Naomi Dawn Musch

Have you written your book's back cover blurb? How about a tagline? Tackled that synopsis yet? What about a book endorsement? Still trying on that query letter? There's a whole lot more to being a fiction writer than writing fiction. It seems that the closer you come to publication and beyond, the more you must develop a variety of writing skills.

I was pleased recently to be asked for my endorsement on Lisa Lickel and Shellie Neuemeier's new book A SUMMER IN OAKVILLE just released a few days ago from Black Lyon Publishing. Many novelists are old pros at this, but, while I'd endorsed books before through my own reviews and blurbs, I'd never written an official endorsement designed for potential cover use.  

It's kind of like a mini-review though, right? Well, sort of. More than a mini, it's a flash review, really. What could I say about the book that best captured my impression in a mere capsule of words?

If you're writing an endorsement or any other short piece designed to instantly draw a reader's attention, a lot of the grip lays in using strong verbs. An endorsement doesn't really mean much to areader unless it can immediately offer them the promise of an emotional experience. Excitement. Comfort. Laughter. These kinds of emotions and reactions come to mind. Readers want to know what the book will do for them. The rest means pulling out an impression that impacts the reader with the story's core meaning. 

As I reflected on A SUMMER IN OAKVILLE, what really struck me was how this group of 4 stories representing four people, struggling together to save the family farm, could speak to the way families understand one another, or completely misunderstand.

There's a tempted wife whose estranged marriage already hangs by a thread; her grown daughter striving to find purpose and love but falling for the enemy; a widower afraid to let go of the past and begin again; and his son, a young man trying to right his world gone rebelliously wrong.

We can all relate to such dynamics. Here are 8 words I used to describe the impact:

“A SUMMER IN OAKVILLE transports readers deep into the soul of family.”

From there, I wrote another couple of lines, but I spent time carefully crafting this first statement using the very specific verb "transports" because readers are hoping to be carried into a story, and I wrote "the soul of family" because, to me, the novel took a group of people and knitted them together into one unit, one entity, one soul. And anyone who has experienced the complications yet oneness of family knows what that feels like.

One of the best ways to get a feel for writing endorsements is to study them. Watch for verbiage and emotional impact or gut reaction. There were a number of other well-written endorsements for Lisa and Shellie's book. You can see them on the Black Lyon website:

http://www.blacklyonpublishing.com/A%20Summer%20in%20Oakville.html

Write on!

Book 2, THE RED FURY, coming October 15, 2011