We want to kick our post on writing the perfect book description off with a metaphor: one where you imagine your reader as a fish and your book as a tasty worm. You want readers to buy the book that you’re selling, similar to how you’d want a fish to grab the worm if you’re fishing! The only problem is that there are so many worms (or books in our case) to choose from in the world.
With all these available worms, you’re worried that yours might go completely overlooked. So how do you make your worm the prettiest, shiniest, best-looking option? You package it well.
But one crucial detail that authors often overlook is their book description. To reference our Freebooksy and Bargain Booksy emails, this is what we’re referring to:
A successful book description will stop readers in their tracks, intriguing them enough to want to engage with your book. An unsuccessful book description, however, will make readers move on to the next book.
So how do you write a winning book description that will drive sales? Keep reading our article to
- discover the steps to book description success,
- learn how to test your blurbs,
- and access the template that Written Word Media’s editorial team uses.
How do you write a good description?
Part of knowing how to write a successful book description that sells is knowing what not to do. Let’s break down the do’s and don’ts you’ll want to follow when writing your book descriptions:
The do’s:
- Succinct and to the point
- Proper utilization of grammar
- Eye-catching, powerful language
- Inclusion of awards, high reviews, or ratings
- “Perfect for fans of… x, y, and z.”
- Audience and age appropriate
The don’ts:
- Shouty caps
- Too short
- Cut off words
- False claims
- Misspellings or typos
- Dated language like “just released”
- Aggressive call to action (“You MUST buy this book!”)
Keep in mind that retailers like Amazon may accept longer descriptions than the ones shown in this article. You’ll need to tailor each site’s requirements to your needs.
While there are very obvious good and bad choices to make when writing a book description, there are a few surprising choices that don’t make much of a difference to readers. As Bookbub’s article on blurbs and eBook descriptions explains:
- including details such as bestseller type (New York Times versus USA Today),
- putting a question at the end in order to hook the reader,
- saying the book is a first-time debut,
- or including the series name did not affect readers positively or negatively.
Book descriptions are something that may need to be updated over time. As your book earns more and more reviews, ratings, or gains feedback, there may be information you’ll need to add (or remove).
How do you test a good book description?
Buckle up, everybody. It’s time for a quick lesson on marketing. The easiest way to test your book descriptions is to start out by creating two versions of similar text, like this:
Note that both versions of this book description basically have the same information. They begin with listing important accolades that represent the renown of this book. However, from there, they split into two different directions. Book description A focuses more on Nick Dunne’s perspective, while book description B hones in on Amy.
Once we’ve created two versions of our book description, we’ll actually need to test them against each other to determine a winner. This is called A/B testing and reveals a clear winner between two options.
My recommendation would be to book two promotions for your book and test book description A against book description B.
While there are factors outside our control that can affect reader engagement, checking out results from these two different promotions should show if one book description was more effective than the other.
Crafting the perfect eBook description – the Written Word Media template
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a template for crafting the perfect book description, one that would see high click-through rates, result in sales, and market your book as professional and worthy of being read? Well, well, well… Do I have something for you!
Although I can’t quite guarantee the success of your book description, I can give you the template that the Written Word Media team uses when writing our own book descriptions. Overall, we want to make sure that our book descriptions will:
- Reflect positive sales, reviews, ratings, or book interactions.
- Be an appropriate length so that our 350 character requirement won’t cut words off or be left too short.
- Not contain any spelling or grammatical errors.
- Have at least one hook or interesting point to grab readers’ attention.
- Inspire readers to click “buy”.
This can be done by following five steps from our template:
Follow by a teaser of the plot and add on a comparison, such as “perfect for fans of JK Rowling”.
Finish things up with a testimonial showing how great your book is, and then stick the landing… With a little something to make readers really want to buy your book! Ours looks like this:
View Comments (10)
Kelsey, I love how you broke this process down in an easy-to-implement fashion: well done.
Thank you so much, Cyrus!
It's really good, but I have a problem with that final examples going from past to present tense. Not so much the first line, but that second line should be present tense. "Now that I'm a widow, I have to make a life for myself for the first time." So that it agrees with the rest of that paragraph.
The first line, I'd set off with bold text, with line 2 starting a new paragraph.
Love the template! Great blog, as always.
Thanks for the feedback, Maggie!
Very helpful marketing tips. Point about descriptions that need alteration is relevant. After reviews and good replies from readers, as an author, you grow in confidence. Certainly earlier descriptions for certain novels now appear dated and not sufficiently informative.
This is just terrific. I'm already a loyal customer of your service, and I appreciate all these little extras. Thanks.
Do you feel for the book description it is better to use first-person vs. third-person narrative?
Hi Lana, I think both can be equally effective for readers. However, you might want to stick to one or the other (and not utilize both) in a shorter book description to avoid confusion.
I think heading is more important than description to attract users and readers it would define all about the book.
Hi Kelsey,
As a monthly user of Written Word Media to promote my novels I just have a few comments. Good suggestions. I have found after twenty years and forty + novels as well some nonfiction books in print in ALL formats that the "Hook" line is the best line. For book one, I open with a simple but grabbing paragraph that introduces my potential readers not only to the main character, who is both the protagonist, but also the antagonist, this single paragraph lets readers know right away, what the first novel is about, who the main character is and what the series is going to deal with novel after novel. I use this across ALL eBook platforms and it has been very successful.
"If someone you loved was brutally murdered, would a lifetime prison or even death penalty sentence (where the savage killer could remain for years unpunished) be enough punishment for the killer? The Iron Eagle doesn’t think so either. Meet the surprising vigilante handing out justice that truly fits the crime in this Los Angeles-based 30-novel series. For the killers who cross the Eagle’s path, there is no mercy. See justice delivered with exacting precision and follow along as even law enforcement’s top cops become fans of this unknown hero. Justice has, indeed, evolved, thanks to the Iron Eagle."
This tag line sets the stage for the reader from the get go. However, I didn't stop there. The series is for adults ONLY 18+, so inserted right after that is a detailed content warning for ALL potential readers of my series.
""***Content Warning: While the Iron Eagle Series can be read out of order as a stand-alone book the reader should be advised that backgrounds and details of the characters may be confusing if readers choose to do so. The Iron Eagle Crime novel series contains mature subject matter, graphic violence, sexual content, language, torture and other scenes that may be disturbing to sensitive readers. This series is not intended for anyone under the age of eighteen, reader discretion is advised.***"
This lets readers know upfront before they ever make a purchase what they are getting into in the series from book one on. I have found this to be very important and I did a great deal of research on this before posting it. One very common complaint from readers is they felt a title was misrepresented and they found the content objectionable. By doing this I let my reader know right up front before they move on to the longer description of the book where it is going and what to expect. This has cut down tremendously on one star reviews that have nothing to do with the quality of the writing but the content of the title. Now informed, the reader can go on to read the back and flap matter after the, "Hook" Line and the "Content Warning" to read the back and flap matter prepared for the series content. This allows readers to NOT down load the book if they find this type of subject matter objectionable.
The other very important thing I have learned and recommend to ALL series novelists is make the first book in the series, "FREE." It might sound crazy, but for a series that is going to span more than three titles it is imperative. Once the reader is hooked, informed and downloads the novel from their preferred vendor or platform. Conversion to paid sales increases dramatically. Then using the great tools of WWM as part of my long term strategy along with ads move titles extremely well. I release a novel in my series every quarter, or four novels per year and currently have the first thirty-five novels written and in print the series will release through 2023. Just some food for thought for you and your readers.