Easy methods to Write a Guide Description that engages readers (and sells books!)
What's the first thing you check out in a book (after the cover)? I bet whether you shop at the library, bookstore, or online, it's the book description. What does that mean for you as a writer? You need to know how to write a book description, preferably a great one.
As with dialogue, knowing how to write a great book book separates the best authors from the new.
But what determines good book descriptions? Do book descriptions fall into categories like voice and style that are not as easy to teach in as practice developed?
Or are there ways that writers can pay attention to their book descriptions? Writing tips that will help you write better book descriptions faster?
That is what I want to examine and teach in this post.
What is a Book Description?
I recently picked up a nonfiction book that I haven't read many of and almost put it back. But the description intrigued me. I had to read the first few pages that were right there in the store. Then I had to buy the book.
Book Description is one of the most important elements (if not the critical element) of selling your book, yet it is often the hardest part for authors to find.
As the creators of the story, the authors don't want to leave anything out. There is a tendency to want to include every little element in the book. After all, you wouldn't have written all of these subplots if they weren't important, would you?
The description is not a summary or a book report. It's an advertisement.
Tell me: The booklet is an advertisement!
Now think of the description as a marketing tool. Read on for more tips on writing a booklet.
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Your book description is not a summary of your book, but an advertisement aimed at targeting your readers and selling your book.
Would you like to learn how to write a book from start to finish? Read How To Write A Book: The Complete Guide.
So write a booklet for every book
Whether you've written a non-fiction or a fiction book, here are five tips to keep in mind.
1. Keep it short.
Anywhere between 150 and 250 words and no more than three paragraphs. You don't want to bore people putting the book down, and the fewer words, the less likely you are to type in unnecessary plot points.
This means that you should spend less time explaining details and focus more on the plot. What are the big hooks for your story? What catches the eye and how do these events and decisions create a unique character who makes a decision that drives them into some kind of adventure or life changing event?
2. Write in the third person.
It doesn't matter if the book is written in the first person. This is not the book itself, but an advertisement.
You don't have to show your story to the readers in this post. You have to tell them what it is about.
The third person works great for it.
3. Don't overdo the language.
You want simple, straightforward terms. No purple prose or elaborate script.
Over-trying descriptions, especially those with adverbs, signal that you are trying to make the book better than it is.
If your story has an interesting plot, the plot alone should be able to make your story stand out.
Plot will convince your ideal readers to pick up and buy the book.
4. Put a tick.
Just as your book needs a hook at the beginning, your book description needs a hook too. No one will read the description any further, let alone the whole book, if the first line is as boring as dry toast.
Also, this is often the only thing an online shopper sees before being prompted to click to see more and you want them to click on it.
How do you create a hook? Irony!
This means that you have to show why your hero is the least likely hero for the story.
Marlin is a shy clownfish who takes two to cross the Pacific and save his son. If he was a brave clownfish it wouldn't be that interesting to find Nemo.
5. Use keywords.
Emotional words like chilling or passion are suitable for both non-fiction and fiction book descriptions. You can use Google Power Words to find some good ones. But don't overdo it!
You also want to consider who might be Googling to get to your book. This is especially true for non-fiction books.
Keywords ultimately tell the reader why this book is for them.
Readers have certain tastes, and a good starting point for keywords is to think about how the genre goes into the description.
For some ideas:
- Crime books like a murder
- Young adult books like a good coming-of-age arc
- Imagination wants to see magic
- Action wants to see life threatened in some way
Find out the keywords for your genre and use them to set the stakes on your story in a physical, psychological, or professional manner.
Fiction Book Description Example: Surviving Death
Now let's sum it all up in an example! Here is the booklet I wrote for my book Surviving Death.
Think about how I used the five points above to make a good booklet in this description on the back cover.
- Short
- Third person
- Catchy language (without overdoing it)
- hook
- Keywords (that deal with the genre of my book and the stakes in the story)
A prophecy. A rebellion. A young woman stepped into the foreground. Welcome to the hereafter.
Tilly's death is not going very well. She was assigned the last job anyone would want: bringing souls to Hell. Worse, the afterlife is led on an automated justice system based on arbitrary rules and three-strike penalties, and despite their best intentions, their strikes are on the run.
Another bastard and she will be damned for all eternity.
Just like her mother.
Furious at the ridiculous rules in the afterlife, Tilly risks her own damnation in search of justice. She makes her way through heaven and hell – one that turns her into the random face of a rebellion and leads her to an ultimate showdown with Lucifer and Death itself.
