Hunting for an Excerpt

Book formatting is…interesting. Small details can change due to the slightest thing. For instance, the thicker your book, the more gutter margin you need in the middle so that when the book’s bound, readers can still see the text while they’re reading and the book lays open comfortably.

Or, as I’ve mentioned before, if you add or delete pages, your spine width can change.

For Quaking Soul, I dearly wanted a dust jacket. This might be silly of me, but it would make the book just that next step of ‘done right’ for me because all my favorite authors have dust jackets on their hardcovers. That does sound silly. Oh well. There it is.

However, at the start I didn’t think about the fact that you have the front flap for the book blurb…and the back cover for something more. When this did occur to me, I started perusing my shelves to see what other books have done with that open back space.

Some simply left it blank and let the artwork speak for itself.

Some advertised their other books.

Some listed review quotes for the book.

Some put in a teaser excerpt from the book.

This last one fit the best for Quaking Soul. It’s oddly difficult to pick a good short blurb from a 500 page book when your reader doesn’t know much or anything about the story. After some trail and error, and thankfully some feedback from some amazing people, the following excerpt won the spot. Hope you enjoy =)

Quaking Soul Back Cover Excerpt:

“I must go!” Na’rina scrambled to her feet but the Wer-Kadis stalled her with a hand.

“Where?”

“Home. My mother’s dying!” Na’rina ducked under his arm. She made it three steps before he blocked her path. She ducked to the side and he moved to block the cave’s entrance. Desperate, Na’rina darted forward but he locked his arms around her.

“Why?” she sobbed, pummeling his shoulders with her fists.

“I have my reasons,” the Wer-Kadis answered.

Na’rina’s zoi aima, her lifeblood or energy, rippled from her core outward into her palms where she pressed them against the Wer-Kadis’ chest. She shot the zoi aima into him. He flinched but his hold tightened.

Desperate, Na’rina gathered more into her palms. She cringed this time when the lifeblood shot from her hands.

He groaned, but her attack only stiffened his hold. Na’rina whimpered and began gathering a third attack.

About to release it, Na’rina froze when the Wer-Kadis gritted against her ear. “Unless you’re willing to kill me, stop.”

***

As you probably know by now, Quaking Soul will be available November 30, 2020.

Blessings,

Jennifer