Free blurb writer
Your blurb isn’t a summary. It’s an ad.
Answer six plain questions about your book. We’ll turn them into a draft, then check it for the mistakes most blurbs make. Free, no sign-up, and your answers never leave your browser.
Just one name. If there are two main characters, pick the one the story follows most.
A few words. Their job or role, and the place.
This is the part most authors skip, and it’s the part that makes a reader care.
One thing, early in the book. Not the ending.
Something you could point at. Not “everything.”
One line about the feeling of reading it, like the dread, the romance, or the puzzle. Don’t hint at the ending.
One sentence that could sell the book on its own. It goes first, and on most store pages it’s the only line people see before “Read more.”
In their words, so they see themselves in it.
They’ve probably tried the obvious thing already.
Your method, or the new idea in it.
Name them. Saying who it’s for convinces the right people.
Something they could check. Not “transform your life.”
One sentence that could sell the book on its own. It goes first.
The formula
Five parts, in this order.
Most blurbs that sell are 100 to 200 words and do these five things, then stop.
- The hook. One sentence that states the situation and makes sense by itself.
- The setup. Who the book is about, where they are, and what they want.
- The turn. What goes wrong. One sentence, early in the book.
- The stakes. What they lose, said plainly. The farm, the child, the last four days.
- The close. What the reader is in for. The feeling, never the ending.
Write it in present tense, even for a first-person novel. Name no more than two characters. Cut words like “gripping” that every book uses.
Using ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini?
A book blurb prompt for any AI
AI can turn a stiff draft into a smooth one. It also makes things up. When we tested this prompt, three of the four AIs we tried added details the author never gave: a stranger who arrives “half-drowned and silent,” a family history, a character’s gender.
So this prompt does two things most blurb prompts don’t. It gives the AI the rules a blurb that sells has to follow, and it makes the AI list anything it added, so you can take out what isn’t true about your book.
The Copy AI prompt button above fills it in with your answers and your draft. Or copy it from here, replace the parts in [brackets], and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or any other AI.
You are a book marketing copywriter. Rewrite the draft description of my novel below so it sells the book, using the facts in my answers. RULES - Structure, in this order: (1) the hook line, kept close to my wording, as its own paragraph; (2) the setup: who the main character is, where, and what they want; (3) the turn: the one thing that goes wrong; (4) the stakes: what they lose if they fail, said plainly; (5) a closing line about what the reader is in for. - 120 to 180 words. Short paragraphs of 1 to 3 sentences. - The first paragraph must be under 200 characters. On Amazon it is most of what shows before "Read more." - Never reveal or hint at the ending. - Amazon rules: no reviews or quotes, no prices or deals, no web addresses, no emoji, no keyword lists. - Third person, present tense. Name no more than two characters. - Avoid these clichés: gripping, page-turner, must-read, unputdownable, rollercoaster, journey, "everything changes", "nothing will ever be the same", "in a world where", "little does she know". - Use only the facts in my answers. If an answer is missing, leave that part out instead of making it up. - If you add ANY detail that is not in my answers (a character's gender, age, looks or past, an event, a place, a claim), list each one after the description, under a line that says exactly: ADDED BY AI (check these): If you added nothing, write that line and then "None". - Output the description as plain text with a blank line between paragraphs, then the ADDED BY AI (check these): list. No title, no other notes, no markdown. MY ANSWERS - Kind of book: fiction - Main character: [character’s name] (she/he/they) - Who and where: [who they are, and where] - What they want most: [what they want most] - What goes wrong: [what goes wrong] - What they lose if they fail: [what they lose if they fail] - What the reader is in for: [what the reader is in for] - Hook line: [one line that sells the book]
Then paste the AI’s answer into the draft box above. The list of what it added shows up as its own note, and the checks run on the rest. Not quite right? Ask the AI for “a shorter first paragraph” or “two more versions,” and paste the one you like.
Put it on your back cover
The Cover Maker sets your blurb on the real back cover, beside the barcode and spine, so you find out it’s too long while you can still cut it.