How to Deconstruct Back Cover Copy to Write Your Own Blurb [INFOGRAPHIC + SPREADSHEET]

Back cover copy is the blurb on the back of a book. It’s more sales pitch than summary– the back cover copy for Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone doesn’t even mention Ron, Hermione, or Voldemort!

I’ve also got an example spreadsheet for you to use for your own novel, but first let’s analyze what’s on the back of Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone and The Hunger Games to see if we can extract some patterns:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter has never played a sport while flying on a broomstick. He’s never worn a cloak of invisibility, befriended a giant, or helped hatch a dragon. All Harry knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley. Harry’s room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn’t had a birthday party in eleven years.

But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to a wonderful place he never dreamed existed. There he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic around every corner, but a great destiny that’s been waiting for him . . . if Harry can survive the encounter.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins:

Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before– and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

I am going to exclude Twilight from this analysis because the back cover copy is so different (it’s actually a quote lifted from the book, so it seems harder to learn from). Maybe its style works for a romance, but here I felt it was too much of an outlier to average with the other adventure-story data.

Back Cover Copy Word Counts and Sentence Counts

Notice how short the back cover copy is! You have just a few sentences to get the point across. (For the curious, Twilight‘s back cover copy is 57 words and 5 sentences.)

Now that we know how much space we are working with, let’s look at the elements of the back cover copy.

1. The Hook

The first sentence is very catchy and grabs interest through unusual objects or an intriguing event. Notice that both of these examples allude to a future event.

• “Harry Potter has never played a sport while flying on a broomstick. He’s never worn a cloak of invisibility, befriended a giant, or helped hatch a dragon.”
• “Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .”

2. Dreary Backstory (that Hints at the Future)

The next two sentences describe backstory in terms of the future. We learn facts about the hero’s current “normal,” and as you can see from the bolded language, this is a dreary place. Every fact we learn hints at the hero’s future adventures.

• Harry’s harsh home life is contrasted with the future described in the hook. “All Harry knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley. Harry’s room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn’t had a birthday party in eleven years.”
• In The Hunger Games, the hero (we don’t know it’s Katniss yet) lives in harsh society, which holds an annual event. This annual event will naturally come again in the hero’s future.  “In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.”

3. A Glimpse of Characters (Including the Hero’s Age)

The blurb informs the reader of two pieces of information about the hero: his age and his family.

• The blurb implies that Harry is eleven: “and he hasn’t had a birthday party in eleven years.”
• The reader learns clearly that Katniss is sixteen: “Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen”

We also get a quick glimpse of other characters from the hero’s home life only, but notice that the main relationships are not explored.

• In Harry Potter, we learn of three characters from his home life: his aunt, uncle, and Dudley. We also infer that he befriends a giant and others, but they are not named. There is no mention of Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, or Voldemort.
• In The Hunger Games, the only other character mentioned is Katniss’s unnamed sister. There is no mention of Peeta, Gale, Rue, Haymitch, or President Snow.

4. The Invitation Brings a Big Change

This is the invitation to adventure– a moment that changes everything in an instant. Notice the use of transition words like “but” and “when.”

• “But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to a wonderful place he never dreamed existed.”
• “[Katniss] regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games.”

5. Show the Hero Living it up in the New Normal

This sentence shows that the hero has accepted the invitation and that the story is moving along. Here, we see that the events promised in the hook have come to fruition.

• “There he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic around every corner…”
• “But Katniss has been close to dead before– and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender.”

6. Can he survive the twist?

This sentence wows the reader with even more than was promised in the hook. In an adventure story, the twist is all about survival!

• “…but a great destiny that’s been waiting for him . . . if Harry can survive the encounter.”
• “But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.”

7. Putting it all together

Take another look at the back cover copy and try to identify a theme and any language patterns.

• When we look at the blurbs in their entirety, what’s the “big question” in each story? I think the answer for these books is “Will the hero survive?” and this theme is clear in just a few sentences.
• As for observations about language, I noticed a lot of “buts” sprinkled in each blurb. The language constantly sets up one scenario, and then throws the reader for a loop.

Free Spreadsheet to Deconstruct Back Cover Copy for Your Own Novel

The inspiration for today’s back cover copy spreadsheet came from a tweet via my writing buddy Briana Morgan:

Can I send someone this back cover copy for review? I’m struggling. #BloodAndWater

— Briana Mae Morgan (@brianawrites) August 14, 2015

I asked her if I could use the back cover copy she drafted for her novel, Blood and Water, as an example for the spreadsheet and she agreed!

To help Briana with her back cover copy, I asked her for three books that she thought would share a market with Blood and Water. It makes sense to look at blurbs that you know have successfully sold a book to the same readers who will love your novel!

Briana says Blood and Water is “post-apocalyptic, sci-fi-esque, but focused on character relationships.” In other words, “it’s like The Walking Dead but without zombies, and add teenage existentialism and angst.” 🙂 She identified three books that she thought worked for a similar feel to her novel. Those books are:

• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I broke down the back cover copy of each of those books and compared it to Briana’s blurb. In the back cover copy spreadsheet, you’ll see that I’ve done an analysis by word count, sentence count, hook, backstory, hero, characters, new normal, twist, wrap-up, question left unanswered, and language patterns.

Click the spreadsheet to check it out!

*If you click on “Sheet 2” you’ll find a blank spreadsheet, which you can use for your own analysis (just click file + make a copy).

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