Book Blurbs that Bring Buyers: How to Write a Description That Sells

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A compelling book description is crucial for converting potential readers into buyers. It's the key element in your conversion structure on Amazon, working in tandem with your book cover and title to draw readers in.

The description is what moves a potential reader from thinking, “That's neat!” to clicking the “Buy Now” button. Therefore, mastering the art of writing a book description is essential for any author looking to boost their sales.

Key Elements of a Successful Book Description

A successful book description generally follows a specific structure. There will be variations from genre to genre, but here's our favorite starting point:

  1. A short, enticing first line.
  2. A synopsis that taps into reader emotions and raises the stakes.
  3. A selling paragraph that uses genre-specific adjectives.
  4. (optional) Body paragraphs with more detail about the book.
  5. A strong call-to-action.

The Hook: Your Enticing First Line

The first line is your tagline and should hook the reader immediately. It's arguably the most important line in your description, and it should be as exciting as the book itself. This line needs to be punchy and make readers want to know more. This is also the only part of your description that shows up in search results, making it vital to grab attention.

  • A great headline is short and punchy, often a single statement or question.
  • Consider using a complimentary pull quote from a review to add social proof.
  • Other strong options include genre details, major themes, and comparable authors or titles.
  • The headline should be the last thing you write, after you've finished the rest of the description.
  • Take inspiration from blogs and magazines, especially those in your genre.
  • Examine the headlines of your competition.
  • Read your headlines aloud to make sure they flow well.
  • Test your headlines on social media to see which ones perform the best.
  • A headline should paint a clear picture or make a clear promise about your book.
  • Asking a question can also be very effective.

Crafting Your Synopsis

For fiction, the synopsis should introduce your main character, establish an emotional connection with the reader, reveal the main conflict, and raise the stakes. The synopsis should be brief, avoiding unnecessary plot details.

  • Keep the synopsis to 3-5 lines.
  • Introduce no more than two additional characters.
  • Focus on describing the conflicts, not their solutions.

The Selling Paragraph: Why Readers Will Love Your Book

This paragraph should explain what the book is about and why the reader will enjoy it. This is your opportunity to connect with the reader and encourage them to buy the book.

  • Include tropes from your genre to help readers self-select.
  • Explain how the story will impact the reader.

Body Paragraphs: Diving Deeper

The body paragraphs provide more detail about the book.

  • Spend two or three paragraphs going into deeper detail.
  • Describe the general action or structure of the book.
  • Give the top-level details but hold back the real details.
  • Keep paragraphs to no more than three sentences.
  • Follow the progress of the book itself.
  • The final paragraph should be a cliffhanger, drawing from the chapter before the climax.

Ending Strong: Your Call to Action

The final paragraph should tell the reader why they should buy your book. It should also include a clear call to action.

  • Describe the experience people have with your story.
  • Mention other books you've written, especially successful ones.
  • End with a direct request or instruction to buy the book.
  • The call to action should be specific, telling the reader what to do now.
  • Ask yourself what would convince you to buy your book.

Additional Important Elements

Besides the structure and content, several other elements are crucial for an effective book description.

  • Keywords: Research and include relevant keywords to improve discoverability. Use these keywords naturally throughout the description. Your keywords (or keyword phrases, really) should be ones that speak to your target reader, not to search algorithms.
  • Formatting: Use line breaks, bold, and italics to make the description easy to scan. Use text styles as headlines or to make major section breaks.
  • Editorial Reviews: Include positive reviews to add social proof.
  • Proofreading: Have someone proofread your description before publishing. It must be flawless, as readers are less forgiving of errors here than in the book itself. If you have typos in your description, the reader will just pass on to the next book without any further consideration for yours.
  • Book Cover: Your cover should be professional and high quality, as it is vital for sales.
  • Title and Subtitle: The title should fit the conventions of your genre and hint at the main themes.

Using AI to Write Book Descriptions

AI can be a useful tool for generating a rough draft of a book description or creating a genre-specific template.

  • When using AI, provide a prompt with the title, author, genre, target audience, and manuscript.
  • You can also include a cover image to help the AI understand the book's branding and messaging.
  • The prompt should ask the AI to include key elements like a brief summary, unique selling points, engaging language, keywords, and a call to action.
  • AI-generated descriptions still need to be edited.
  • Test and revise descriptions. You can change it whenever you like.

What I like to do, especially for fiction, is to provide the descriptions for my comparable titles to the AI, and ask it specifically to list out what the descriptions have in common, and then to write a template for a book in your genre based on the comparable titles that you can then use to write a description specific to your book.

Final Thoughts

Your book’s cover is the first thing that a reader sees and has to be engaging enough to get them interested in even looking at your book’s listing.

Your book’s manuscript is what readers will fall in love with and convince them to read the next book in your series, and to eventually become super-fans that will read everything you write and recommend you to their friends.

In between those, the most important element for making a sale of your book is a well-written book description. It's what bridges the gap between a casual browser and a paying customer. 

By following these guidelines, paying close attention to the headline, synopsis, selling points, and call to action, and continuously testing and revising your description, you can significantly improve your book's sales.

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