An elevator pitch is a persuasive sales pitch delivered within a limited timeframe – basically, the duration of an elevator ride, 20 to 40 seconds or 75 to 100 words. Your book description should work like an elevator pitch that captures the readers’ attention instantly – within the first two sentences. It should leave your readers wanting more and compelled to buy your book. A book description can be both short and long and must be gripping despite the genre you write.
Before you start writing your book description, take a look at this post. The blog explores the nuances of a great book description, particularly helpful for self-publishing authors.
What is a Book Description?
A Book description isn’t an executive summary that describes the content of the book. Instead, it is an advertisement or a marketing pitch that hooks your readers and pursues them to purchase. Believe it or not, it is one of the most crucial elements of self-publishing which functions as your marketing tool.
However, the book description is also one of the hardest things to write. You will have to wear a copywriter’s hat and write the description like an ad creative for a brand; here, your book.
When it comes to self-publishing, you will have to consider book metadata specifically. Heed the following tips and ideas to write a compelling metadata book description.
Role of Metadata in Book Publishing
Book metadata helps readers, librarians, retailers, and book store owners find your book online. The metadata acts as a search keyword and makes your book discoverable when users search it with relevant terms. The metadata is essential for your book’s SEO in self-publishing. It includes complete information about your work – title, subtitle, genre, subgenre, price, paper quality, trim size, author’s name, book description, author’s bio, book type, and more.
The metadata field includes two book descriptions – Short and Long. Both play different roles in driving traffic online. When writing your book’s metadata, you must provide information that intrigues the person reading it and trigger a purchase. The right metadata description will not only decide whether or not your book is appealing but also whether it is appealing to the right audience.
You will be able to write your book’s metadata once you obtain the ISBN.
Writat’s Assisted Publishing Services offer ISBN generation and book description writing. Learn more about how self-publishing works at Writat.
How to Write a Long Description
The long description is the summary of your book. Think of it like a movie’s trailer. You should tell the story yet not reveal the story. Tell enough to paint the picture in readers’ minds and leave them excited to discover what happens next.
You must write the best-selling parts and interesting aspects of your book. The structure of the long description consists of:
Headline: 20 – 25 word or 200-character sentence that highlights the book’s big things, such as the genre, sub-genre, awards, best-selling ranking, awards, recognition, etc. The headline is generally seen on booksellers and Goodreads pages, just above the ‘Read More’ option.
Detailed Description: It provides the rich detail of your book when a reader clicks on ‘Read More.’ The description could include the plot, the characters, the location, settings, and important places and names for non-fiction.
Conclusion: A compelling Call to Action (CTA), between 20 and 30 words, that adds value to your book. Includes who the book is for, awards, recognition, reviews, and ratings.
How to Write a Short Description
The short description is the actual elevator pitch of your book that is quite tricky to write. Consider it the book’s teaser – different from the trailer but thrilling enough to make the audience wait for the extended version. It consists of punchlines and interesting notes about the book that compel the readers to search for the long description. Writat and other publishing platforms use the short description while promoting and selling books.
The short description is available across all marketing forums like websites, catalogs, tradeshow copy, press releases, marketing materials, posters, brochures and more. It must be written in aself manner to gain a reaction from the reader.
Tips and Tricks for Writing Book Description for Meta Data Fields
Keyword: Your purpose of writing the description is to get discovered and keep your prospect readers thrilled. Make sure you write the description based on your chosen keywords – relevant terms your potential readers may use while searching for your selected genre. Ask yourself, “what words would I type to search my book?”
Historical romance, erotica, supernatural thriller, science fiction, teen story, and children’s book are few ideas of search terms.
Simple Description: Describe your book in the reader’s language. Do not use complex words or jargon. Use friendly, straightforward, and colloquial language.
Word Count: Your description should be long enough to provide everything about the book and short enough not to make it boring. Aim for 150 to 200 words.
Include Key Deciding Factors: Give readers enough details to help them understand your story. Ask yourself ‘what can be the hook of my story?” For instance, detail like “a college romance between Nancy, the detective and Ned, the supernatural hunter, set in Harvard University campus” can excite a teenage fiction fan.
Paragraph Format: Human minds cannot register big paragraphs and long sentences. Therefore, it is important to structure your book description right to make it reading-friendly. Use bullet points, breaks, bold letters, and italic fonts to emphasize content.
Language Usage: Do not use sensitive language if you wish your book to be evergreen. They include ‘latest’, ‘newly arrived’, ‘next book’, ‘last year’, and ‘recent’.
Read other Descriptions: To get an idea, read the book descriptions of popular authors. You can also read the descriptions of movies and TV shows. Additionally, great reviewers explain books in an enticing manner. Therefore, in our opinion, you should go through popular reviews too.
Access to Writat’s global distribution network can determine your book’s journey. A metadata book description will further boost its rate of success. Our experts can help you with the ISBN and meta description. To learn more, visit www.writat.com.
