@taorwong
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Personal opinion, but for me blurbs need a few things:
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A point of interest (the unique selling point)
The setting and main character (or hints of it – what you’re selling)
The challenge (specifically, what the protagonist is going to be dealing with. Not necessarily the big challenge, or the main thrust of your novel, but the challenge the character faces at the start. Again, you don’t want to give away too much plot)
The hook (what makes them choose to buy. Also known as the call to action in some circles, though I wouldn’t go that far in this case).
Lastly, and this is debatable if needed, the basic facts about the book. (Book title, Series title, book number x of series, genre, etc.). Many people would say all this should be part of your cover already, and thus doesn’t need to be repeated. I would not say they’re wrong.After that, in the actual construction, I use the inverted pyramid method. Basically, most important information first, with the hook or USP up-front. That first line has to give them enough information to either read forward or hit the buy button. Then, I list details further.
I wrote a blog post on this a while ago that goes in more detail.
I have 2 lists – my organic list and my story origin / prolific works list. Obviously, I send out the usual promo e-mails / etc on the marketing list to get more people, but once a month both lists get a newsletter written by me that’s more specific.
It’s mostly a ‘Buy This’ e-mail, with an update about what I’m selling that month (generally a release or a new audiobook or a sale); and then a longer ‘Update about my writing’ which goes on about the things they might have missed and where I am with my writing.
Below that, I might / might not have a recommended promo sale that I’m part of. Depends on whether I’m invested in the sale (beyond the usual prolific works stuff and how relevant it is to my list).
After that, I have a 2-4 book recommendation list. Books I’ve read or books I know are good because I’ve read the authors other works. I don’t go into detail, I just put a note these are books I’ve read and leave it at that.
I see a 30-50% open rate, depending on which list it is and the contents, so I’m generally happy. They’re small lists though (a couple of hundred). I don’t do a lot of ‘personal’ things in my newsletter because that’s not me. I’m more open in things like Discord or Twitter or heck, my FB fan page.