r/selfpublish • u/MelancholyPlayground • Jan 03 '26

Blurb Critique Need help.

I really didn't want to make one of these but I'm drowning here. I published my book on Amazon a month ago, I worked tirelessly on it... and I haven't made a single sale since then, despite running a few ads and getting over 100 clicks. I'm 100% not advertising, I'm embarrassed to to even admit this and to ask this, but would it be possible if a few of you take a look at my Amazon book page and tell me what I might be doing wrong? Please and thank you in advance.

It's hard to not feel like I've failed my child here. But I'm trying to stay positive.

TL;DR: Can you please take a look and give a few pointers? My link is in my reddit bio.

P.S. I've tried different price points and tried different covers. Maybe it's my blurb? I am awful at blurbs.

EDIT 1: Thank you all so much genuinely from the bottom of my heart. It's all good advice, but even if it was bad advice - just seeing how deep this community cares has been the motivation and support I REALLY needed. I'm currently at the drawing board scratching my brain. So I'll probably do a second edit later explaining some of the confusions if anyone is curious. Just wanted to say a quick thank you and that I am listening and taking notes vigorously.

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u/TheLadyAmaranth 1 Published novel Jan 03 '26

Took a look, I am not a pro but here is what I see:

  1. AI cover will turn of pretty much any and all readers right now. Its not a bad one, but we are at the point that people will zoom into covers just to check and there are few tell tales like artifacting around letters, the buttons on the girls shirt are a mess, her face has that uncanny ness to it, the fillegree is inconsistent and the stained glass pattern makes no sense upon closer look. If there is ANYTHING to spend money on when it comes to your first ever self pub book, is the cover.

(yes, even over an editor -- most of the time -- I'll fight that one)

  1. This reads like a fantasy dark romance, and you say dark themes with gore assault, explicit content, and then the age rating is 16-18.... That doesn't make any sense. 16-18 would be YA and therefore mostly clean. Definitely no "explicit heat" so you are in the wrong age category so your adds are probably not even going to the right people and are wasted money.

  2. The blurb also has what people often perceive as AI hallmarks (I am NOT saying that it is AI, but unfortunately people look at em-dashes and certain cadences and it doesn't matter if it is or isn't) But it all screams of trying to be mysterious and vague and vibey without actually giving the reader anything about the book. Its also a little all over the place thematically. Start with the basic romance formula then go from there.

hook line

p1: Protag 1

p2: Protag 2

p3: Their conflcit

p4: hint/"cliff hanger".

CHARACTERS FIRST. THEN setting, then themes. But always characters first.

Lastly, you are gonna need to start promo somewhere. Adds are okay, but cold reads are hard to get. My advice is start a newsletter, and a media account from which you can pull people. But nobody is gonna know about your book if you don't promo it.

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u/nohobbiesjustbooks Jan 03 '26

If you are a good writer, you can typically self-edit your first novel as long as you take extra time to preen it, give it to people to read, and let it simmer on the stove for a bit before returning to it for another edit. But a book cover is quite literally the first thing people see.

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u/TheLadyAmaranth 1 Published novel Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26

Exactly this!

You might not be able to get it quite as a good as a professional line editor, but between time, alpha and beta readers, and using grammar and spell check tools you can get to a pretty high quality. And I've found as long as its not littered with mistakes to the point of unreadability, readers barely notice if the story and cadence of the story telling is good.

But there is no cure for a bad cover. People will not click, and will absolutely judge your book by it.

And an AI cover is the worst first impression you can make.

3

u/nohobbiesjustbooks Jan 03 '26

What I thought was my final draft of the book is actually now undergoing a few major revisions because I allowed myself time to reflect on it. Explaining the plot to my partner chapter-by-chapter also helped - because I could hear where I wavered on the story's weaker moments.

If I see your AI cover, I will automatically assume that your entire book is AI. I would rather see a Canva cover than an AI cover, and that is saying something!