It’s no secret. We live in an overstimulated world.
Everyone who has anything to say is competing for a platform. Long gone are the days when you could easily capture someone’s full attention.
In order to stand out through all of the chaos and noise, you have to say something fresh and special.
And, on top of that, you have to be ranking above your competitors for Amazon book sales!
All of this stuff is overwhelming. I mean, you’re an author. Why do you have to be a marketer too, all of a sudden?
Don’t worry—we’re here to help. A lot of book marketing is just getting the small things right. So there are specific areas that are more important than others.
One of those things is writing an intriguing, moving book description—the kind that makes people buy. That’ll help you rank higher on Amazon for your genre.
It’s easier said than done…especially if self-promotion is not your favorite thing to do. But that’s why we’re here today with this ultimate guide, full of book description examples, as well as guidance.
Whether you are starting from scratch and writing your newly finished book’s description…or going back to the drawing board because your conversions are not where you want them to be…check out the below steps to boost your rankings, grab the attention of today’s reader, and ultimately sell more copies of your book.
How to Write an Amazon Book Description That Generates Sales
Step 1 : Headlines that Hook
The headline, or hook, is the most important part of your book description. These first few words not only sum up the entire premise of your book—they also MUST engage and draw your reader in.
The purpose of the headline is to make the reader click to buy your book because they can’t resist the need to know what happens in your novel, or learn more from your nonfiction book and possibly find the answer to their problem.
Either way, a direct, attention-grabbing headline is your selling point.
Most people are skimming through so quickly, they have a hard time wanting to even read more than a sentence. That means your first sentence has to pull them. If you lose them there, then unfortunately, 9 times out of 10, you’ve lost them completely.
If you are not ranking or getting your desired conversion results, try tweaking the headline. Make it as succinct as possible. But also daring, edgy, and compelling.
It’s not a simple task!
And as the writer of the book, it may be a great idea to have an outsider help you on this one. Trying out a few different headlines to see which one really pops and converts is the best way to discover what speaks to your audience.
Here are some great examples of headlines that grab a reader’s attention:
- Asking questions that would lead to an automatic “yes” response from your audience
Ex. “Are you ready to lose inches off your waist and still eat delicious meals?
- Using statements like “If you want to do xyz, then keep reading!
Ex. If you want to lose weight and still eat great food, then keep reading for delicious recipes guaranteed to keep you feeling healthy and satisfied!
- How to/Even if headlines are also very compelling to a reader, focusing on their pain point and how to accomplish their goal even if there is an obstacle.
Ex. How to eat healthy and lose weight, even if you are eating out.
- A buzzworthy headline is another great way to grab your reader’s attention. Statistics are always a compelling argument.
Ex. Nearly 45 million Americans go on a diet each year, but there’s only a 5% chance the weight lost on a diet will actually stay off! Learn how to change your lifestyle, eat healthy, and lose weight without gimmicky diet fads.
Step 2: Short and Simple
As we mentioned before, the average person is very impatient and easily disengaged or distracted. This trend can easily be blamed on the uprising of social media in the last decade.
In fact, studies have shown that in the year 2000, the average person’s attention span was 12 seconds. Which is mind-blowing in and of itself. Fast-forward to today, and that number has decreased to only 8.25 seconds!
Scientists are officially considering the human brain to have an even smaller attention span than that of a goldfish!
So, we recommend keeping your book’s introduction to 150 words or less in order to keep your reader’s attention.
Amazon’s word limit for a book’s introduction doesn’t require this, but it was said that 150 words or less were best for higher rankings on Amazon.
Step 3: Craft a Captivating Story that Demands Attention
Now that you’ve got your audience’s attention with a catchy headline, you need to keep building on that interest if you want them to keep reading.
You have their attention—don’t lose it!
Using this part of the book description to dig into their problem—and your solution to that problem—is a great way to sell them into your thesis. This is ultimately what gets them to buy.
This is not the place to give away your secret sauce and spoil the main problem-solving objectives of your book. This part of the book description is simply sympathizing with your reader, acknowledging their pain point, and sharing your experience with that same problem and the solution you found to overcome or simplify the problem.
Step 4: Be Selective with Your Word Choices
When writing your book description, you will want to be wise with your choice of words.
Keywords, for example, are extremely important for boosting your book to the top of relevant Amazon and Google searches.
Do the research so that you can choose keywords that will be highly searched and sought out by potential readers!
In fact, many authors and entrepreneurs pay for keyword deep dives into their products. They understand the monetary value of those highly searched words.
Using hard-to-understand words is a great way to avoid being found and seen by your audience. So if you’re looking to be irrelevant, do that. If not, remember to keep it simple.
