As I’ve been agonizing over blurbs lately, with the launch of Infinite Waters, I noticed with great interest a book by my friend, Celine Jeanjean. I consider it a great example of blurb and bio, so I thought I’d share with you. Besides, how could I not share such a gorgeous cover? It’s like a Renaissance steampunk painting!
The Viper and the Urchin
Being Damsport’s most elegant assassin is hard work. There’s tailoring to consider, devilish poisons to concoct, secret identities to maintain… But most importantly, Longinus has to keep his fear of blood hidden or his reputation will be ruined. So, when a scrawny urchin girl threatens to expose his phobia unless he teaches her swordsmanship, he has no choice but to comply.
It doesn’t take long for Rory to realise that her new trainer has more eccentricities than she has fleas. But she’ll put up with anything, no matter how frustrating, to become a swordswoman like her childhood hero.
What she’s not prepared for is a copycat assassin who seeks to replace Longinus, and who hires Rory’s old partner in crime to do away with her, as well. Rory and Longinus must set their differences aside and try to work together if they’re to stop the copycat. But darker forces than they realise are at play, and with time running out, the unlikely duo find themselves the last line of defence against a powerful enemy who seeks to bring Damsport to its knees.
Who is Celine Jeanjean?
Celine Jeanjean is French, grew up in the UK and now lives in Hong Kong. That makes her a tad confused about where she is from. During her time in Asia she’s watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat, lost her shoes in Vietnam, and fallen off a bamboo raft in China.
Celine writes stories that feature quirky characters and misfits, and her books are a mix of steampunk, mystery and humour.
Rajiv said:
Looks like an interesting book.
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Well thank you!! 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Doesn’t it? It’s on my tbr list 🙂
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Rajiv said:
Oh.. I have loads of books to go through..
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Lol – tell me about it. As I often joke, my tbr list is the only thing in the house that grows even faster than my waistline 😀
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Rajiv said:
I am one with you there!
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MM Jaye said:
It’s great, indeed! I’d do away with “than they realize” in the last para. Thanks for sharing!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks for the suggestion 🙂
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Catherine Mackay said:
Awesome blurb that works – it certainly enticed me to want to check it out 🙂
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Thank you very much Catherine! I’ve got a couple of advance reader copies left, so if you want one feel free to give me a shout 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Right? 😀
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Chris White said:
It is good blurb. Interesting info about the author. Her picture doesn’t exactly hurt either. Good post. Thank you.
http://www.the1951club.org
http://www.awritersden.wordpress.com
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Lol – absolutely. I, too, loved the bio!
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cjhwrites said:
A blurb is a nightmare. I’m currently on my third incarnation for one of my books and resubmitting a couple of news ones. The best way to write a blurb I’ve encountered is to have somebody you trust read the book, then write a blurb of their own. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece but they tend to pick up on theme and thread with greater impartiality than we do. Break the friend’s account in to segments and apply a little polish, suddenly the blurb works 🙂
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Celine Jeanjean said:
That’s a really neat idea! It’s hard to get enough distance from something you’ve written in order to be impartial. I might have to use that trick for my next book 🙂 Best of luck with your blurb by the way!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks for the great suggestion!
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jazzfeathers said:
I’m reading the book and I’m enjoying it a lot. Packed full of adventures and humour 🙂
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Yay! 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
So good to know that! Thanks for sharing 🙂
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Jack Eason said:
Reblogged this on Have We Had Help? and commented:
More from Nicholas 😉
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TanGental said:
Neat and appealing. Not my genre but if it was I’d buy.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I consider that a strength. It means that the blurb was clear enough for you to realize that the book won’t appeal to you 🙂
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TanGental said:
That’s true enough
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Celine Jeanjean said:
It’s great to hear that you think it’s good even if it’s not your kind of book! 🙂
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TanGental said:
It’s excellent, a perfect example of ‘How to…’
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Yay! 😀
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jenanita01 said:
You are right, this blurb was stunning, book sounds great too!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you, Anita! 🙂
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Thank you very much Anita! So glad you like the sound of it 🙂 Feel free to give me a shout if you want a copy of the ebook, I’d be happy to send you one.
