Imagine you're holding a book in your hands, scanning the back cover. Your eyes widen on a blurb that nails so many of your interests—Springtime in a big city, mosaic walls, characters with relatable goals—you could have written the book yourself. You dive in, salivating.
The first page grips you. Anticipation builds. You're halfway through the first chapter in minutes.
But after that first chapter, your fingers slacken. Something is missing. You flip to the back cover again, frowning over the words that sparked your interest. The blurb is still the same, making grand promises of adventure, heartache, and a journey you wanted to follow.
Sighing, you dive into chapter two. Maybe it just needs a little more time. The rest of your hopes melt away on those bland, vague descriptions and characters.
What happened? Disconnect.
This has been a frustrating and familiar trend for me lately. Back covers can tease a world so rich with my types of tropes and interests, then fool me in those first few chapters. Too often I have continued reading, hoping to be pleasantly surprised that "it gets better."
Too often, I end a story even more irritated that I wasted my time on a lackluster journey. I feel silly. Cheated. I even go so far as to look up reviews to form camaraderie with another frustrated reader. Even more bewildering, I scroll through four and five stars reviews to get to the few one and two-stars. Some people found what they sought in those pages. I just didn't.
But then, I read that one or two-star review that justifies my gloom. Such reviews often contain objective perspectives like:
It was told the characters were exemplary swordfighters but wasn't shown a single decent fight scene
Great concept, but the author didn't follow through with fleshing out their world, leaving me confused
It wasn't just one thing but too many little missed opportunities that made the story bland and predictable
Blurbs are promises directly from an author: promises they can't afford to break. Misrepresentation on a blurb leads to grim reviews. This is why I both love and hate the process of condensing my books into that tiny amount of info, hoping it will catch a reader's eye.
Even if a reader likes my premise/blurb, but doesn't connect with the story itself, I want them to be able to leave a subjective review. I'm fine with people not liking my stories or characters, but I don't want misrepresentation or lazy writing to be the reason. This means:
If I describe a character as demure and just starting out in the real world, I better show that character struggling in their new environment
When I promise action, I better show the characters in tense and/or life-threatening fight scenes—with or without weapons.
When a character has a major reaction (fear, anger, lashing out, etc.), I better have a solid reason on future pages to support their supposed OOC moment
I write this often: reading is and will always be subjective. No matter what kind of story I write, what sorts of deep and loveable characters I develop, they won't connect with some people. There will never be a perfect story that appeals to everyone. It's why I have to do my best for the sake of my stories and future readers, and why I can't let the negatives get me down.
And it all begins with a compelling but accurate blurb. No pressure, right?
No matter how many people leave one or two star reviews on my future stories, others will leave me shining marks and praise. I'm still not sure where my author journey will take me, but I'm enjoying the ride. Focusing on the positives leaves less room for doubt to move in. That's a beautiful place to be.
Keep on smilin'!
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