The promise
What kind of book this is, in the first lines, so the right reader stays.
Home/Editing/Book Description & Back Cover
Back-cover copy and the retail description are not a summary of every chapter. They are the reason a stranger, holding the book or scrolling past it, decides to open page one. We write that, from the book, without the usual fog.
What kind of book this is, in the first lines, so the right reader stays.
Person, want, trouble. Not a tour of the themes.
A version for the cover and a version for the retailer, if they need to differ.
No twist spoiled that the cover should hide, and no promise the book does not keep.
The brief
Jacket copy fails in two directions. It withholds so much that the reader has no reason to care, or it retells the plot until the book feels used up. We write the pressure: who is in trouble, what they stand to lose, and the tone of the book, so a reader of that shelf recognizes it. The last line should make them want the first page, not replace it.
Retail text and back-cover text are cousins, not twins. The store page can be a little longer. The jacket has less room and has to work next to the title. We draft both when you need both, and we do not stuff either with adjectives about how gripping the book is. If it is gripping, the situation will say so.
How the copy is written
We learn what the book is, including the tone. A comic novel does not get a grim blurb.
Person and trouble, before any praise.
The ending stays off the jacket. The reason to care does not.
Jacket and retail, if both are required.
You confirm we did not promise a book you did not write.
Before you send the manuscript
We need enough to know the stake and the tone, and we need to know the ending so we do not spoil it or contradict it. A synopsis plus two chapters can be enough. A logline alone is not.
Yes, if you send the facts. We will not invent credentials. A short bio is part of the jacket more often than people plan for. Ask for it at the start.
No. A query asks an agent for pages. Jacket copy asks a reader to open the book. The stake may be similar. The document is not. We will not hand you a query and call it a back cover.
You do. It goes on your book, under your name.
When you are ready
Tell us where the copy has to live: the jacket, the store page, or both. Call (833) 688-4166 or write [email protected].
The shelf
Our team has helped write, publish and market thousands of books over the past decade. Our books are well-written and finished to perfection. Have a look at some of our ghostwriters’ best works and clients’ bestsellers.
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