out. I'd much rather outsource this job. If you have time to learn how to master blurb writing then this book is for you.

[Jessica Kemery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply the best

This is a masterclass on how to write a blub. So informative, so insightful, so impactful. Every author should own this book and keep it on their desk as a go to resource.

[Emily Catford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great guide to writing blurbs

Clear explanations, well thought out and well written.

This book takes you through each part of your blurb and helps you understand it’s purpose.

A must read for Indie authors

[Michelle Nezat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed walking through this thorough guide. I followed along with practicing using another book (actually a book for a friend). It is harder than it seems to write a good blurb, but this has been an invaluable resource!

[Alicia Scarborough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth it

Truly fabulous! Phoebe, guides you through the stress inducing task of writing a blurb and makes it a walk in the park.

No more will I be sitting there procrastinating on writing my blurb with the BPF method in hand.

Writing blurbs just got easy.

[Fanica Rarinca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to learn and apply

I like this book. Every lesson, every chapter is very easy to understand. Also, you have homeworks for every step you need to write in a blurb.

[Zara West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful book. Breaks down writing a blurb into understandable parts.

[William Brinkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The method works, but there are other ways to write a good blurb. This method wasn’t for me, but others might get something out of it.

[Fred Fanning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Valuable Information

The author provides essential information to write good blurbs for fiction books you have written. The author includes step by step instructions with homework.

[Angela Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best blurb writing book

I followed the step by step guidance to write the blurb for my new book. This really dispels the mystery.

[Sarah Brody · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book clearly lays out a solid framework for crafting book blurbs in an easy to follow way. I only wish the author had included blurbs from bestsellers and blockbusters, but it’s still 5 stars from me and has earned a spot on most used resources.

[Jamie Schultz · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5
10/5
1,000,000/5
ALL THE STARS
If you DESPISE blurb writing as much as I do, this book will SAVE YOU! It's actual, for real, literal step-by-step instructions on how to write a blurb. I could cry

[Christine Hancock · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great guide. Invaluable. If you use Save The Cat to plan your novel this guide will make perfect sense.