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beetleypete said:
This is an excellent example of ‘just right’. The only thing that always irritates me is how well-travelled authors always claim to be (even when they are) and the quirky, exciting things they have seen and done. Not a criticism of Celine at all, as many are doing the same thing.
I would be happy if she had said that she was a housewife in Anjou. Losing shoes in Vietnam is no guarantee of good writing. Just a personal viewpoint of course, but it does seem to be becoming almost ‘compulsory’ for authors to add these asides.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Lol – I guess it makes for a more exciting bio. It’s really hard to hit the right note…
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Ali Isaac said:
Love that cover!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
It’s rather lovely, isn’t it? Could easily be a painting.
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Thanks Ali – I got real lucky with my cover designer, she’s awesome!
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purpleslobinrecovery said:
She definitely has the knack of writing an intriguing blurb and bio! I’m hooked.
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Thank you! I still have a couple of advance reader copies so you’re more than welcome to give me a shout if you want one. In any case, very happy to hear you like the blurb! 🙂
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purpleslobinrecovery said:
Oh, I’d love that! I’m on such a tight budget, I can barely afford free! How do I get it? Email? I don’t have a Kindle or anything. Thank you so much, Celine!
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Celine Jeanjean said:
That’s great! 🙂 if you email me at cfjeanjean@gmail.com, and I’ll send you a copy 🙂
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purpleslobinrecovery said:
Thank you so much, Celine!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Good to hear that. Time to rewrite mine, now… 😀
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purpleslobinrecovery said:
Hee hee, Nicholas. Pay her to be your ghost writer! 😉
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I’m seriously considering it 😀
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purpleslobinrecovery said:
Sounds like a great move!
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Pingback: My Very First Blog Appearances | Celine Jeanjean's Blog: Down the Rabbit Hole
Celine Jeanjean said:
Thank you very much for sharing that Nicholas – means a lot that you consider my blurb and bio to be good 🙂 (god knows I spent a good amount of time pulling my hair out over them both!)
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Lol – and you made it look so easy 😀
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Charles Yallowitz said:
Great blurb. Love the idea of an assassin with a blood phobia.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I know, right? Perhaps you can work a wizard with a fear of magic in your next book 🙂
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Charles Yallowitz said:
It’s something to consider. I’m going with the Windemere vampires once Legends is done, so that idea would have to be slipped somewhere else. I do have a female caster whose spells never go in the direction she expects them to. One of her allies is a paranoid dwarf who reveals or develops a new phobia every book/few chapters.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
A vampire with a blood phobia would work rather nicely, too.
I love that dwarf already 😀
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Charles Yallowitz said:
Sadly, the tone wouldn’t allow such a character. It’d be too silly and I’d have to kill him/her within a page or two.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
A short story, perhaps?
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Charles Yallowitz said:
Maybe. Although, that sounds like it would work better for a vampire spoof. Might have to hand that off to my more talented, comedy gifted friend. 😀
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Lol – fine, challenge accepted 😀
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Celine Jeanjean said:
That dwarf sounds awesome! You must have had a lot of fun writing him.
A hemophobic vampire would also be a lot of fun to write – although it would get quite complicated for him or her to survive!
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Charles Yallowitz said:
The vampire definitely wouldn’t fit in the main story. It’s about the vampire civil war and a character like that would die really quickly. Trying to go a bit darker with that one.
The dwarf is going to be a lot of fun. He was one of my earlier D&D characters from high school. A lot of his phobias are going to connect to things that happened with him back then. 🙂
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Haha yeah a vampire afraid of blood doesn’t really say dark, serious story 😉
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Would it, though? Most of us don’t think twice before eating a burger, but I doubt any of us would be willing to slaughter the cow ourselves. Perhaps an entire industry would crop up.
They could even offer flavors: vanilla-flavored blood shake, anyone?
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Celine Jeanjean said:
That’s a good point actually!!
