Chapter 4

How to Write a Good Book Description

Want to capture readers? No matter what genre your book falls into, nothing beats an intriguing book description that leaves a reader wanting more. A good book description is detailed, descriptive copy that is suited for public display, used for your book marketing, book discovery, and for sales purposes. It helps potential buyers find and understand your book. It's your pitch, your chance to get people interested, and while we know you could probably write pages upon pages explaining to someone what your book is about, your space and reader attention span are limited. You have to pack a lot of punch into a couple hundred words, sometimes less.

When creating your book description, you want to make sure you provide the information needed to help buyers (including consumers, booksellers, and librarians) understand what they're about to purchase and whether they want to. Having the right information in place determines not only whether you attract the attention of your audience, but whether you attract the right audience.

Don’t just write one version and consider it done. Write multiple versions, test and gather feedback, and improve your book description until you feel it’s the best possible sales piece for your book. Before you start writing, here are a few things you should know about crafting the perfect book description.

1. Utilize Keywords

A good book description isn't just about telling readers what your book's about once they find it; it's about telling search engines what search queries your book could answer so that readers actually can find it. The better your book description, the better your chances for gaining visibility and converting a brief read into a book purchase.

Consider a prospective online customer hasn’t read your book, can’t physically pick it up, and may not know anything about it yet. If they don’t know the book exists, how would they look for something like it? When writing your book description, think like a buyer, and not like the author. Make sure you write your book descriptions using words your ideal consumer would be searching for so that you can attract the right attention more efficiently.

Considering both your keywords and your title, draft a succinct but keyword-rich description of your book using the same keywords you’ve used elsewhere in your book metadata. Make the description informative to users first and search engines second, and remember, it’s better to go narrow than wide, more specific than general. You want your conversion rate to be high. That is, when buyers come to your book sales page, they should be compelled to buy—not click off because they were lured in falsely or in too general a way. Your book description should be attention-grabbing copy that sells your book. The initial search of your potential reader is your first opportunity to make an impression, so make sure you’re using the right book metadata and keywords to do it.

2. Formatting Your Book Description

Don’t be afraid to use available editing tools when writing your book description metadata. The use of special formatting, where appropriate, can give you an advantage when readers are conducting Google and Amazon searches and increase the visibility of your book on search engines so that your title is the one that pops up when readers are shopping online.

• Use paragraph breaks, bold and italic fonts, and other structural elements like ordered lists (bullet points) to provide emphasis and highlight key aspects of your book. Short paragraphs and bulleted lists are better than a single block of text.
• HTML markup, the tags used to tell web pages how to display your text, should be limited to: <p>, <br />, <ul>, <ol>, <li>, <em> or <i>, <strong> or <b>, and corresponding end tags. Ensure that any code is clean and valid. Do not include active hyperlinks in your description.

3. The Structure of a Good Book Description

Headline
Start with a clear and punchy headline that highlights the big things that matter about your book from a reader perspective (genre, key topics and themes, major brands, awards). The headline should succinctly sum up the key benefit or selling point of the book or you could consider including a convincing quote from a recognizable authority or influencer (i.e. not one of your family members or friends, but someone with real name recognition) who recommends the book. Get readers to want to find out more or simply purchase based on what they’ve read already. When your book description is used as your book’s back cover copy, the headline appears at the top of the cover.

• The headline should be a maximum of 200 characters (roughly 25-30 words). This is what will be seen on retailer pages before consumers are prompted to “read more.”
• Make it bold and follow it with a paragraph break.
• It should have a strong selling focus. Think of this as the “elevator pitch”—less about plot and the specific details and more about why a busy reader should want this book. If someone didn’t know the book existed, what might they be looking for that would bring them to your book? (Something like, “A beautifully illustrated picture book about bullying, friendship, and learning to stand up for what’s right” beats “Sam and Sally don’t get along.”)

Detailed Exposition
The headline should be followed by detailed exposition that expands upon the headline and demonstrates the value of the book. If a consumer clicks to “read more,” you want them to find rich detail about the book.

