I discovered that all four of my book blurbs were lacking “the hook”, that killer first line that makes a casual book shopper want to read the rest of the book description. I added hook lines to all my blurbs a few days ago. It should not be “keyword optimized”, but rather a well-crafted plain English one-line pitch for the book.

• 5150 – Psychosis is not for the faint of heart.
• Half – A halfway house is a terrible place to fall in love.
• M3X1(0 – During the 1988 financial crisis in Mexico, even a broke, homeless American could live like a king.
• A Quarter – The only thing worse than being mentally ill is being mentally ill and strung out on dope.

These hooks mark my best efforts, but maybe some of my readers have better suggestions. Creative writers, even with an MBA, are not always the best at self-promotion!