Creating amazing Book Descriptions
A book description, sometimes called a book blurb, informs potential readers about a book’s content. This short text contains a summary, advertisement, teaser, and a hook. When choosing a book, readers blast through book descriptions in seconds because thousands of choices are available, leading to limited attention spans. If a reader senses the slightest disappointment, it is on to the next. If a description is mind-blowing, there is the slightest chance of getting a “buy it now” click.
Before becoming an author, I assumed that big printing companies’ “publishing department” experts created all book descriptions. Even eBook publishers like Amazon had experts responsible for this easy and unimportant task. Why not have the author do their own? How could they remain objective? Heck, they could like about the content. It would be like when unscrupulous people write their lofty press releases. “Well-known author Bill saved a million puppies without concern for his safety. Truly a hero and an all-around great guy.”
Yeah… I have since learned that authors write their book descriptions, and it is 1000% important that they read flawlessly. I have stated that writing a book is 99% marketing and 1% other. Clearly, a book description falls squarely into that 99% effort.
Most book descriptions have three short paragraphs, but I have seen long-winded five-page monologs and single sentences. The results range from dull, choppy junk to lively, meaningless fluff. Some are “get to know you-all” first person, and others are distant “I hate you” third person. The tone ranges from nice to arrogant, directly informative to loosely related, whimsical “Where’s the beef” hamburger commercial to high-pressure timeshare marketer. Side note: I recently found a children’s book about a bunny attending his first day of school. The description reads like a lawyer summarizing a murder. What the heck?
Once I understood I needed to create a description without their help, I read hundreds to get a feel for the format. This also revealed patterns and good technique. As far as the ethics of creating a description? That line of thinking disappeared faster than a knife fight in a phone booth.
What is the correct mindset? The movie Used Cars explains it best. “What’s that yellow paint doing on that car? Did it used to be a taxi?” “No, ma’am, that’s yellow primer.” “Yellow primer?” “Yes, that’s being used on a lot of cars these days. It’s a rust-preventative. It adds life to the body.” Add a fake smile.
Once I understood what I needed, I had a first attempt, which read like a condensed summary. I struggled to develop something better and handed it to my beta reader (mother). We reviewed it for about three weeks, including the unusual step of printing it out on 11x17 paper with a huge font.
I would describe this as a brute force method and used it for my first three books. For my fourth book, I began the process with an outline and tried a different book description approach. When I started the first draft, I also wrote a book description. The result was mediocre, but that is not the point.
I reviewed the book description about once a week while writing, beta reading, professional editing, and formatting. During this effort, I made big changes, tried new ideas, went in new directions, developed different hooks, and changed the overall theme. I even started over from scratch to jog ideas. Over that year, the basic concept changed. Useless junk got tossed, and my sentences tightened.
Here is my first pass:
In this sequel to Interviewing Immortality, by Bill Conrad, James finds himself back in his old life. He has firmly decided to put behind all the nonsense surrounding the immortality procedure in his past and live a quiet life.
Of all the people who could turn his life upside down, it was one the mother of a wonderful child. Her actions were so heinous that James once again decided to take a life in order to continue his immortal abilities. This callous action was undertaken to provide him the necessary abilities to locate his former captor. In undertaking this quest, he would find much more than he was seeking and in the process, learn more about himself.
What an awful mess. Here is the final version:
It’s hard enough to close the door on your past. But what do you do when it comes knocking again?
Seattle-based novelist James Kimble is a new man. After acquitting old obligations, he’s come clean to his fans and life is looking up. He has a new book out, a stimulating job as a reporter, some savvy real estate investments, and a fresh desire to embrace the land of everyday living.
But when a rogue tenant threatens his livelihood and the authorities begin tossing his place looking for fresh clues to old murder cases, his life quickly spirals into the murky world of moral relativism he was trying so hard to escape.
In a journey across the globe to track down the enigmatic Grace, James Kimble is pursued by immortal players obsessed with the riddle of a longer life. Trapped again in a shadowy world where ordinary life spans do not apply, he discovers the extraordinary lengths some people will go to remain among the living.
Continuing in the genre of first-person psychological thriller, Finding Immortality is the sequel to Interviewing Immortality in the ongoing series by Bill Conrad.
What do I call this process? Engineering a book description? Blindly making something work? Fake it until you make it? Slow and steady wins the race? Bill’s killer description process? Yeah, I do not like making up names for my personality quirks. To me, it’s all about finding something that works and improving it. What do I think about my approach? My method is unorthodox, but the results are much better than past attempts. Plus, the process is less stressful.
Do I think other authors could successfully use my technique? I am not sure. My method requires a scruffy dog refusing to stop playing with a toy mentality. I enjoy tinkering and am never truly satisfied. Perhaps I figured out how to turn a disadvantage into an advantage?