• 100-200 words detailing the notable topics, themes, plot elements, and features of your book
• For fiction titles, this is where you can describe the plot, context and settings, and key characters. Who are the main characters? What do they most deeply desire, what challenge do they face, what sets their story in motion?
• For nonfiction, detail the subjects covered and important people, places, and things. The most important question your description must answer for nonfiction is: why and how will the reader benefit from this book? If you know your audience well, then you know the problems they face; your description should tell how your book addresses these problems head on and helps readers overcome a challenge. Don’t focus too much on a description of the book’s content, instead, focus on how the content will help, inform, or entertain the reader. And rather than focusing too much on your background, focus on how your credentials or experience helps you expertly address the subject matter.
• This is where you can “set the mood” and give readers an idea of the style and tone of your book. It also gives them a taste of the writing style they can expect from you if they decide to read it in its entirety.
• Use paragraph breaks and bulleted lists where appropriate to add structure and break up large blocks of text.

Strong Close
Finally, the copy should end with a strong close, emphasizing the value and why someone should buy your book. If someone has read this far, they are interested. Now make the sale.

• At least 25-50 words.
• Who is the book for? “Fans of …”, “Great gift for…”
• Consider including awards and nominations or a strong review quote.

4. Back Cover Copy

While they aren’t required to be the same, the book description you write for your book metadata often becomes the copy you or your book designer put on the back cover of your book. While the keywords you use for the physical copy of your book aren’t as relevant for the physical version as they are for search engine optimization online, this copy is still necessary to capture the sale in person. The media will also use this time and again to write reviews of your book and it will get re-used and re-fashioned for dozens of purposes. Back cover copy becomes a masterpiece of your book marketing.

For example, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult tells the story of 13-year-old Anna, who was born as a “savior sister” specifically so she can save her older sister’s life. When Anna turns 13, she is told that she will have to donate one of her kidneys, and she sues her parents for medical emancipation.

That length of description is all you need to sell the story to potential readers.

Here’s another example for the contemporary romance novel Baller by Vi Keeland written from the point-of-view of the heroine:

“The first time I met Brody Easton was in the men's locker room. It was my first interview as a professional sportscaster. The famed quarterback decided to bare all. And by all, I don't mean he told me any of his secrets. No. The arrogant ass decided to drop his towel, just as I asked the first question. On camera.”

In those 60 words, you know who the main character is, a good idea of what she desires (or will desire!), and what her challenge will be. You also know the setting or context.

5. The Difference Between Long and Short Book Descriptions

There are two metadata fields in your IngramSpark title record for your book description: the long description and the short description. Although the long and short book descriptions stand alone, they play off each other to provide rich content for your potential buyers. Both are used for marketing purposes, public information, and to drive sales. The long description is essentially the detailed exposition outlined above, and the short description is essentially your headline—the short and sweet elevator pitch that has readers searching for the long description to read more.

Publishers use the short description to showcase and sell. It appears in publishing catalogs, trade show copy, online websites, marketing materials, press releases, and more. It's your book's calling card for the world to see. Informative, engaging and thought-provoking: that’s the reaction you want each time someone reads it.

6. Quick Tips to Writing a Good Book Description

• Describe your book in simple, straightforward, and consumer-friendly terms.
• Think of your book description like you would introduce yourself to someone new. If you're hoping to build a connection, you'd most likely reveal the best or most interesting aspects about yourself. You wouldn't tell them every minute detail; you'd tell them enough to let them know whether they wanted to get to know you better.
• Make it at least 150-200 words long.
• Give readers enough information to understand what your book is, what it’s about, and if they’ll like it—key factors in deciding whether to buy your book.
• Avoid time-sensitive language, so that your description does not become outdated. For example, do not say “latest,” “soon,” “forthcoming,” or “most recent,” and do not refer to “last year” or your “next book.”
• Remember to stay age-appropriate, relatable, and highlight any awards you may have won to enhance your selling points.
• Do your research. To improve your own story description, read the book marketing copy for dozens (even hundreds) of books in your genre, and pay attention to length, point of view or voice, as well as how much of the story is described. You can also get ideas for good descriptive copy by reading the top consumer reviews for some titles comparative to yours. Great reader reviews often are very effective at explaining books in an enticing and engaging way.

This chapter was compiled from the following posts on the IngramSpark blog:

“Compelling Back Cover Copy: Not Too Little and Not Too Much” by Jane Friedman, Co-Founder and Editor of The Hot Sheet

“How to Write a Good Book Description” by IngramSpark Staff