Freelance Book Summary / Back Cover Copywriters We Recommend

---

Let’s step into the shoes of Suzie K. Book Buyer for a moment.

Suzie’s done the search on Amazon. She clicked on a cover that caught her eye. She landed on this sales page:

Note the area outlined in red above. That is the book description. Its purpose is to convince Suzie to buy the book.

Authors spend a lot of time polishing the writing contained within their books – editing, rewriting, and refining – until it is just right. But, the book description – the first example of a particular author’s writing Suzie K. Book Buyer sees – is often slapped together in five minutes.

Brian D. Meeks, author of Mastering Amazon Descriptions, writes in his book that he doubled his sales rates simply by rewriting his book descriptions. (I’ve witnessed this effect myself when I’ve rewritten book descriptions for clients.)

What makes a “good” book description? Well, there are different philosophies, depending on the type of book. But here are some common tips:

• Keep the paragraphs short (2-3 sentences maximum), and keep the number of paragraphs down (4 to 5 paragraphs). Consider that Suzie K. Book Buyer, and her book-buying pals, are going through multiple book descriptions in search of something to buy. If your description is too dense with details, or too long of a read, it will get skipped over.

• Start the description with a one-sentence summary (known as a tag line).

• With non-fiction, bullet points are your friend. Put the highlights of the book in that format.

• With fiction, don’t recap the entire story. Leave some mystery for the reader to discover.

• End the description with a call to action – something that will motivate a buyer to purchase the book.

Take Away Points:

1. Crummy book descriptions (just like crummy covers) crush clicks.
2. Short and sweet is best.
3. Start with a tag line, and end with a call to action.

RELATED

• Is Your Book Description Killing Sales? By Angela Hoy
• Angela Shares a Brutally Honest Review of an Author’s Book Description on Amazon
• How to Make Money Writing Product Descriptions By Jessy Faraday
• Book Reviews – Great for Blurbs…Not So Great for Sales?
• Writing the PERFECT Blurb – by Chris Saunders

Why Should I Listen to Richard?

Richard is the rarely-heard-from co-founder of BookLocker.com. He’s been in the self-publishing industry since 1999. Four years before that, he started his career in online marketing (just as it was becoming a formal profession). You can read the whole story of Richard’s career at JoeGrape.com. When he isn’t shelling out online marketing help, he is planning off-road motorcycle trips.

 Richard has more blunt self-publishing advice for WritersWeekly.com readers in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING A BOOK?

Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com,
a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.

ASK ANGELA!

>>>Read More WritersWeekly Feature Articles<<<