Homework #7 - How to Write Bestselling Copy - Sue Shigemitsu

This assignment was both challenging and fun. I have learned that there is much more for me to learn.

The one in creating my own backcover is about the book I am still in the middle of writing.

  1. Rewrite or edit the back cover copy for one of the five books you know well. What did you change?

Original (from The Book Thief):

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

By her brother’s graveside, Leisel Meminger finds her life changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Grave Digger’s Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jewish man in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

 

Edited:

1939, Nazi Germany. As the country held its breath, Death has been busy only to get busier.

Leisel Meminger finds The Grave Digger’s Handbook by her brother’s graveside and takes it with her. Her first book thievery. Soon she steals more books – from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library – wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times, and when Liesel’s foster family hides a Jewish man in their basement, Liesel’s world opened up as it closed down.

Superbly crafted by award winning author Markus Zusak, this novel burns with intensity that will linger with us even after finishing it.

 

  1. Write or rewrite your back cover copy using what you’ve learned.

Welcome to Ditté! Where journeys are worth a lifetime.

Monaseh found himself on Ditté at age three rescued from a fire in his Indian village. Genji was on his way to Pearl Harbour when he heard someone call his name making him change his flight course.

Danny ran way from an abusive school environment in Canada hoping to find a way home, only to fall into a river and wake up on Ditté.

With them are five other boys who heard their names called and find themselves in a foreign land where they had to learn the culture and speak the language.

Susanna, Plum, Cherry, Gloria, Dahlia, and Yuli are daughters of an elven king. But when an old enemy of their father enters the kingdom killing the king and Susanna, the remaining princesses leave their homeland. With the eight aliens from Earth, the princesses cross borders into other lands and kingdoms to find a place they could call home.

Join these sojourners in their journeys as they learn what it is to have courage, to forgive, and to love one another in a world that is both harsh and beautiful.


  1. Write out five to ten possible headlines for your website.

1. So I Am a Human – What of It?

2. From a Classroom in Dreams

3. Arrow to the Sky – the Bronze Bows

4. Laughter and Tears

5. The Cursebreaker

6. Stories About Heartbreak, Healing, and Forgiveness

7. The Draconians – Those Who Worship the Black Dragon

8. Till We Have Our Voices

9. Who Let the Giant Bugs Out!?

10. Just Breathe!

 

  1. Take your existing copy on one to two of your website pages and rewrite them. What did you change? What did you discover?

I looked at one of my blog pages about my first published book and noticed that I needed to change my profile content (favourite movies, favourite books, etc.). I chose not to change the name I had my profile under because I have changed it in the past and I think it had reduced the number of visitors (if any) to my webpage, so I left it under my pen name that I was using at the time. I am still deciding about what to do with that blog/website – whether to create a new one and delete the old one, or completely change it (though I have not figured out how yet).

https://hakenforgod.blogspot.com/2023/02/why-i-retold-blue-bird-introduction-to.html /