Book Descriptions that Sell

Book descriptions that sell don’t tell the story. A good book description begins with the “hook.” A hook is an essential part of writing a good book description. It is sometimes called a lede (also spelled lead). The hook must spark the reader’s curiosity about the book and make them want to read it. This woman looks happy about her description.

 

Your hook should not reveal the ending or all of the important content. Instead, it should tell the reader something about the book. The hook should include a few engaging nouns and verbs that describe the contents, but without including too many adjectives and adverbs. While the hook is the most important part of your book description, remember not to make it too long or too complex.

In addition to the hook, a good book description should also include a salient fact or statement. It should also state a question or problem that the book addresses, as well as convince the reader that the book has the solution.

Writing a hook can be tricky. Avoid spoilers and write in the present tense. In addition, your hook should be as short as two sentences. It should make the reader want to continue reading the book. Use active language.

Include keywords

One of the most effective ways to improve your book’s visibility online is to include keywords in the book description. The keywords you use should describe the content of the book. Whether you’re selling a paperback or an e-book, you’ll want to make sure that the right people can find your book. However, you don’t want to overdo it! The keywords you use should be descriptive but not so specific that they’re ineffective.

Keywords can be useful for both your book description and the book’s title. You can use keywords to determine the title. Use a tool such as Publisher Rocket to help you determine which keywords to use.

One of the most crucial aspects of writing an effective book description is making it fit the book’s content. To do this, you should consider factors such as the topic and the tone of your book. For instance, if your book is about surviving a massive tornado that wiped out your campground, you should include weather-related and disaster-related keywords.

Another important aspect of your book description is its placement in Amazon’s search results. It’s important to know that Amazon’s algorithm will index your book based on its proximity to the keywords you chose. Having your keywords in the description will increase its visibility in search results and help your book gain visibility and sales.

The keywords should include a mix of words and phrases. Amazon offers guidelines on how to choose the most effective keywords. They also list things to avoid. You cannot use the title of another book or another author’s name in your keywords, for example. As an aside, you also cannot pretend to be another author. While choosing keywords, remember to avoid keywords already covered in your book’s metadata, subjective quality claims, and time-sensitive statements.

How to write book descriptions that sell and follow Amazon’s description guidelines

If you have a book to sell, you will want to make sure that your book description is as good as possible. This will not only attract readers to your book, but will also help you increase your sales. Using keywords and a compelling description will help you get more sales.

Amazon’s description guidelines recommend using one to two sentences and avoiding spoilers. It’s important to make the first sentence of your book description as compelling as possible.

Make sure that you use professional proofreading tools to ensure that your description is error-free. It’s also a good idea to have your book professionally edited before you sell it.

Goal of Amazon book descriptions that sell

The goal of an Amazon book description is to compel the reader to click on the “Look Inside” feature of the website. It should also be able to tap into the emotions of the potential reader. Make your book description stand out by using powerful words and language that matches the title. Remember, book descriptions that sell are the most important part of book marketing. If they make people feel something, they’re more likely to take the next step.

The description should provide a sense of emotional payoff for the reader. However, it’s important to note that a book description is not a synopsis. A blurb is a short summary. When reading book descriptions that sell, the reader should feel an emotional connection with the author. The description should be compelling enough to motivate a reader to buy the book. However, it should not directly tell the reader to buy the book.

As you’re writing a book description, remember to follow Amazon’s guidelines for description writing. Your description will have more chances to make sales on Amazon if it contains keywords that are highly relevant to your book’s topic. If your book is based on a particular topic, you’ll need to make the product description as customer-focused as possible.

Writing a good book description will help your book reach its goal of becoming a bestseller. Whether your cover copy is short or long, it should grab a reader’s attention and leave them wanting more. Book descriptions that sell will help you make an impression and build your author brand.

Writing habits—setting the stage

Writing habits can increase or decrease our output. One of the things I like to do is make my writing environment comfortable.

Peacefulness and focus are important and set the stage for a productive writing (or editing) session. Things that speak peace and focus to me are candles, the sound of water flowing, coffee, junk food, and sometimes instrumental music. I have three motivational prints hung in a column on the wall next to my desk; here’s what they say:

• “Imagination: The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. —Albert Einstein”
• “Goals: One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time.”
• “Focus: Focus on your goals and let nothing get in the way of your dreams.”

The “goals” and “focus” prints sit constantly in my peripheral vision when I’m at my desk, but I don’t have to move my head much to see the other one. They remind me about thirty times a day to “Get back on task, Woman!” It only takes a split second for them to do their job.

