As I’ve been agonizing over blurbs lately, with the launch of Infinite Waters, I noticed with great interest a book by my friend, Celine Jeanjean. I consider it a great example of blurb and bio, so I thought I’d share with you. Besides, how could I not share such a gorgeous cover? It’s like a Renaissance steampunk painting!
The Viper and the Urchin
Being Damsport’s most elegant assassin is hard work. There’s tailoring to consider, devilish poisons to concoct, secret identities to maintain… But most importantly, Longinus has to keep his fear of blood hidden or his reputation will be ruined. So, when a scrawny urchin girl threatens to expose his phobia unless he teaches her swordsmanship, he has no choice but to comply.
It doesn’t take long for Rory to realise that her new trainer has more eccentricities than she has fleas. But she’ll put up with anything, no matter how frustrating, to become a swordswoman like her childhood hero.
What she’s not prepared for is a copycat assassin who seeks to replace Longinus, and who hires Rory’s old partner in crime to do away with her, as well. Rory and Longinus must set their differences aside and try to work together if they’re to stop the copycat. But darker forces than they realise are at play, and with time running out, the unlikely duo find themselves the last line of defence against a powerful enemy who seeks to bring Damsport to its knees.
Who is Celine Jeanjean?
Celine Jeanjean is French, grew up in the UK and now lives in Hong Kong. That makes her a tad confused about where she is from. During her time in Asia she’s watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat, lost her shoes in Vietnam, and fallen off a bamboo raft in China.
Celine writes stories that feature quirky characters and misfits, and her books are a mix of steampunk, mystery and humour.
Great work! Best of luck!
Great cover and premise!
Couldn’t agree more 🙂
The blurb is amazing. 🙂
My feelings exactly! Thanks and welcome 🙂
Cover blurbs are a nightmare to write! If you’re interested I found an excellent post by Joanna Penn about this subject.
Great cover and blurb! Good luck with your book, Celine.
Looking forward to Joanna’s link! 🙂
Ask and you shall receive. https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/11/16/how-to-write-back-blurb-for-your-book/
Brilliant; thanks 🙂
Thank you for sharing – that’s a great article! And very pleased you liked my blurb 🙂
Good cover pic. What’s the ideal word count for a blurb?
I’ve heard conflicting advice on blurb lengths: some people have said a shorter, snappier blurb would be better, but then longer blurbs tend to do better on Amazon since they can contain important keywords which helps readers find your book…
I see. I didn’t know Amazon selects blurb words as keywords.
It makes sense, actually. I suspect that any text on your page would be scanned for keywords by their search engine.
Ah, that’s news to me. Thank you.
Anything on the Amazon book page gets picked up by the Amazon algorithm, including the blurb. It won’t function as keywords per se, in terms of getting a book in subcategories (nor will they carry as much weight as those keywords selected in the KDP dashboard) but it can apparently help in terms of your book coming in search results, or getting linked up to other books in similar genres.
I see. So our blurb too should insert Genre related words. That’s very useful information for future endeavors. Thank you.
An interesting balance.
Most suggest between 100 and 300 words. Try to have the juicy parts at the top, or “above the line” (the “read more” line on the books’s Amazon page).
I agree. Most wouldn’t have the patience to click on ‘Read more’ . That gives authors barely 3 lines to grab attention and eyeballs. Gets more compact by the day.
I know… Sigh…
Good blurb, easy to understand what the book is about – but spectacular cover!
Thanks! I’m sure Jeanjean will be thrilled to hear it 🙂
Well thank you Noelle! 😀
Thanks for sharing. What a delightful, quirky blurb and bio. I’ll have to come back to this repeatedly to get it fixed in my mind. I loved it.
Than you, that’s high praise indeed! 🙂 You’re more than welcome to a free copy of the book if you wanted one 🙂
Thanks for that 🙂
Nicely done. I can see how both the blurb and bio capture a reader’s attention. Lovely cover as well – you’ve hit the bull’s eye.
That’s why I had to share 🙂
Aw thanks! 🙂
Great blurb and bio. I always struggle with blurbs so I am having a friend of mine help me. 🙂 Your book sounds fascinating and I agree with Nicholas, that cover is amazing!
Can I borrow your friend? 😀
Sure. 😉 She’s a beta reader. What are you talking about? Your blurbs are fantastic!
Aw, you’re so sweet! Thank you 🙂
Thank you very much Mrs N! And good luck with your blurbs 🙂
Oh and as I mentioned to a couple of other people, I’m very happy to send you a free copy of the ebook if you think you’d like to read it 🙂
This book sure does sound interesting. I am always open for discovering new genres.
I love an open-minded reader 🙂
I realised many people said that it wasn’t their genre. But that’s not an excuse. I think we should try. If someone says they don’t like peppers maybe they don’t like them prepared by their parents but would enjoy them if they dared to try a friends dish or the preparation of s great chef…
Lol – you were one of those kids who tried everything at the table, weren’t you? 😀
Yep.
But I didn’t like everything and have had stretches of vegetarianism. I love trying new things.
I like that analogy. It reminds me of the Game of Thrones phenomenon, when loads of people declared they didn’t like Fantasy and then got totally sucked into GoT. Stories crafted by masters like George RR Martin transcend genres — same as a great chef being able to overcome people’s prejudices against a particular item of food.
Great blurb. Love the idea of an assassin with a blood phobia.