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Solveig said:
This book sure does sound interesting. I am always open for discovering new genres.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I love an open-minded reader 🙂
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Solveig said:
I realised many people said that it wasn’t their genre. But that’s not an excuse. I think we should try. If someone says they don’t like peppers maybe they don’t like them prepared by their parents but would enjoy them if they dared to try a friends dish or the preparation of s great chef…
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Lol – you were one of those kids who tried everything at the table, weren’t you? 😀
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Solveig said:
Yep.
But I didn’t like everything and have had stretches of vegetarianism. I love trying new things.
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Celine Jeanjean said:
I like that analogy. It reminds me of the Game of Thrones phenomenon, when loads of people declared they didn’t like Fantasy and then got totally sucked into GoT. Stories crafted by masters like George RR Martin transcend genres — same as a great chef being able to overcome people’s prejudices against a particular item of food.
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MRS N, the Author said:
Great blurb and bio. I always struggle with blurbs so I am having a friend of mine help me. 🙂 Your book sounds fascinating and I agree with Nicholas, that cover is amazing!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Can I borrow your friend? 😀
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MRS N, the Author said:
Sure. 😉 She’s a beta reader. What are you talking about? Your blurbs are fantastic!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Aw, you’re so sweet! Thank you 🙂
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Thank you very much Mrs N! And good luck with your blurbs 🙂
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Oh and as I mentioned to a couple of other people, I’m very happy to send you a free copy of the ebook if you think you’d like to read it 🙂
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D. Wallace Peach said:
Nicely done. I can see how both the blurb and bio capture a reader’s attention. Lovely cover as well – you’ve hit the bull’s eye.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
That’s why I had to share 🙂
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Aw thanks! 🙂
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lovessiamese said:
Thanks for sharing. What a delightful, quirky blurb and bio. I’ll have to come back to this repeatedly to get it fixed in my mind. I loved it.
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Than you, that’s high praise indeed! 🙂 You’re more than welcome to a free copy of the book if you wanted one 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks for that 🙂
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noelleg44 said:
Good blurb, easy to understand what the book is about – but spectacular cover!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks! I’m sure Jeanjean will be thrilled to hear it 🙂
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Well thank you Noelle! 😀
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dr sweetyshinde said:
Good cover pic. What’s the ideal word count for a blurb?
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Celine Jeanjean said:
I’ve heard conflicting advice on blurb lengths: some people have said a shorter, snappier blurb would be better, but then longer blurbs tend to do better on Amazon since they can contain important keywords which helps readers find your book…
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dr sweetyshinde said:
I see. I didn’t know Amazon selects blurb words as keywords.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
It makes sense, actually. I suspect that any text on your page would be scanned for keywords by their search engine.
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dr sweetyshinde said:
Ah, that’s news to me. Thank you.
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Anything on the Amazon book page gets picked up by the Amazon algorithm, including the blurb. It won’t function as keywords per se, in terms of getting a book in subcategories (nor will they carry as much weight as those keywords selected in the KDP dashboard) but it can apparently help in terms of your book coming in search results, or getting linked up to other books in similar genres.
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dr sweetyshinde said:
I see. So our blurb too should insert Genre related words. That’s very useful information for future endeavors. Thank you.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
An interesting balance.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Most suggest between 100 and 300 words. Try to have the juicy parts at the top, or “above the line” (the “read more” line on the books’s Amazon page).
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dr sweetyshinde said:
I agree. Most wouldn’t have the patience to click on ‘Read more’ . That gives authors barely 3 lines to grab attention and eyeballs. Gets more compact by the day.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I know… Sigh…
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Sue Coletta said:
Cover blurbs are a nightmare to write! If you’re interested I found an excellent post by Joanna Penn about this subject.
Great cover and blurb! Good luck with your book, Celine.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Looking forward to Joanna’s link! 🙂
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Sue Coletta said:
Ask and you shall receive. http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/11/16/how-to-write-back-blurb-for-your-book/
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Brilliant; thanks 🙂
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Celine Jeanjean said:
Thank you for sharing – that’s a great article! And very pleased you liked my blurb 🙂
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Misha Gericke (@MishaMFB) said:
The blurb is amazing. 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
My feelings exactly! Thanks and welcome 🙂
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L. Marie said:
Great cover and premise!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Couldn’t agree more 🙂
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olganm said:
Great work! Best of luck!
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