Blurbs 101

From Margaret Riley of Changeling Press on Blurbs:

Blurbs are an important sales tool. They need to be edited with the same care the book gets.

Things to remember about the blurb:
1) The blurb is a sales pitch, not a plot summary. It needs to convey the major selling points of the book, not the major plot points.
2) The blurb needs to be CONCISE. If we can't figure out what the blurb's trying to say, that doesn't bode well for the book. It needs enough info to cover the basics, without drowning us in details.
3) I really shouldn't need to tell anyone this, but the NAMES of the characters need to appear in the blurbs -- spelled correctly. It's also handy if the places mentioned in the blurbs match the names of those locations in the book.
4) Blurbs MUST be present tense.
5) We sell sex. If the blurb isn't sexy, the book's not going to sell.

Long, rambling plot summaries do not sell books. Sexy, well thought out sales pitches stand a far better chance of achieving this goal.