There's no doubt about the importance of a good book description to sell your book. 

 

And it's not surprising that authors spend a lot of time or money on getting it right. 

 

It's a niche form of copywriting.

 

It's a product description that's not trying to sell the concept of a book but rather the story within it. (Obvs.)

 

Pretty soon, , I'll start testing my hypothesis for writing ruddy good blurbs by analysing a whole bunch of book descriptions.

 

In the meantime, I wanted to share a few common mistakes . . .

 

 

One - This happened and then this happened and then this happened

 

A.k.a giving away too much information about the whole plot. 

 

There's a balance between giving away enough to pique interest and build a curiosity gap and giving away too much or overwhelming readers with a big info dump. 

 

Two - Not giving enough 

 

Being too vague and too short, hoping that will be enough to entice readers to buy. There's a real difference between brevity that packs a Hemmingway-like punch and a punch that misses the mark completely. 

 

Three - Not enough bait on the hook 

 

I'll talk more about hooks and triggers in other emails but a good hook to grab the reader's attention and get them to read the next line is your first point of attention-grabbing attack.  

 

Four - Introducing too many characters 

 

In fiction, this can be trying to include too many side characters and confusing people—confusion is a conversion killer. In non-fiction, this might be a lack of clarity about who you're trying to target. Being specific about the main characters or target readers will go a long way to helping readers work out if your book is one to read.

 

Five - 'Reason why' copy 

 

'Reason why' copy tends to look like this:

 

'Do X because of Y...,' 

'For fans of...,' 

'Get it today...' 

 

This type of copy appeals to the logical parts of our brain. 

 

Don't get me wrong. There is a time and a place for it, but it's not at the end of a book description.  

 

You've worked hard to build intrigue and create an emotional response in the body copy it might seem logical to end with a reason to buy—especially if you've tried to follow the AIDA copywriting formula—but you can actually do yourself a disservice. 

 

Because books tend to be impulse purchases, ending on an open loop, leaving questions in your reader's mind, is the best way to get them to take their next step . . .

 

Whether that's checking out the reviews, the 'look inside' or hitting the buy button. 

 

Bonus - Why should I care?

 

Not giving the reader a reason to care or anything to connect with. I talked about the importance of giving readers something to connect with in this blog post. 

 

Help them develop a sense of empathy towards your main character, give them something to connect with, and give them a reason to care.

 

So there you have it, my five ways (plus a sneaky bonus) to ruin a good book description.

 

Right, that's all I've got for today. I'm off to turn my chest-freezer into a bed in readiness for the big heat.  

 

 

Angie

 

 

Ps - If you have any questions about how copywriting can help your author career, just send me a message. I'll do my best to help.