How to Write Killer Book Descriptions

In this post I’m going to talk about how to write killer book description as well as how to format them with HTML for KDP and Createspace.

First things first, before you sit down to write your book description, you need to make sure that your book is already finished, ie, it’s either with your editor or you’ve got it ready to upload. There is absolutely no point in creating a book description unless you have a finished product to work with.

So, if you’re confident you’re good to go, let’s get stuck into it then!

Steps for Creating a Book Description

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• Review your books introduction (you’ve got one of those, right?!) — this should be your starting point
• Aim for 4 blocks of text and two headings. Bullet points work great too
• Ensure that you use HTML so that your text jumps off the page at your readers

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Fiction Books

For fiction books, you want to highlight the main characters, what their tribulations are and hint at whether there will be a happy outcome or not.

Here’s an example:

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After Alexis is duped by her boss, she is left feeling pretty low and definitely NOT in the mood for romance… until a man, with cat-like eyes, walks into her life and promptly turns it upside down. Alexis falls, hard, but does her mystery man have a secret that’s going to rip them apart before they’ve even begun?

Billionaire, Leon, has never had an issue with meeting women, the issue is in keeping them. His job doesn’t allow him to make any type of meaningful, romantic connections, even if he wanted to. The CIA doesn’t approve of any kind of attachment, unless it’s strapped to the hip… So meeting Alexis throws a slight spanner in his perfectly constructed life, until he finds out her secret. Maybe there is a chance for Leon to fall in love?

Just as Alexis and Leon get to a happy space in their new, young romance, a blue cadillac, Russian male operative and the not-to-distant past all come back to bite Alexis firmly on the ass.

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You could include a heading at the beginning of the text to grab the reader’s attention as well.

Non-Fiction Books

If you’re writing non-fiction, then you want to aggravate the problems in the first paragraph, highlight how you discovered the solution in the next paragraph and then provide benefits of reading the book in the next few paragraphs. Add in a couple of headings and some bullet blocks and you’ve got yourself a mini sales letter happening.

Here’s an example from one of my own books, No Gym Needed:

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When’s the last time you went to the gym or exercised? When’s the last time you actually enjoyed exercise or had the time to fit it into your hectic schedule?

If YOU Hate the Gym…

Whether you’re a busy mum, single woman with an up and coming career or full-time entrepreneur, figuring out how to fit exercising and keeping healthy into your daily routines can be hard.

How do you balance personal excuses, schedules and life in general so that you can get the body you want in the least amount of time, WITHOUT joining a gym?

And… how do you make sure that you actually STICK to exercising… stick to body weight workouts that help you lose weight, are less than 30 minutes; without the need for annoying dumb bells or gym equipment?

All these things require the right knowledge and can be tricky to implement and manage within your already busy schedule.

Get Quick Workouts Now!

In this hands-on, relaxed and action-packed book, Lise Cartwright explains how YOU can get the body you want, in 30 minutes or less, without having to step foot in a gym or purchase expensive weights and equipment.

By using examples from her own personal experiences, she shows you how to get a toned body, using no equipment workouts, while also creating time to fit exercising into busy schedules.

In this how-to bodyweight exercises guide, the reader will be given:

– Total Body Workouts using body weight burning exercises to help you quickly achieve a toned body in 30 minutes or less
– 30-Day Programs to help kick-start your exercise program and develop the habit
– Lifestyle Hacks that will provide you with ways to stay fit and healthy, no matter what you do on a day-to-day basis

No Gym Needed provides insane home fat loss workouts and is concisely written with your busy schedule in mind. It teaches and shows you how to get the body you want no matter whether you’re an entrepreneur, full-time mum and career women, college student, or anyone who loathes going to the gym.

Don’t let your busy schedule and gym loathing stop you from having the body you deserve…take action, follow the book’s steps, and enjoy your new body and lease on life.

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The best way to write a killer book description is to look at books similar to yours on Amazon and emulate what they are doing, ie, start with their book description and then rewrite it.

There is absolutely no point in reinventing the wheel. This is much easier for non-fiction books, so if you have a fiction book, summarising the story, highlighting the main pain points of your protagonists and a hint at the outcome will work well.

If you are looking at similar books to yours on Amazon, make sure that you focus only on the top 20 best sellers within your category, because you know they’re selling!

Adding HTML to Book Descriptions

Once you’ve got your description written it out, it’s time to add some HTML to make words and headings stand out.

I use a service called Real-Time HTML editor to create all my HTML tags, and it gives you a preview of what the text will like. You can then copy and paste into your KDP area and Createspace.

Rather than outline the steps, simply watch this quick video to see how you can create your own using this tool.

Here are the HTML tags that you can use on your KDP book description: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A377RPHW6ZG4D8

Here are the HTML tags that you can use in your Createspace book description:

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Createspace Advanced: Using HTML in your Descriptions

While plain text is the preferred format for your description, you can add style and formatting to the description that appears in your selected Sales Channels by using HTML tags. You’ll need to use HTML tags to format your description to include any paragraph and line-breaks.

Our customer service team is unable to help with writing HTML. If you get stuck, you should consider a plain text description.

Allowed Tags

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