Book Descriptions Are a Pain
A book description (sometimes called a blurb) exists so readers can rapidly understand if a book is worth purchasing. It contains the primary advertisement, a basic plot description, and a showcase of the author’s writing style.
In the past, I did not think much about these trivial things. They were simply a hook to get me to buy a book. Short and to the point. At best, potential readers allow less than ten seconds to make a good impression, and long, uninteresting, or poorly written ones lead to no sales.
And who are these readers? They span the spectrum from sophisticated geniuses to boneheads, funny to deadly serious, psychopathic to magnanimous, passionate flower child liberal to hard-core conservative, and well-read experts to first-time readers.
When my writing adventure began, I thought the process would be trivial. I did not have to write one of these things because the publishers took care of that step. And if I self-published it to Amazon, they would have “staff” that did that kind of thing.
I got a painfully fast education that the author is responsible for the book description. Well, it should not be too difficult because I knew everything about my book. All I needed to do was summarize the plot. Yeah, no. Writing these precious few words proved to be the most challenging part of writing a book. After my first attempt failed miserably, I read articles on the topic, which yielded a few gems but nothing substantial. Their best advice was to “read a bunch of book descriptions.” So, I read hundreds and began noticing patterns. The bad ones were confusing, too long, missed the point, or did not entice me. The good ones were tight, funny, witty, and intriguing.
Now that I had some ideas of what readers were looking for, I spent a week writing a better one. My goal was to create a whimsical description with a hook.
In the process, I discovered something unexpected. It is a fact that in all great endeavors, the most critical steps are planning and preparation. I have found this to be not so in a book description. The result was a disaster when I tried a formal plan with pre-prepared sentences. Instead, I found the best method was to jump in without a plan.
Now that I had something on paper, I edited, experimented, started over, and got reactions from my beta reader (mom.) A big tip is to begin the book description early in the writing process and, once a week, revisit it so there will be many fresh perspectives.
The book description must contain enough story to intrigue the potential reader yet not reveal the entire plot. It must include a good hook that grabs the reader’s attention. “You are never going to read another book like this.” “Biggest adventure yet.” “Loaded with love, spite, and mystery.” “The first book in a ten-book series.” If successful, readers might look at a few reviews, and a precious few will click “Buy It Now.” Insert Rocky theme music.
I have thought about why this task is so challenging and come up with an explanation. As an author, I created the entire plot from a personal level, meaning I know every written word and character as if they were living in my mind. This knowledge includes insight not revealed in the written pages. Condensing this whirlwind of precious information into a single paragraph feels like picking which family member will get to go on vacation and which will stay home. It all needs to be balanced with a cheesy promotion. The process takes an entirely different skill set than writing a book.
Because I lacked experience, my first book description took three weeks of solid effort. I even tried printing the description on two 11x17 sheets, having a group discussion with my family, and working with two editors. When I was satisfied, I published my book with that description. Yay! Then, a year later, I completely updated it: swing and a miss. But there is a bright side. I now appreciate a well-written book description and can spot a bad one in a heartbeat.
You’re the best -Bill
August 28 2019 Updated August 03, 2024
In the past, I did not think much about these trivial things. They were simply a hook to get me to buy a book. Short and to the point. At best, potential readers allow less than ten seconds to make a good impression, and long, uninteresting, or poorly written ones lead to no sales.
And who are these readers? They span the spectrum from sophisticated geniuses to boneheads, funny to deadly serious, psychopathic to magnanimous, passionate flower child liberal to hard-core conservative, and well-read experts to first-time readers.
When my writing adventure began, I thought the process would be trivial. I did not have to write one of these things because the publishers took care of that step. And if I self-published it to Amazon, they would have “staff” that did that kind of thing.
I got a painfully fast education that the author is responsible for the book description. Well, it should not be too difficult because I knew everything about my book. All I needed to do was summarize the plot. Yeah, no. Writing these precious few words proved to be the most challenging part of writing a book. After my first attempt failed miserably, I read articles on the topic, which yielded a few gems but nothing substantial. Their best advice was to “read a bunch of book descriptions.” So, I read hundreds and began noticing patterns. The bad ones were confusing, too long, missed the point, or did not entice me. The good ones were tight, funny, witty, and intriguing.
Now that I had some ideas of what readers were looking for, I spent a week writing a better one. My goal was to create a whimsical description with a hook.
In the process, I discovered something unexpected. It is a fact that in all great endeavors, the most critical steps are planning and preparation. I have found this to be not so in a book description. The result was a disaster when I tried a formal plan with pre-prepared sentences. Instead, I found the best method was to jump in without a plan.
Now that I had something on paper, I edited, experimented, started over, and got reactions from my beta reader (mom.) A big tip is to begin the book description early in the writing process and, once a week, revisit it so there will be many fresh perspectives.
The book description must contain enough story to intrigue the potential reader yet not reveal the entire plot. It must include a good hook that grabs the reader’s attention. “You are never going to read another book like this.” “Biggest adventure yet.” “Loaded with love, spite, and mystery.” “The first book in a ten-book series.” If successful, readers might look at a few reviews, and a precious few will click “Buy It Now.” Insert Rocky theme music.
I have thought about why this task is so challenging and come up with an explanation. As an author, I created the entire plot from a personal level, meaning I know every written word and character as if they were living in my mind. This knowledge includes insight not revealed in the written pages. Condensing this whirlwind of precious information into a single paragraph feels like picking which family member will get to go on vacation and which will stay home. It all needs to be balanced with a cheesy promotion. The process takes an entirely different skill set than writing a book.
Because I lacked experience, my first book description took three weeks of solid effort. I even tried printing the description on two 11x17 sheets, having a group discussion with my family, and working with two editors. When I was satisfied, I published my book with that description. Yay! Then, a year later, I completely updated it: swing and a miss. But there is a bright side. I now appreciate a well-written book description and can spot a bad one in a heartbeat.
You’re the best -Bill
August 28 2019 Updated August 03, 2024