Solitude isn’t always good

I have to temper sayings like this, though, because I could easily bite the head off of my husband or any (or all) of the kids because they “get in the way” of my work every day (he works nights and the kids homeschool). They are important and I don’t want them to feel bad about needing me. The times I am alone, though, I can get amazing amounts of work done in a short period of time, but I must say that I get lonely or feel antsy after a few hours—which I never would have predicted. One summer in college, I worked 16 hours a day compiling and cataloging a library in near-total solitude for 90 days and never once felt lonely. That was the norm for me: being able to work alone for long periods of time.

Now that I’ve spent the last 15 years with little people around me nearly every waking minute, however . . . to adulterate Henry Higgins’ statement, “I’ve grown accustomed to their faces and their noise.” I crave interaction with them, as much as I sometimes complain about the interruptions and noise level, so if for some reason they aren’t in the room with me (they almost always are within arm’s reach) and it’s been too long since one of them asked me a question, I may find myself going to wherever they are.

Things that interfere with productivity

 

What I do not need is any sort of TV type of thing running. My husband often plays videos that are in his facebook feed, and . . . just no. Any other words (even in music) while I write or edit messes with me. I’ve been known to be tooling along and as someone speaks, to type what they said—right there in the middle of my sentence. It’s like I’m a blasted court reporter. While it’s comical, I don’t need that. It’s always been that way, so when I started doing some transcription, it did come in handy to be able to type automatically anything that I heard, but it’s a pain otherwise.

Interruptions also interfere, but short breaks can actually increase productivity. Do a search for “Pomodoro Method” for some specifics on using bursts of work with short breaks. Perhaps the key is to have planned interruptions.

Writing tools

As for writing tools, I mostly use my computer (and Microsoft Word). I tried writing something on my phone the other day (just joined the smartphone century) because someone I know had commented that she writes on her phone all the time, and oh, boy, never again. It took about ten seconds to realize that was the biggest writing headache of all time. Better to open a vein and write in my own blood on the wall of a cave.

I have written longhand in a notebook. I often do that for any journal writing, brainstorming, mind-mapping, and other things like that. Perhaps when I need to think, a notebook and pencil are the best tools. Often when I write, I do it at the computer, and an entire piece comes out in one fell swoop (I once wrote a 20,000-word draft of a nonfiction book in about two days). That’s because it “bakes” in my brain for a long time before I let it out.

Let there be snacks?

When I’m writing (or editing, for that matter), I often have food and drink at hand. To drink: iced water, tea, or diet soda; or hot coffee. To eat: Not much recently, but I used to have Hershey’s bars, Tootsie Rolls, Skittles, M&Ms, or tiny pretzels (all bite-sized rewards), and sometimes brownies. Writing habits that involve food are unwise to develope. These days, I just have a huge glass mug (it might be a beer mug) full of ice and water, tea, or diet soda. Here’s one that looks like mine, with different contents.

My glass holds around a quart, and I chug at least four of those babies while I work—usually iced water. That’s not counting what I have at meals, so I stay hydrated despite my diabetes. Staying hydrated helps me remain alert.

I save snacking for when I really must focus and am having a hard time doing so. Try healthful options such as carrot sticks. Recently I have been harvesting cherry tomatoes from my container gardens and eating them.

Best time to write

It really helps me to write first thing in the morning, when the house is as close to silent as it will ever be.

Just sitting down at the computer with a cup of coffee or a gigantic glass of iced water while the house is fairly quiet in the dark, pre-dawn hour of 4 AM does the trick. Usually. Sometimes I need pressure.

Working under pressure

Pressure isn’t always a bad thing. I need to know that I have committed to others (usually all of my facebook friends) to do something in a set amount of time, and that the time is running out. Pieces I must return to clients have that built in, but my own writing really does not. It’s an artificial pressure and deadline, and my brain knows it. Therefore, the pressing things interfere with my own writing habits:

• the virtual stack of books and blog posts clients want me to edit
• my children’s schooling
• necessary household tasks
• church services
• the 104 new emails I receive on average each day
• the books I want and/or need to read
• friends and family who want or need something from me
• my medical conditions, and
• all of the errands and appointments for the entire family

Bringing someone else into it to pressure me (even if it’s just in my head) is usually necessary. It’s a good-natured pressuring, but it’s still effective. We call these sessions work/writing sprints.

Knowing exactly where to start

Another of my writing habits helps me know where to start the next day. The habit is leaving the last sentence (from the day before) incomplete. It only takes me a few seconds to think of (or remember) how to finish it. The ball doesn’t always keep rolling after that, but it does so often enough to make that practice worth doing.

To sum up, the writing habits that help me are getting up before the sun and my family members, having coffee or a large glass of something cold, and (depending on the time of year) lighting a scented candle. That gives me a few hours to work before the interruptions begin, and when they do, I get to hug the ones who bring them. What writing habits help you, and what might you try? Let us know.

