USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws on her experiences in the crafts industry for both her characters and plots. Her most recent release is Seams Like the Perfect Crime, the fourteenth book in her Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series. Learn more about Lois and her books at www.loiswinston.com. Sign up for her newsletter to receive an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery.

Seams Like the Perfect Crime: An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 14

When staffing shortages continue to hamper the Union County homicide squad, Detective Sam Spader once again turns to his secret weapon, reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack. How can she refuse when the murder victim is her Revolutionary War reenactor neighbor?

When Spader zeroes in on the widow as his prime suspect, Anastasia has her doubts. There are other suspects, including the victim’s lover, several reenactors who were blackmailing the widow, and others. As Anastasia narrows down the suspects, will she risk jeopardizing her own life to uncover the truth?

Craft projects included.

Buy Links

Amazon: https://amzn.to/49KvjaG

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seams-like-the-perfect-crime

Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seams-like-the-perfect-crime-lois-winston/1146583329?ean=2940184679983

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/seams-like-the-perfect-crime/id6738502932

Books2Read Universal Link to Other Sites: https://books2read.com/u/3LXa1e

Crafting Back Cover Copy

Unless a reader is searching for a specific title or author, she’ll either stroll the aisles of a bookstore or scroll through an e-tailer site in search of her next read. Either way, the book’s cover is what will first catch her eye. In a bookstore, she then picks up the book, flips it over, and reads the back cover copy. On an Internet site, she scrolls to the book’s description.

Back cover copy acts as a tease. If the tease works, the reader flips to the first page or clicks on the sample to read a few paragraphs or pages. If she likes what she reads, she’ll buy the book. If those first few paragraphs or pages don’t grab her, she continues to stroll or scroll.

Back cover copy is a hook designed to pique the interest of a potential customer. It should consist of up to four short paragraphs that describe the book’s main plot and protagonist(s).

The back cover copy should include enough information to pique the reader’s curiosity by providing an indication of the story arc and the main character(s). Who are these people? Why should a reader care about them, their world, their relationships, and their problems?

Reducing all this information to a few short paragraphs is accomplished by relying on GMC—goal, motivation, and conflict. GMC is not just for plotting a good story and creating compelling characters. It’s essential to creating every other aspect of a novel—from the query to the synopsis to the novel to the back cover copy.

Step 1: Define Your Main Character: Use one to three adjectives and a noun to define your main character. Be specific. This gives you a framework from which to work.

In my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, my protagonist is a “reluctant amateur sleuth.” Since mysteries are plot-driven, I created back cover copy that speaks to the cataclysmic upheaval in Anastasia’s life, which propels her into solving each mystery.

In Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception, Emma is described as a “poor little rich girl.” The book is a heart-wrenching romantic suspense. Therefore, the back cover copy is crafted to evoke an emotional response in the reader.

Step 2: Define Your Main Character’s Internal and External Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts: Every book must have a balance of plot and characterization. External GMC speaks to plot. Internal GMC speaks to characterization.

For each of your main characters, answer the following questions:

1. What does your character want?
2. Why does he/she want it?
3. What’s keeping him/her from getting it?

Do this for both the external (the plot) and the internal (the characterization) GMC. Keep each answer to one sentence. When you’re finished, you’ll have six sentences, three that speak to plot and three that speak to characterization.

Avoid unnecessary description. No one buys a book because the heroine is a redhead. Include setting, occupation, and other specifics only if they’re pertinent to the plot and main characters.

For example, in Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, the back cover copy doesn’t mention that the book takes place in New Jersey because it’s not relevant. However, it does mention that Anastasia is a magazine crafts editor because Anastasia discovers the murder victim sitting in her cubicle—glue gunned to her chair. If I didn’t mention Anastasia’s occupation, the circumstances of the victim’s death wouldn’t make any sense.

In Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception, Emma’s occupation isn’t relevant, but I do mention that the novel takes place in Philadelphia because the city plays an important role in the story.

 Step 3: Define Other Essential Characters: Back cover copy will often mention two or three characters who are essential to the story. This varies depending on the genre and plot. Sometimes only one character is mentioned. A romance novel typically features the hero and heroine. A romantic suspense novel typically includes an antagonist. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 to define the GMC of these secondary characters. You probably won’t use all the information about these characters in crafting the back cover copy, but writing the information out will help you decide what’s important to include and what you can omit.

Step 4: Voice: Voice is the final component of back cover copy. Describe your book in a voice that matches the voice of your novel. If you haven’t incorporated the voice from your book in your answers to the GMC questions, go back and tweak the sentences.

It’s essential for the reader to be able to distinguish between your book’s genre, such as whether it’s a romantic comedy, a romantic suspense, or a cozy mystery, versus a police procedural. You want to meet reader’s expectations from the very beginning. Readers like surprise plot twists, but they don’t want to be tricked into buying a book that purports to be one genre, only to find it’s a completely different genre.

Step 5: Putting it All Together: Study the sentences you’ve created. Depending on the genre, you may or may not use all the sentences you’ve written to develop your back cover copy. Some back cover copy works well as one short paragraph. Most require two to four paragraphs. Choose the sentences that best convey your story. String them together to create your back cover copy, fleshing the paragraphs out with any other pertinent information you believe is essential to hook the reader.

Your paragraphs should be tight, concise, and free of unimportant details. Your goal is to make the reader want to flip to the first page of your book to read the opening paragraphs, then head to the cash register or click the Buy Link.

Website: http://www.loiswinston.com
Newsletter sign-up: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/dc9t0bjl00
Booklover’s Bench: https://bookloversbench.com
The Stiletto Gang: https://www.thestilettogang.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/722763.Lois_Winston
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lois-winston
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/anasleuth/

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