I know, right? Perhaps you can work a wizard with a fear of magic in your next book 🙂
It’s something to consider. I’m going with the Windemere vampires once Legends is done, so that idea would have to be slipped somewhere else. I do have a female caster whose spells never go in the direction she expects them to. One of her allies is a paranoid dwarf who reveals or develops a new phobia every book/few chapters.
A vampire with a blood phobia would work rather nicely, too.
I love that dwarf already 😀
Sadly, the tone wouldn’t allow such a character. It’d be too silly and I’d have to kill him/her within a page or two.
A short story, perhaps?
Maybe. Although, that sounds like it would work better for a vampire spoof. Might have to hand that off to my more talented, comedy gifted friend. 😀
Lol – fine, challenge accepted 😀
That dwarf sounds awesome! You must have had a lot of fun writing him.
A hemophobic vampire would also be a lot of fun to write – although it would get quite complicated for him or her to survive!
The vampire definitely wouldn’t fit in the main story. It’s about the vampire civil war and a character like that would die really quickly. Trying to go a bit darker with that one.
The dwarf is going to be a lot of fun. He was one of my earlier D&D characters from high school. A lot of his phobias are going to connect to things that happened with him back then. 🙂
Haha yeah a vampire afraid of blood doesn’t really say dark, serious story 😉
Would it, though? Most of us don’t think twice before eating a burger, but I doubt any of us would be willing to slaughter the cow ourselves. Perhaps an entire industry would crop up.
They could even offer flavors: vanilla-flavored blood shake, anyone?
That’s a good point actually!!
Thank you very much for sharing that Nicholas – means a lot that you consider my blurb and bio to be good 🙂 (god knows I spent a good amount of time pulling my hair out over them both!)
Lol – and you made it look so easy 😀
She definitely has the knack of writing an intriguing blurb and bio! I’m hooked.
Thank you! I still have a couple of advance reader copies so you’re more than welcome to give me a shout if you want one. In any case, very happy to hear you like the blurb! 🙂
Oh, I’d love that! I’m on such a tight budget, I can barely afford free! How do I get it? Email? I don’t have a Kindle or anything. Thank you so much, Celine!
That’s great! 🙂 if you email me at cfjeanjean@gmail.com, and I’ll send you a copy 🙂
Thank you so much, Celine!
Good to hear that. Time to rewrite mine, now… 😀
Hee hee, Nicholas. Pay her to be your ghost writer! 😉
I’m seriously considering it 😀
Sounds like a great move!
Love that cover!
It’s rather lovely, isn’t it? Could easily be a painting.
Thanks Ali – I got real lucky with my cover designer, she’s awesome!
This is an excellent example of ‘just right’. The only thing that always irritates me is how well-travelled authors always claim to be (even when they are) and the quirky, exciting things they have seen and done. Not a criticism of Celine at all, as many are doing the same thing.
I would be happy if she had said that she was a housewife in Anjou. Losing shoes in Vietnam is no guarantee of good writing. Just a personal viewpoint of course, but it does seem to be becoming almost ‘compulsory’ for authors to add these asides.
Best wishes, Pete.
Lol – I guess it makes for a more exciting bio. It’s really hard to hit the right note…
You are right, this blurb was stunning, book sounds great too!
Thank you, Anita! 🙂
Thank you very much Anita! So glad you like the sound of it 🙂 Feel free to give me a shout if you want a copy of the ebook, I’d be happy to send you one.
Neat and appealing. Not my genre but if it was I’d buy.
I consider that a strength. It means that the blurb was clear enough for you to realize that the book won’t appeal to you 🙂
That’s true enough
It’s great to hear that you think it’s good even if it’s not your kind of book! 🙂
It’s excellent, a perfect example of ‘How to…’
Yay! 😀
Reblogged this on Have We Had Help? and commented:
More from Nicholas 😉
I’m reading the book and I’m enjoying it a lot. Packed full of adventures and humour 🙂
Yay! 🙂
So good to know that! Thanks for sharing 🙂
A blurb is a nightmare. I’m currently on my third incarnation for one of my books and resubmitting a couple of news ones. The best way to write a blurb I’ve encountered is to have somebody you trust read the book, then write a blurb of their own. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece but they tend to pick up on theme and thread with greater impartiality than we do. Break the friend’s account in to segments and apply a little polish, suddenly the blurb works 🙂
That’s a really neat idea! It’s hard to get enough distance from something you’ve written in order to be impartial. I might have to use that trick for my next book 🙂 Best of luck with your blurb by the way!
Thanks for the great suggestion!
It is good blurb. Interesting info about the author. Her picture doesn’t exactly hurt either. Good post. Thank you.
http://www.the1951club.org
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Lol – absolutely. I, too, loved the bio!
Awesome blurb that works – it certainly enticed me to want to check it out 🙂
Thank you very much Catherine! I’ve got a couple of advance reader copies left, so if you want one feel free to give me a shout 🙂
Right? 😀
It’s great, indeed! I’d do away with “than they realize” in the last para. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the suggestion 🙂
Looks like an interesting book.
Well thank you!! 🙂
Doesn’t it? It’s on my tbr list 🙂
Oh.. I have loads of books to go through..
Lol – tell me about it. As I often joke, my tbr list is the only thing in the house that grows even faster than my waistline 😀
I am one with you there!