Her mother's soul – and the souls of humanity – depend on her.
How do I write a book for non-fiction books
Nonfiction books have slightly different descriptions than nonfiction books. They often include bullets to outline the book's goals and procedures, and they talk more about the author than the book itself. Here are some additional tips for writing a book description for a nonfiction book:
1. Make it relevant.
Explain why the reader should prefer this book to others, what the book will give them, and how the book will give it to them.
2. Add your expertise.
Why are you the one helping the reader instead of the next person? Why should they take a trip through your memoir instead of someone else?
Nonfiction books need to be written by the right person for the subject. Readers often turn to non-fiction books to learn something. Therefore, the teacher providing insight into this subject must have experience and exceptional insight.
Consider this example on the back of Ibram X. Kendi's book How To Be An Anti-Racist:
How to be an Anti-Racist
Named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times. Book Review • Time • NPR • Washington Post • Shelf Awareness • Library Journal • Weekly Publications • Kirkus Reviews
Anti-racism is a transformative concept that redirects and reinvigorates the conversation about racism – and even more fundamentally directs us to the liberation of new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. At its core, racism is a powerful system that creates false hierarchies of human worth. Its skewed logic goes beyond race, from the way we look at people of different races or races to the way we treat people of different genders, gender identities, and body types. Racism intersects with class, culture, and geography and even changes the way we see and value ourselves. In How To Be An Anti-Racist, Kendi guides readers through a growing circle of anti-racist ideas – from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities – that help readers clearly identify all forms of racism, understand their toxic consequences, and embrace them oppose systems and within us.
Kendi combines an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law and science with his personal story of the awakening to anti-racism. This is essential work for everyone who wants to go beyond the awareness of racism to the next step: Contribution to the formation of a just and just society.
Why is Ibram X. Kendi the best person to write this book?
Now check out Ibram X. Kendi's biography. Not only is he a fantastic speaker and writer, but he's also a voice for the discussion in this book, especially since he has spoken about racing on different platforms in addition to his education.
IBRAM X. KENDI is a New York Times, National Book Award winning author. He is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Humanities at Boston University and Founding Director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. Kendi is a contributing writer on The Atlantic and a contributor to CBS News on Racial Justice. He is the Frances B. Cashin Fellow 2020-2021 at the Radcliffe Institute for the Advanced Study at Harvard University and was a Guggenheim Fellow.
If you want to buy How to Be An Antiracist, you can buy it from Amazon, Indie Books, or Barnes and Noble.
How do I write a booklet for fiction
Fiction descriptions are what we know best. They are catchy and make you wonder what happens in the end. Think of these as the movie trailer of your book. Here are some additional things to think about when writing a description of a fiction book:
1. Make sure you understand the genre.
There should be no confusion on the part of the reader as to what they are going to buy. Also, keep the information for the main genre. In other words, when you're writing a psychological thriller, you're not focusing on the romantic subplot.
2. Reference to the climax, do not reveal it.
Again, a booklet is not an agent's summary, although a good booklet is fantastic to use as part of your pitch in your query letter.
But ultimately, book descriptions are marketing tools to get people to read the book. Nobody will read it when they already know the ending.
Plus! Book descriptions are a great way to plan out your book before you write it.
Some people are conspirators. Others are pants. Any author can benefit from writing their book description before writing their manuscript, although that description will likely change once you've written your first draft.
You won't get it right the first time
Like anything else, writing a booklet requires study and practice.
Pick some of your favorite books from your shelf. Read their descriptions. What is it that makes them fascinating? As you read descriptions in-store or online, pay attention to what attracts you, what doesn't, and why.
Write a description for your book. Then write another one. Then write a third. All for the same book.
Show all three of the family, peers, and people on the street if you want. Get feedback. Which description do you prefer? Would you read it based on what the description says? If not why
It is important to hear what others think. You're trying to sell that thing! (No less for strangers.) Look for feedback and rework as needed.
Keep it up. You will end up with the perfect book description.
Look in your bookshelf. Which book has the best book description? What makes it so great Let me know in the comments!
WORK OUT
You have two options for today's 15-minute exercise: either write a description of your own book or a description of your favorite book.
Remember, you won't get it right the first time. This is practice and a time for feedback.
When you're done, share your book description in the comments. Don't forget to give feedback!
Sarah Gribble
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