(Today, we’re breaking down the rest of the book description structure.)
Line
The main body of your book description tells readers the details of how the story is written. It should answer the question, “Sounds interesting, but do I actually want to read it?”
Use the list of details about your book that you wrote earlier. These give the reader benefits and settle objections. The keywords that you wrote are important here, too; you’ll want to sprinkle them in.
If you tell the reader that this book has everything they love and none of the things they hate, the reader will probably buy the book. (If you tell the reader this book has everything they hate and nothing they love, they won’t read your book and leave a bad review!)
Your hook catches the reader emotionally. The “line” is the part of the story that reels them in mentally by convincing them that the benefits of reading the book outweigh the risks.
But let’s back up a little and look at the whole package hat the reader might encounter before they decide to buy your book: cover, book description, and sample pages at the start of your book.
- The cover of your book is what grabs the reader’s attention.
- The “hook” in your book description grabs the reader emotionally.
- The main body of your book description grabs the reader mentally, providing benefits and settling objections.
- The closing of your book description asks the reader to buy the book.
- The sample pages of your book immerse the reader in your story.
Not every reader engages with all these elements, but these are the elements you have available, so use them! You need to interest your readers, convince them that they’re going to be satisfied with the book, and get them to buy the book now rather than later, if possible. (You also need to guide people who are not your readers away from the book.)
The main body of the book description is for making sure readers understand what they will be getting if they read this book.
For example, the main body of your book description should tell the reader if there’s going to be explicit sex in the book. (The hook should hint at it.) If you tell the reader whether explicit sex will be given in the book, the reader knows that, for example, there will be explicit sex and to look elsewhere for a sweet, clean romance. This saves on reader disappointment for the wrong reader, but encourages the right ones.
The thing to remember here is that…
Your plot doesn’t actually matter at this point.
You can use elements of your plot (up to the 25% mark of your book but no further) to help make your case that this book has what the reader wants. But the important part is that list of important details about your book. Who is the main character? Are there a bunch of points of view? How long is this? Is there a bunch of graphic violence or not? And so on.
Adding plot elements to your book description is just a handy way of stringing your important elements together, really; you definitely don’t need to try to include everything!
Sinker
The end of your book description should include something called a “call to action” where you subtly or not so subtly ask the reader to buy your book, and now please.
Before asking the reader to buy your book, you have:
- Grabbed their attention with the cover.
- Hooked their emotions with the hook.
- Helped them make up their minds with the main body of the description.
Now it is time to ask for a sale.
(Do not ask for the sale until you have done these things! A lot of writers post things like, “My new book release is out! Buy it!” This doesn’t work very well with strangers because you’re starting with the call to action, not ending with it!)
By the time you ask for the sale, you should have told the reader enough to make the right readers excited about reading the book and discouraged the wrong readers.
Here’s how to write the close of a book description: pitch buying your book as a way to join the characters.
Join our heroine on an epic quest to…
Help our detective solve the mystery of…
Fall in love all over again with a pair of lovers that endured the test of time…
The goal of marketing should be to get the right readers to read your books, that is, the readers who will love your books and be happy that they read them.
It’s okay if it feels awkward to ask those readers to buy the book. But do ask them! Otherwise, they’ll get distracted by something else that’s not as good for them as your book would be, like eating a quart of ice cream while binge-watching a Netflix series they’ve already seen before.
Social Proof
Where should you mention awards, quotes from reviewers praising your book, bestselling status, and other social proof that your book is great?
Social proof seems to do its job whether you put it first or last. There might be a slight benefit one way or another, but it probably depends on a number of factors.
What should you put in your social proof?
My best guess is to treat it like a resume: present yourself in a way that is relevant to your reader, but don’t fill up more than a page. (I don’t know about you, but when I see pages and pages of positive reviews at the beginning of a book description or, even worse, a book, I go, “Wow, the publisher is insecure about this story!” and am often tempted not to read the book!)
Series/Story Info
You may want to give series or short story lists at the end of your book description, so readers know:
- Where a story belongs in a given series.
- Whether a short story collection has any stories they are particularly intersted in.
If a series can be read in any order, you should mention that in the body of your description; it’s a vital detail that readers need to know before they decide to buy or not to buy!
Free Sample
“How to write a good book opening” is outside the scope of this work, but I should mention the following: make sure your sample pages grab the reader. “But it gets good on page 50” is not a great way to sell books.
This doesn’t mean that the book needs to start with an action scene! But you might want to make sure that the hook from your book description and the first 250-500 words of your story have something in common—and that your front matter isn’t so lengthy that it keeps the reader from reading those first 250-500 words.
(Next time, we’re going to cover how to write the second draft of your work, the one that actually feels like a book description!)