You’re not here to sound smart—you’re here to communicate quickly and sell books.
This brings us to the emotional aspect of your book description.
Are your words connecting emotionally with your reader?
Emotionally triggering words can create a certain feeling, desire, or hunger for a solution to a problem. It can make your book description feel like it was “written for them.”
Step 5: Effective Bullet Points
As we discussed earlier, the attention span of the average person is a problem for anyone that is trying to convey a message longer than a 7-second TikTok video.
Grabbing the attention of a reader that wants to not only read your entire book but actually pay for it can be a hurdle already with all of the free content available internet-wide at essentially everyone’s fingertips!
Writing effective bullet points and even using bold or italicized fonts to highlight important talking points can be very helpful in keeping the ‘scanner’s’ attention.
For many, scanning a book description is the preferred method for discovering whether or not the book is something they feel would be beneficial to them.
If a book description is not easily scannable, then you are likely losing that specific type of reader.
But if you provide both a grabbing, emotional paragraph describing your book as well as bullet points, you can help keep the attention of both types of readers.
The key initiative with bullet points is to tease your reader with the information they need in order to make a purchasing decision—without giving away too much information.
You want to give them the “what,” not the “how.”
They need to read the book description, see the value, and realize they NEED this book.
To help you do that, add bonus takeaways that your reader will get from your book. Make sure the reader knows all the above-and-beyond benefits they’ll enjoy after they read it!
This will also help you push past your competitors as well.
Step 6: Legitimizing Yourself as an Authority on the Subject Matter
This is essentially the part of the book description that lets the reader know why they can trust you. Whether you are a Wall Street Journal bestseller or, the author of a best-selling book that you can feed into your next book.
Legitimizing yourself as an author is key to setting the tone of respectability from your readers’ viewpoint.
And, if you are not a bestselling author, maybe you’re just starting out, but you can still legitimize your work and your authority on a subject by giving a bit of your background. This is especially important when writing any non-fictional publications. If you are writing fiction-based novels, this step is not as necessary for the reader to determine whether the book is right for them.
Step 7: The Importance of Keywords
When setting yourself up to sell your books on Amazon, you probably noticed a ‘keyword’ section.
If you don’t do Google ads for a living, it may be just another confusing gray area that you aren’t exactly sure about.
But don’t skip this step!
Keywords are incredibly important to the overall visibility and searchability of your book. It’s how your target reader will find you. Failing to add keywords could keep you out of the search results for the people who want your book the most.
So, now that we KNOW keywords are essential when publishing your book online, let’s discuss what those keywords should be!
Keywords are specific words used to describe a certain topic. They are typically used for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in order to increase the overall visibility or ranking of a website (or in this case—your book).
So, let’s say you are writing a book on effective and healthy weight management strategies.
Some keywords you will want to consider could be the following:
– Weight loss
– Weight management
– health
– healthy eating
– dieting
– diet plan
This is where you will want to do some research into which keywords will be most effective for you and your book topics.
Research other competing authors in your same field, notice their keywords and piggyback off of those same and similar words in order to optimize your overall reach and be a competitive player in your specific genre.
Think about what your market might be interested in. You can use a tool like KeywordTool to give you data on what people are actually searching in Amazon.
Great Book Description Examples to Model
1. Shanda Sumpter – Core Calling: How to Build a Business that Gives You a Freedom Lifestyle in 2 Years or Less
| #1 International Best Selling Book in Four Categories with a Five-Star Rating
Have you ever dreamed of having a life of no worries – being able to pay your bills, buying a nice home, sending your kids to college, taking a great vacation, or having the freedom and money to make a difference for others? In Core Calling, Shanda Sumpter teaches you how to make those dreams come true (and how it may be less complicated than you think). Shanda Sumpter is the founder and queen visionary of Heartcore Business. She is a passionate business coach who has created a series of online marketing courses and coaching programs for her clients based on her experience of having built three million-dollar and multi-million dollar businesses in three different industries – The nightclub industry, the real estate investment industry and her coaching practice (which has reached multiple seven figures in only five years). Shanda shares with you the same principles and strategies that took her from a struggling entrepreneur to the CEO of a multimillion-dollar empire. In a detailed yet accessible way, she shows you how you in just two years can build a business that not only pays great money but also frees your time to enjoy life. Shanda has inspired visionaries worldwide to turn their dream businesses into reality by establishing a foundation of recurring cash flow in their business models so they can move on to making a bigger impact in the world with her contagious energy and proven strategies. She has empowered thousands to take control of their financial circumstances while sharing their gifts with the world. She is also a highly sought-after speaker for corporations, events, and organizations around the globe. Shanda lives on the beautiful coast of California with her son and fiancé where she runs Heart-Core Business from her oceanfront home office. Join thousands of women and men who have taken the leap and created their dream freedom business using Shanda Sumpter’s proven system for business success! |
You can find this on the back of Shanda Sumpter’s book. This book description example begins with a direct question that the majority of people in the world would answer ‘yes’ to—financial freedom.
