Book teasers are snippets of information that inform potential readers of what your books' contents consist of before they open and read them. They're thought of to be blurbs on the back of books, but I see them as the short phrases that sometimes appear on the front or back covers of books, kind of like taglines that paint evocative images of what a story or book is about. For example, the three short phrases of concrete nouns on the front cover of my debut novel, Eva's Promise, shown in the example below.
Example:
A tragic accident . . .
A severe brain injury . . .
A wife's test of love and temptation . . .
These three short lines allow readers to get a hint of what my debut novel, Eva's Promise is about before they read the blurb or the story itself. This is my idea of what I believe book teasers really are. Another example of this, is the front cover of inspirational and Christian fiction author Karen Kingsbury's novel, Waiting for Morning, book one of her Forever Faithful series shown below, which sums up the main concepts of the story in just a few sentences.
2nd Example:
A drunk driver.
A deadly accident.
A dream destroyed.
What Do Book Teasers Do?
There are three main things that book teasers do. These include the following list:
1. Summarize the main ideas or plot of a story in a few words.
2. Identifies what's at stake in a story.
3. Used to spark the reader's interest.
How To Write a Book Teaser
So, how do you write book teasers? A simple way is to pinpoint the main contents about your book by answering the following questions, depending on the book's generic genre.
Non-fiction
If your book is non-fiction, consider these three questions:
What is the problem that your book solves?
How will this book improve your readers' lives?
Why should readers read your book?
Fiction
If your book is fiction, consider these five questions:
What is the story concept?
What is the conflict in the story?
What's at stake for the characters?
Who are the main characters?
What are the roles the main characters play?
After you answer the questions, it'll help you to formulate your book teaser, as well as your blurb on the back of the book.
Book Teasers vs. Blurbs
In my opinion, a book teaser and a blurb are two different things. Blurbs are like novel synopses or book overviews that give more in-depth summaries of your books' contents. In order to write these, you need to know the main ideas of your books and significant turning points within your stories, but don't try to tell it all in one paragraph. Leave some details secret for your readers to discover themselves.
Blurbs are parts of your books' metadata or bibliographic identification along with several other things I plan to discuss later and should be no longer than 150 to 200 words. On the other hand, book teasers give hints about what a book consists of without "spilling the beans" or giving away too much information. Hence, why they're called "teasers," but that's just my opinion. Nonetheless, if you have any thoughts about this, please share them below.
📣CLOSING REMARKS:
Book teasers and blurbs are great and simple ways to market your published books, giving readers a sneak peek about your novels or books before reading them. Consider adding these two written forms on your book covers to intrigue them. It just may make the difference between someone who looks at your book and places it back on the shelf, and someone who actually buys your book. Well, this wraps up this post. I hope you liked it. (If by chance you found it helpful, please give it a (heart❤️) and share your thoughts or comments 💬 below.)
Happy Writing! 😊✍🏽💻
🤔Hey, writers, do you use book teasers or blurbs on your book covers?
👍Yes
👎No
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