Your book description can kill any chance you ever had of making a sale OR it can have potential buyers clicking the BUY button!  Which would YOU rather?

The three most important elements on your Kindle Sales page are

1. Your book cover
2. Your book description
3. Reviews

Your Book Description is Your OPPORTUNITY to SELL Your Book

Your book description should do one of two things:  Get your visitor to hit the buy button … OR get them to read the reviews and “look inside” feature.  Either of the last two actions should also lead them to the buy button.

A good book description needs:

• A great hook (or tag line)
• A compelling sales synopsis that makes readers want to read more
• A call to action so that readers hit the buy button, or stay on the page to read your reviews or  “look inside.”

Having helped over a thousand authors promote their books both on and off Fiverr, I have pretty well seen every mistake there is.  Yes, I always read the description.  Why?  Because my reputation as a marketer depends on it.   I have turned down marketing gigs simply because I knew from reading the description, that the book would not sell — even for free!

One author had a three WORD description (and no reviews).  “Read This Book,” might make an OK tweet if a fabulous cover image was attached, BUT it is NOT a description and will not get readers to click the Buy button.

On the other side of the spectrum are authors whose descriptions are way too long and convoluted or descriptions that are filled with so many grammatical errors it is beyond embarrassing.

Readers judge the content of a book by the content of the description. 

They assume that if the description is easy to read, interesting and compelling, the book will be the same. They assume that if the description has typos, grammatical errors and is confusing, the book will be the same.  I’ve read descriptions that were so convoluted and confusing I get up after the first paragraph (which was probably too long).

Why do so many  book descriptions fail at their job?

1. Writing a description is one of the hardest things an author will ever write.  It is sales COPY, the type of writing copywriters get paid megabucks to do.  Writing sales copy is dramatically different than plotting and writing dialogue. It is not aimed at informing or entertaining … it is aimed at selling.
   .
2. Many writers think they can dash off the description in an hour or so … how hard can it be?  The reality is that it can take 6 hours – 10 hours – sometimes DAYS to craft a beautifully done sales page.
   .
3. Writing a fiction synopsis involves distilling a 350 page book into 200 to 700 words that includes the main characters and the overall plot line.   Note: I said plot LINE … NOT the plot.
   .
4. The biggest reason so many authors have problems with their descriptions is that they are TOO close to their book, their characters and their plot. They don’t know what’s important to their potential buyers.  Is it the sexy heart throb or the fact that a killer is out to get rid of the heroine?  Is it because  the hero is a shape-shifter, or the impending doom of the entire universe?  OR … both?
   .

The challenge lies in distilling the essence of your book.

Learn HOW to write a winning book description:

1. Read at least 10 – 20 descriptions for best selling books in your genre.   How many characters do they introduce? How detailed is the description? What is their “call to action”?
   .
2. Buy a book from one of your favorite best selling authors. You are looking for a BEST SELLING book.  DON’T read the back cover. DON’T look at the Amazon book page. It’s your favorite author, right?  It is a best selling book, right? Just trust it will be a great book.Read the book and write a book description that hooks the reader.
   .
3. Narrow your focus to one or two of the main characters.
   .
4. Include a plot line.  You want the broad strokes, NOT details.
   .
5. Create a compelling HOOK that makes  readers want more!
   .
6. When your description is done … compare it to the description on Amazon.  How did you do? If you were close, great … go ahead and write the description for YOUR book.   If you weren’t in the ball park, do the exercise over again until you get close … then write your own.Here are a few more tips on writing great descriptions!

Learning the BASICS of good copywriting will make a HUGE difference to your ultimate sales.

.

.

What’s Next?  Are Your Books WAY Over Priced?

Here’s the full MUST DO Before Hitting the Self Publish Button list.