Copyright protected is the default status of any piece of creative work such as books, songs, and poems. There is so much confusion about copyright law that I want to write a book on it and give it away. Since I don’t have time to write all the books, I’ll just start with this blog post.

As a member of many writers’ groups and as a writing coach, I hear this one all the time. “I’m afraid to share my work, because it’s not copyrighted and someone might steal it.” Before we get into this, the correct phrasing is not “copyrighted.” It is “copyright protected.” Let’s address both issues there: the misunderstanding of what is copyright protected, and the theft of intellectual property.

First, the thieving bit. Sooner or later, if you publish anything, if you’re any good (and maybe even if you’re not), someone is going to steal your writing. It’s just part of life. Writers don’t ask each other if anyone has ever stolen their work; they ask each other when last time was, and who the warty toad is.

Someone will steal your writing. Don’t let that stop you from publishing your work, and don’t let it stop you from sharing it with people who can help you improve.

Editors don’t steal your writing

Some writers who have approached me about becoming their editor were terrified that I’d steal their stories. I’m not joking. And just to clear this up, too: editors don’t steal your writing. It would be career suicide, and editors don’t earn enough to pay lawyers to defend them in lawsuits. It’s absolutely not worth it.

Yes, there are instances of manuscripts being rejected and the same plot being published in another book. That’s a phenomenon whereby several people get the same idea at the same time. It happens often (and not just with writing), and as much as it feels like it, it’s not someone stealing your idea. They just got there first, or the person judging the pieces thought for some reason that someone else’s rendition of it was better than yours. Remember, there’s no accounting for taste, and it’s just one person’s opinion.

The fear that one’s writing will be stolen by an editor is understandable, but 95% of the people who approach me get past it and trust me. When a writer is too afraid that I’m going to steal their work, that’s the end of the conversation. I can’t help someone if they won’t show me their work. No one can. This is a fear that you can lay to rest now. Your work is safe with a real editor. Not sure if the person is a real editor? Download a free copy of my book Find a Real Editor, and find out.

Copyright protected

Now to the simple, clear-cut definition of “copyright protected.” Note that it’s not the full, complicated, and legalese-filled definition that sometimes gets hashed out in court. I’ll leave that to intellectual property rights lawyers like my friend and client Steve Sponseller. Copyright protected means the work is protected under copyright law.

The simple statement is this: Any work (book, song, infographic, map, etc.) is copyright protected. It is protected from the moment you create it. If you made it, you own it. You own the copyright, unless you sell or license it. If someone steals it or uses it without your permission, you have the right to do something about it. That’s when those lawyers come into play.

People need to get this through their heads and stop thinking they don’t own the copyright to their own work. It is copyright protected. If you wrote it, it’s under copyright protection. For an easy way to prove that you own the copyright, simply register the copyright with the government. To defend your copyright in court, your copyright regarding that piece must be registered with the US Copyright Office (part of the Library of Congress).

Don’t rely on “poor man’s copyright” because it does not hold up in court. The fee changes periodically (always moving upward, of course), but it’s not too expensive. For most authors, the copyright registration fee is currently $65.

What is decision fatigue? Also called decision-making fatigue, it’s being tired and overwhelmed by choices. This problem comes from having too many decisions to make, especially right in a row.

According to some experts, the average American makes 35,000 decisions a day. Nearly 300 of those are just on food! Imagine.

When you’re writing your book, you have to make a large number of choices, too.

Decision fatigue is real. It’s just one reason an author shouldn’t write all day every day.

Decision fatigue can be deadly

Medical personnel can make bad decisions that result in permanent injury or death of patients. The chances of that happening increase the later in their shift it is. You can’t exactly time your ER visits to line up with shift change, though.

Judges in court have been shown to make poorer decisions as their day progresses. If you appear in front of a judge at the end of their morning or the end of their afternoon, there is almost zero chance of a decision being in your favor.

In his book When, Daniel Pink addresses this and many other things related to the time we do things, and when the best time is to do which things. The “when” that you want in these cases is when the doctor or judge is refreshed. That means you want your case to be on the docket for the first thing in the morning or right after lunch. Earlier in the week is better than a Friday, too.

Regarding writing your book, the “when” that you want is the time that you are refreshed. You don’t want to sit down to write at a time that you’re exhausted and feel like you couldn’t stir together a boxed cake mix let alone bake your book properly.

Ways to reduce decision fatigue

Many successful people reduce their clothing to one or two outfits or eat the same thing every day in order to limit the number of decisions they make. Others make certain decisions once and for all (watching movies only on DVD or Netflix, never in theaters, for example).

I once read of a successful man who had a rule for himself to only eat ice cream once a month—only on the full moon. When people asked him at a big celebration—his 75th birthday party—if he would please have some ice cream with his cake, he declined the treat because there was not a full moon that night. He made that decision for himself once and for all, and he remained 100% committed to it. That’s a great way of avoiding decision fatigue.