Does this mean I engineered my mind? I should write a book about that. Hmm. That’s going to need a good book description. I better start it now.
You’re the best -Bill
February 05, 2020 Updated November 23, 2024
Before becoming an author, I assumed that big printing companies’ “publishing department” experts created all book descriptions. Even eBook publishers like Amazon had experts responsible for this easy and unimportant task. Why not have the author do their own? How could they remain objective? Heck, they could like about the content. It would be like when unscrupulous people write their lofty press releases. “Well-known author Bill saved a million puppies without concern for his safety. Truly a hero and an all-around great guy.”
Yeah… I have since learned that authors write their book descriptions, and it is 1000% important that they read flawlessly. I have stated that writing a book is 99% marketing and 1% other. Clearly, a book description falls squarely into that 99% effort.
Most book descriptions have three short paragraphs, but I have seen long-winded five-page monologs and single sentences. The results range from dull, choppy junk to lively, meaningless fluff. Some are “get to know you-all” first person, and others are distant “I hate you” third person. The tone ranges from nice to arrogant, directly informative to loosely related, whimsical “Where’s the beef” hamburger commercial to high-pressure timeshare marketer. Side note: I recently found a children’s book about a bunny attending his first day of school. The description reads like a lawyer summarizing a murder. What the heck?
Once I understood I needed to create a description without their help, I read hundreds to get a feel for the format. This also revealed patterns and good technique. As far as the ethics of creating a description? That line of thinking disappeared faster than a knife fight in a phone booth.
What is the correct mindset? The movie Used Cars explains it best. “What’s that yellow paint doing on that car? Did it used to be a taxi?” “No, ma’am, that’s yellow primer.” “Yellow primer?” “Yes, that’s being used on a lot of cars these days. It’s a rust-preventative. It adds life to the body.” Add a fake smile.
Once I understood what I needed, I had a first attempt, which read like a condensed summary. I struggled to develop something better and handed it to my beta reader (mother). We reviewed it for about three weeks, including the unusual step of printing it out on 11x17 paper with a huge font.
I would describe this as a brute force method and used it for my first three books. For my fourth book, I began the process with an outline and tried a different book description approach. When I started the first draft, I also wrote a book description. The result was mediocre, but that is not the point.
I reviewed the book description about once a week while writing, beta reading, professional editing, and formatting. During this effort, I made big changes, tried new ideas, went in new directions, developed different hooks, and changed the overall theme. I even started over from scratch to jog ideas. Over that year, the basic concept changed. Useless junk got tossed, and my sentences tightened.
Here is my first pass:
In this sequel to Interviewing Immortality, by Bill Conrad, James finds himself back in his old life. He has firmly decided to put behind all the nonsense surrounding the immortality procedure in his past and live a quiet life.
Of all the people who could turn his life upside down, it was one the mother of a wonderful child. Her actions were so heinous that James once again decided to take a life in order to continue his immortal abilities. This callous action was undertaken to provide him the necessary abilities to locate his former captor. In undertaking this quest, he would find much more than he was seeking and in the process, learn more about himself.
What an awful mess. Here is the final version:
It’s hard enough to close the door on your past. But what do you do when it comes knocking again?
Seattle-based novelist James Kimble is a new man. After acquitting old obligations, he’s come clean to his fans and life is looking up. He has a new book out, a stimulating job as a reporter, some savvy real estate investments, and a fresh desire to embrace the land of everyday living.
But when a rogue tenant threatens his livelihood and the authorities begin tossing his place looking for fresh clues to old murder cases, his life quickly spirals into the murky world of moral relativism he was trying so hard to escape.
In a journey across the globe to track down the enigmatic Grace, James Kimble is pursued by immortal players obsessed with the riddle of a longer life. Trapped again in a shadowy world where ordinary life spans do not apply, he discovers the extraordinary lengths some people will go to remain among the living.
Continuing in the genre of first-person psychological thriller, Finding Immortality is the sequel to Interviewing Immortality in the ongoing series by Bill Conrad.
What do I call this process? Engineering a book description? Blindly making something work? Fake it until you make it? Slow and steady wins the race? Bill’s killer description process? Yeah, I do not like making up names for my personality quirks. To me, it’s all about finding something that works and improving it. What do I think about my approach? My method is unorthodox, but the results are much better than past attempts. Plus, the process is less stressful.
Do I think other authors could successfully use my technique? I am not sure. My method requires a scruffy dog refusing to stop playing with a toy mentality. I enjoy tinkering and am never truly satisfied. Perhaps I figured out how to turn a disadvantage into an advantage?
Does this mean I engineered my mind? I should write a book about that. Hmm. That’s going to need a good book description. I better start it now.
You’re the best -Bill
February 05, 2020 Updated November 23, 2024
