The Blurb - how I hate you!

Oh how I hate writing the blurb for my books; it is, for me, the worst part of the process. I have researched this subject a lot and everybody says there's only one way to do it, except they're all different?!?

I suppose this is all to do with 'fine tuning' the skills of an Author but it is such a pain. Generally, the perception seems to be that a blurb is between 150 - 200 words - tick.

Apparently a brief scene set and character introduction are also required, with a few 'hooks' to get the reader to buy the story. By 'hooks' they mean questions or possible mind tickling double entendre.

Of course, all of the above has to be done in a manner so as not to give away the story.

But what if your story doesn't fit the mold, (as mine tend not to do).

I don't normally have one star of the show, I like to spread the love around a few key characters.

A hint - AVOID using too many character names in the blurb, it confuses people.

My stories tend to involve quite complex plots and sub-plots, way too many to mention just one or two, even from a hook perspective. Do I just pick the main plot? But then there are so many other spin off plots that it is very difficult, nay - impossible, to give a real honest feel for the story in 150 - 200 words. AND, if I as the author can't project the story sufficiently in the blurb what chance has the reader got of truly understanding what they are buying?

"Sometime ago, there was someplace somewhere in the world where a fellow (Larry) and a couple of his mates (George and Rodney) did some stuff to prevent the world from complete destruction. Meanwhile, somebody else was trying to stop them from stopping the others, and they fell in love. - Crikey, there's nearly 50 words used.

Hey, if anybody has any pointers on this I'll happily post them here to help others.