Just as having to make too many choices can wear a person out, too many options can be overwhelming as well. This is true even if we only have a few or even just one decision to make.

Tammy Foster stood in the towel section of a department store. She had one choice to make: which towels to buy for her home. She wanted to select towels that were of a good quality and of a reasonable price. You might say that’s a challenge right there.

Tammy also wanted to choose towels that her family members would like.

Color.

Pattern.

Thickness.

Size.

What seemed like one decision to make was really a stack (no apologies for puns!) of decisions she needed to make. Not having any input from those family members made it harder. She was there in the store alone.

It seemed like it should be simple, but it wasn’t. She “went tharn” like a rabbit in Watership Down and froze. Tammy grappled with that decision and went home empty handed. She jokes about it now, but something good has come of it. The experience helped her recognize decision fatigue in herself and others.

An American woman who had been overseas for a few years returned to the US for a visit and stayed with a different friend of mine.

My friend took her to the store. The visitor became so overwhelmed with all of the options that she had to leave the store. She said where she was living, there was one or maybe two options for any given item. Here, she saw nearly 50 options just for toothpaste!

She told my friend the type of item she wanted (such as toothpaste, a toothbrush, cheese, and bread), and my friend went back in and made the purchases.

Combine too many choices to make and too many options for each decision. That’s a recipe for disaster. Now add in trade-offs.

When the options have both positive and negative elements, that’s called a trade-off. When there are trade-offs, deciding takes a lot of energy. A person who is mentally depleted becomes reluctant to make trade-offs, or else makes terrible decisions.

Dean Spears of Princeton University says decision fatigue caused by the constant need to make financial trade-offs is a major factor in trapping people in poverty.

The poor have to make so many trade-offs that they are left with less mental energy for other activities. A trip to the store causes more decision fatigue in the poor than in others.

Self-regulation problems

Making choices drains precious mental resources, leaving the executive function less capable of carrying out its other activities. Decision fatigue impairs self-regulation. At the core of ADHD and BPD (and possibly other conditions) is a lack of self-regulation. People who have these conditions might benefit greatly from reducing the number of decisions they must make. Better self-regulation improves patient outcomes and quality of life.

Decision fatigue causes some people to avoid decisions entirely. While I don’t recommend decision avoidance, I do recommend reducing the number of decisions you have to make.

Putting rules in place to reduce decision fatigue

As an editor and a homeschooling mom, I experience decision fatigue on a daily basis. Guarding and managing my energy (reducing decision fatigue is part of that) is important and why I gave myself rules such as these:

• Buy only solid-colored clothing in classic colors I look good in and that fall within a certain price range.
• Buy and wear only black socks that are no-show.
• Keep only three pairs of shoes: sneakers/tennis shoes, sandals, and dress flats.

Those three reduce my decision fatigue around what to wear.

• Drink only water, coffee, and diet soda.
• Organize my refrigerator and batch cook (I made 16 meals’ worth of breakfast burritos in the time it would take me to make and clean up one meal’s worth).
• Follow the weekly menu (Taco Tuesday is the perfect example).

Those three reduce the number of decisions I have to make about what to eat or drink.

• Make no more than three decisions per day regarding friend requests or suggested groups.
• Leave the phone on Do Not Disturb mode (family members still ring through), have the message say to email or text me, and never check voicemail. This eliminates the “Should I answer that?” decision that could arise from three to ten times every day.
• Set my Calendly availability to afternoons only (I later reduced the number of days for that availability, too).

Those three cut the number of decisions I have to make about interactions with people. These three help me reduce the decision fatigue that comes with editing books:

• Go with Chicago‘s rule unless I have a good reason not to.
• Use a style sheet (the decisions have already been made).
• Stop editing for the day after a set number of hours or words.

How do (or how could) you reduce your decision fatigue?

Make a list of choices you could make once and for all. Here are some I’ve heard from other people (and some I’ve made myself):

• I stay sober. No alcohol or intoxicating medications pass my lips no matter how much pain I’m in. (Out of respect for their privacy, I’m not listing the people who have told me this one.)
• Sugar is out of my diet for a whole year (from Vincent Pugliese, who rocked it).
• My blood sugar levels must stay in tight control, so I do whatever it takes to make that happen.
• I brush my teeth before bed and upon rising every day.
• When it comes to my family members, I am Steve McGarrett, meaning I am the one who drives (I no longer put my life in their hands).
• I exercise every day, rain or shine (hat tip to Ken Hannaman and Ken Hoops for having more dedication here than most people I know).

 

To find out why it’s important to do certain things at certain times (and possibly save your own life), check out Daniel Pink’s book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.