My old improv comedy teachers used to tell me to leave the audience wanting more.
And as I transitioned into writing book descriptions, I had the realization that I needed to bring that concept into the blurb as well.
Now to literally leave readers asking for more, it means you’ll be using cliffhangers.
And you might be thinking that cliffhangers have been heavily criticized, especially in genres like romance.
But in a book description, you need to make sure that the readers hunger for more after reading the blurb.
They need to know what the protagonist or protagonists want, and that in this book, they are in danger of not achieving it.
So when you put some kind of cliffhanger towards the end of your book description to leave things really up in the air, it literally leaves the reader incomplete.
And if the only way they can satisfy that desire is by buying the book, you definitely want to make sure they’re excited about it!
Here’s what I recommend.
Towards the end of your book description, write a cliffhanger where a key thing the character wants is in jeopardy of not happening.
Every description should have it.
If yours doesn’t, go pick up your blurb, fix it up, add a cliffhanger, and leave the readers clamoring for more.