Back Cover Copy!

Just before I went to the Romance Writers’ of Australia Conference a few weeks ago, I was getting ready to send a new manuscript out into the world. I held off until I got back home because there was something about the blurb I’d written that didn’t sit right. It just didn’t grab me, for want of a better term. I’ve never really had a problem writing the blurbs for my books before, but this one was kicking my butt. Boring…boring…boring! And if it didn’t hold my attention, then it sure wasn’t going to work for an agent or an editor, let alone a reader.

I’m glad I left it until I get back home, because as luck would have it, Agent Kristen Nelson was a guest speaker at the conference. I attended one of her workshops where the focus was on writing back cover copy. Wow! Light bulb moment! I suddenly knew where I’d gone wrong. I hadn’t used that one element, that one inciting moment that catapulted my heroine into a world of intrigue, betrayal and love. I needed to start with the catalyst that took a crazy idea from my head and drove my characters and their story to a satisfying conclusion, because without that catalyst there would be no story. What an awakening moment. Thank you, Kristen Nelson.

It got me thinking about what it is that captures a reader’s attention when they pick up a book in a store and read the back cover. Is it a play on words that draws you in until you know you can’t leave the store without buying the book? Does it excite your imagination? Is it character? Plot? Or a combination of both?

What grabs you and yanks you into the story? This lowly writer would really like to know.



Alexis Fleming
Daring desires…otherworldly seductions.
http://www.alexisfleming.net