It’s time to choose a back cover blurb for my book, a collection of travel tales, which is almost ready to be published (in late March, I think). Yay! But it’s a tough decision. That’s why I need your help…
Giving Away Two Free Books
To show my appreciation for your interest/assistance, I’ll be giving away 2 free copies of the book–one to the person whose feedback is most helpful and another to someone chosen randomly. (Digital copy only if you’re outside the U.S.)
Decision re: the Cover
First, I’d like to thank those who helped me with selecting a front cover and subtitle a few months ago. Winners have been chosen and will be notified shortly.
Here’s the cover (close to it, anyway) that I’ve decided to go with–it will be this image, minus the photos at the bottom (they’ll go on the back cover, most likely). The name and subtitle will be: Magic Carpet Seduction: Travel Tales From Off the Beaten Path. Fewer words than I had originally and right to the point.
What’s the Book About?
Before I show you the blurbs, I’d like to share the ‘expanded itinerary’, which doubles as a synopsis. This will give you an idea re: what the book is about.
Ride #1: Silence is Golden (People’s Republic of China)
Enter another world—the Chinese province where Chairman Mao Zedong was born—and experience an English-teaching mission that gets complicated by lingdaos (young Communist Party leader-students) and a mysterious chalk drawing in my classroom. Be there with me as I struggle with freedom of speech issues while attempting to connect with my students’ hearts and minds.
Ride #2: Viva la Revolución (Central America/Mexico)
Like road trips? How about bus trips? Join me and a friend on a month-long journey from Nicaragua up to Mexico to countries where the revolución lives on. Vicariously experience younger-man temptation, heart-warming encounters with locals and yes, a 12-hour chicken bus ride full of quirky characters. You—and your butt—will never be the same!
Ride #3: Magic Carpet Seduction (Turkey)
Step into a black comedy with a dash of romance (imagine if Woody Allen and Pedro Almodóvar, the Spanish director, worked together). Sleep in a fairy chimney cave, meet the Carpet Casanovas and pass through terrorist checkpoints on a Turkish chicken bus equivalent. The climax will leave you wanting a cigarette—and a stiff drink!
Ride #4: 40 Arabian Nights (The Middle East)
What’s it like for a woman to travel solo in the Middle East? Find out when you accompany me on an offbeat homestay with a Circassian family in Jordan, followed by Arabic classes and a stint as an extra on a TV show in ‘bad-boy’ Syria. The ride ends in Lebanon, with a quest to meet a mysterious hermit who may hold the key to understanding life itself.
Choosing a Back Cover Blurb–Need Your Advice
So, back to the matter at hand–the back cover blurb (the basic description of the book). I know it has to be short and catchy–between 100 and 150 words (excluding a 1-or 2-sentence author bio).
Please let me know which of these (rough drafts) you like best–and why. I’ve numbered each paragraph. That way, if you want to play ‘Mr. Potato Head’ (mix/match), it will be easier. If a sentence or paragraph from one version is appealing and would work better in another version, you can say: “I like Version A, but use the wording from C2.” Thanks!
Blurb A (140 words)
(1)Close encounters with Carpet Casanovas in Turkey. Political intrigue in a Chinese classroom. A marriage proposal on a Nicaraguan chicken bus. A quest to meet a Colombian hermit, a modern-day Wizard of Oz, in the Lebanese Alps…
(2)Vicariously experience these and other adventures when you travel with the author to China, Latin America, Turkey and the Middle East. Each ‘ride’ on the carpet—a tale in the collection—is unique, yet all are connected by a light spiritual thread. As she ventures off the beaten path, taking risks most people wouldn’t dream of, random moments lead to unexpected journeys.
(3)The end result? Adventure and misadventure.
(4)Whether you’re a nomad, an armchair traveler or someone who enjoys living in the moment, this book is for you. Highly entertaining and thought-provoking, it helps you see another side of the world–and yourself.
****
Blurb B (137 words)
(5)Close encounters with Carpet Casanovas in Turkey.
Political intrigue in a Chinese classroom.
A marriage proposal on a Nicaraguan chicken bus.
A quest to meet an wizard-like hermit in the Lebanese Alps…
(6)These are just a few of the vicarious trips you’ll take with the author, a travel addict, as she ventures off the beaten path to find herself. Throughout the book, she travels spontaneously and takes risks, and random moments lead to unexpected journeys.
(7)The end result? Adventure and misadventure, with a light spiritual twist.
(8)Hop on the magic carpet and visit China, Latin America, Turkey and the Middle East. Each ‘ride’/tale is unique, so you never know where you’ll land next. Wherever the author goes, you’ll be traveling alongside her, discovering another side of the world and how it might bring you closer to yourself.
****
Blurb C (153 words)
9)Imagine traveling off the beaten path and meeting the real people of a given culture. What adventures—and misadventures—would you have? What would you discover about yourself?
(10)Join the author on a magic carpet journey to 9 countries as she travels spontaneously and takes risks most people wouldn’t dream of. Each tale, a ride on the carpet, is unique. As a passenger, you never know where you’ll land next.
(11)One minute, you experience political intrigue in a Chinese classroom. Next, you rub elbows with Nicaraguan cheese smugglers. Then, you fend off Turkish ‘Carpet Casanovas.’ Eventually, you go on a quest to meet a wizard-like hermit in the Lebanese Alps. These are just a few of the journeys…
(12) Hop on the carpet, sometimes a bus, and meet the locals. Enjoy the freedom of independent travel. And discover, with the author, if traveling to far-flung destinations might actually bring you closer to yourself.
Your Thoughts/Suggestions?
Which blurb do you like best–and why? Which sentences get your attention the most? Anything you think I should add? Or should I delete something to make a version even shorter?
Do you prefer the blurbs where I list some of the experiences the reader will be having first? Or is it better to begin with general questions, then share some examples? I personally like having the examples first.
I chose these examples, by the way, because I thought they represented the variety of tales in the book. I do have others I could include instead (eg, sleeping in a dead man’s cave, breaking up with my Arabic teacher, getting lost in a crusader castle), but I think the ones I’ve chosen work well.
Note: I may also have a very short excerpt from one of the reviews the book recently received. If so, I might be able to include that right before the blurb. Good idea?
Thank You!
Thank you, in advance, for any feedback you might have for me. I truly appreciate it! And I thank you for your continued readership.
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Photo Credits
Special thanks to these photographers who have made their work available for use via Creative Commons: Arcadius (Living room with bookcases); Tuppus (green globes); Patrick Hoesly (‘thank you’).
