Are you planning on writing a Book? Here are Top 7 Tips you can use to write a book description that sells.

Most at times, a book cover is one of the first thing that catches the eyes of the reader and makes them stop to take a second look at your book. But a books description convinces them to buy that book, hence the more reason you need to write a books description that sells, most especially if it’s an ebook.

Sometimes, we find it hard to put together the right words that best captivated our readers. But not to worry, in this article I’ll guide you through the things you need to consider while writing your book description as well as give you a simple template for a book description that sells.

First of all, What’s a Book Description?

A Book Description is a Write up that is usually found on the back of a book or within the shelves of a book. In ebooks, you find them on the books purchasing page along with the book cover and price. The main purpose of the book’s description is to hook readers in and captivate them long enough to buy the book. It is also referred to as the Book Blurb.

Here are top 7 tips that are very essential in writing a book description that sells.

1.  KNOW YOUR GENRE / CATEGORY 

The content and writing style differs for every genre of book you’re describing. The best way to get a good idea of your genre’s book description is to run a quick search within your genre to see what others have done.

Using a content style that is common to one’s genre cannot be applicable to other genres as it will end up confusing the buyers. Intrigue and suspense, as well as plot twists that are used in fiction books, will not tell you anything about a business book. Also, bullet points that work well in business book descriptions will not convince buyers searching for a DIY book that will solve their problems. Children’s book descriptions and poetry book descriptions are a different field entirely.

To start, begin by documenting the best book blurb for your book category by researching other books in the same category.

2. PROVIDE THE ANSWERS YOU READERS ARE ASKING

There’s a reason why your readers are in search of your book in the first place. It could be to acquire more knowledge about a particular topic or for entertainment’s sake, whatever it is there’s always a reason. It’s now your job to define the problems of these readers with an accompanying answer to how your book will be of help to them.

You’ve probably carried out this research already before you started writing your book. Now is the time to bring it up again LINK Are you bothered about how you’re going to promote your book.

For example, you’re a Nutritionist who wants to make more money by selling your expertise and knowledge in ebook form to those who can’t afford your consultancy fees. The first thing you need to do is find out what these people truly want, it could be weight loss tips or a meal plan for a diabetic patient. Whatever their problems, mention how your book will help them achieve that goal, even if your book provides illustrations and nutrition advice on losing weight, tell them in your book description that the answer is in your book.

3. BEGIN WITH A HOOK

Grab their attention with the first sentence of your books description. You could start by using something dramatic or an intriguing question that sets their mind spinning, it could be anything that establishes you as an authority in that field. If your first sentence is dry or dull, there’s every possibility that your readers won’t read the rest of your books description.

4. LURE YOUR READERS IN WITHOUT GIVING AWAY MUCH

Remember that the major purpose of a books description is to highlight the reasons why your readers should be reading your book rather than what the book contains. You want to tell them enough about your tips and steps for non fiction books or plots and twists for fiction books, such that they’ll be eager for more. But you don’t give up all your secrets and contents as this might render the book useless at the end of the day.

Rather you entice them with all the book entails in bits and pieces so that they’ll find it hard to resist buying your book. Tease them with little snippets.

5. YOUR DESCRIPTION SHOULD FALL WITHIN 100 – 250 WORDS

According to the Amazon Book description guidelines, your book description should fall between 100 – 250 words, which could be approximately a 150 word paragraph. Some writers get over enthusiastic in trying to convince readers that their book is the only solution and they go overboard with their description. An average persons attention span is very short most importantly when it involves a buying decision. So try keeping it short and straight to the point.

6. WRITE MORE THAN ONE BOOK DESCRIPTION

After you finish writing your initial book description, write another one. Since they are short writings, you can write out different descriptions of that same book using different tones and content style. Show them to your friends and followers, and get their feedback.

If you’re selling your book as an ebook on Amazon, you can easily change the description at any time you choose as it’s going to be speaking to your readers differently at different times, so you can see which one is getting you more sales. You can change it at a weeks interval to try this out.

7. ADOPT THIS TEMPLATE FOR A BOOK DESCRIPTION THAT SELLS

Here’s the template I promised to give you in a simplified manner.

Revelation

Introduce the characters and the setting with a tone that matches the description. For non fiction, the main character may be the expert author, so you can start by establishing the authors expertise. For fiction, in one or two sentences you introduce your protagonist and the setting. The focus of your book could be your readers, struggling businesses, overweight ladies etc. Start by letting them know that this book is about them and for them.

Conflict and Climax

If there were no problem to solve, then your book wouldn’t be necessary. While some conflict could be external like overcoming a challenge or surviving a situation, others could be internal like overcoming grief or making life – changing decisions. For non fiction, you can describe some problems that your readers are facing and how your book solves them. For fiction, you’ll simply tell your readers how the plot thickens with apparently unsolvable problems in your novel. Here’s where you make your readers feel that your book is relatable.

Resolution

Now you give your readers comfort and solutions after after making them uncomfortable. You give them hope by letting them know the solutions are in your book. For non fiction, you can use bullet points to list some of the ways your book is the solution to their problems. For fiction, you may mention possible scenarios to draw your readers in until buying your book becomes the only option.

The idea is to simply let them know that this book is what they’ve been looking for, that it holds the solution to their problems as well as getting satisfied after buying it.

Writing a good book description will no longer be hard as it seems once you learn and put these 7 tips into practice. Start now by researching your favorite books from authors in your genre then make samples of them. Now, what’s stopping you from writing yours? Do share with us in the comments box, so we can help you better.