Shanda then legitimizes herself as a business coaching authority, listing out her multi-million dollar successes and businesses—giving her a pedestal on which to stand in the entrepreneurial world.
She then breaks down what the user will learn through the same principles and strategies she used to create her empire in the business world.
The short bio gives just enough information to provide a down-to-earth picture of her personal life without taking away from the main point of the description and the final sentence loops back to the main call to action—join thousands of others who have experienced financial freedom using the same steps shared in “Core-Calling”.
2. Mike Dieterich – Renew and Sustain: A Cutting Edge Approach to Being Socially Responsible, Environmentally Conscious, and Incredibly Profitable for Businesses, Schools, and Government
| A cutting-edge approach to being socially responsible, environmentally conscious, and incredibly profitable for businesses, schools, and government.
Renew and Sustain is an innovative, profitable, socially and environmental conscious approach towards a sustainable future. The book discusses this method, what sustainability is and why it makes sense to implement these solutions. This is accomplished via dialog with specific case studies about sustainability and the value of being more sustainable. |
Mike Dieterich gives a short-and-sweet book description for his #1 top selling book on Amazon.
The information provided is very direct and explains exactly what information and knowledge the reader will walk away with after absorbing this book.
While this book description is very informative and explains that case studies will be given throughout the book, a small example of a case study would be beneficial as well in the book description.
Because of the success of his book, Mike has also been able to book the largest stage at the Green Festivals, speaking to over 20,000 people. This also led to Mike’s own TEDx speaking engagement.
Opportunities and speaking engagements like this would certainly provide more credibility to his ability to speak on such a topic and I would like to have seen him add some credentials to his book description so that the reader would feel even more confident in their decision to purchase and read his book.
3. Dave Ramsey – EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches
| From the New York Times bestselling author of The Total Money Makeover and radio and podcast host Dave Ramsey comes an informative guide based on how he grew a successful, multimillion dollar company from a card table in his living room.
Your company is only as strong as your leaders. These are the men and women doing battle daily beneath the banner that is your brand. Are they courageous or indecisive? Are they serving a motivated team or managing employees? Are they valued? Your team will never grow beyond you, so here’s another question to consider—are you growing? Whether you’re sitting at the CEO’s desk, the middle manager’s cubicle, or a card table in your living-room-based start-up, EntreLeadership provides the practical, step-by-step guidance to grow your business where you want it to go. Dave Ramsey opens up his championship playbook for business to show you how to: -Inspire your team to take ownership and love what they do -Unify your team and get rid of all gossip -Handle money to set your business up for success -Reach every goal you set -And much, much more! EntreLeadership is a one-stop guide filled with accessible advice for businesses and leaders to ensure success even through the toughest of times. |
From the above example of Dave Ramsey’s book description (found both on the back of his book and on Amazon), you can see that he definitely builds on the success of his other books and makes his name and authority in the business world stronger.
Asking direct questions that cause the reader to question the current work situation for their employees and the overall health and growth of the company causes the reader to need to know more if the questions create any uncertainty.
This book description also lays out exactly what the reader will take away after reading the book (not only in paragraph form for the reader that is locked into the details but also in bullet form for the scanners).
And finally, the last sentence concludes the book description with a succinct sentence on what the book promises to guide the reader through.
Your Book Description Is Next!
Whether you are a brand new author preparing to publish your first book, and need a great book description, or have already published your book, didn’t get the results you were hoping for, and need a full book description overhaul, we can help.
Best Seller Publishing has helped thousands of book, media, and TV authors find success in the publishing world.
A great book description is a crucial element in the success of any book but it is just one small piece of a much larger puzzle.
There are so many factors that go into developing a book that will be visible on Amazon, profitable, rank well, and receive excellent reviews—ultimately boosting you to becoming a top-selling author.
The plan in my book, Publish. Promote. Profit. has helped thousands of those best-selling authors get where they are today.
Throughout my book, you’ll learn easy strategies that will not only drive rankings and sales but also make you the “hunted” instead of the “hunter” when it comes to booking speaking engagements and building an audience.
Developing a successful plan in this publishing space can be daunting, but with this proven blueprint, you can use the same blueprint we’ve used to successfully launch over 1100 best-selling books worldwide.
No matter the topic!
Grab your copy of Publish. Promote. Profit. for a full marketing plan specifically geared toward authors!
