I’ve been thinking about book descriptions A LOT recently.

I’m in quite a few Facebook groups for authors and there is ALWAYS someone asking for feedback on their latest attempt.

Sometimes the advice is pretty solid.

Sometimes not so much.

You roll the dice if you’re asking for advice in an FB group.

It did me thinking about why it’s easier to write someone else's blurb.

There are (I think) a few reasons. And one of them lies in the 19th century and the story of Phineas Gage…

In 1848, 25-year-old Phineas Gage was a railroad worker.

He was laying the railroads in lush green mountains in Vermont…

When he met with an unhappy accident…

A metal rod spiked through his left cheek, up through his brain, and out through the top of his skull.

Sounds pretty grim, right?

Somehow he survived.

But it left him with significant brain damage.

Dr Harlow, a phrenologist, studied Gage and noted how he would make rash decisions and regret them later. 

Harlow also noted how Gage could easily offer advice to his friends, but he was incapable of taking his own advice.

Gage was impulsive, apparently incapable of controlling his emotions, and struggled to make decisions.

This was the beginning of our understanding of neuroscience.

Until then, they thought the brain was one big blob that just did ‘all the things’. 1.

But now, for the first time, they realised that different areas of the brain had different tasks.

In particular, the role our emotions have in making decisions.

Because we put so much into our books, and we want them to sell, when you’re writing your book description, it suggests your emotional brain is involved.

Whereas, when you’re helping someone else with their sales copy, you’re not emotionally involved and your logical brain is in charge. Which is why we find it easier to help.

If you want help with your book description, whether you’ve got a new release coming up, or you’d like to improve an existing one, hit reply — I promise I’m quite reasonable, unlike Mr Gage.

Angie

1. A bit like my children who think it's my job to do all the things too.