The document provides guidance on writing an effective book description from the perspective of a publisher rather than author. It should motivate readers to learn more about the book and add it to their cart by highlighting the main plot points in a concise, third-person and present tense manner using emotive language. Reading descriptions in your genre helps understand expectations. A good description is easily shareable on social media to help spread awareness of the book. While the first attempt may not be perfect, reworking earlier versions can help create a successful description.

1. You are not writing your book description as the author. You are writing it as the publisher.
Making an impact on the reader is your principal concern. What will move the reader to
want to know more about your book? What will motivate the reader to add your book to his
or her cart? Write the book description with your head, not your heart. Remember, the book
description is marketing material - not literature.
Those are my five main points when it comes to writing a book description. Another good
practice when writing your book description is to read as many book descriptions in your
genre as possible. It's a great way to figure out what the industry standard is. These
descriptions become industry standards for one reason: they sell books.
Here's an example of a book description that I believe gets it right. It's for Gil Adamson's
novel,The Outlander, published by Harper Collins in 2007.
From the description, I know the book is a psychological thriller featuring a young woman
on the run from some very nasty people. I get a hint that her husband may have deserved
his fate, but I'm also led to believe that Mary Boulton may be mentally unstable. The
description is roughly 90 words. It's told in third-person, present tense, and I count seven
emotional power words ("heart-pounding," "frantic," "tormented," "mad," "ruthless,"
"primitive," and "wilds"). I only know the main plot: she killed her husband, and now she's a
fugitive running for her life. I picked up the book because of its cover, but I opened the
book because of this description. I now own it.
You're not just writing your description for your back cover. You're also writing this for your
social media network, as part of your bio information for personal appearances, for flyers
and other print material, etc. This isn't just for you; it's for your fans. With a concise book
description, they are more likely to copy and paste it into an email to friends and family or
on their own social networking accounts. Think of this type of description as being portable.
It's easy to share and, as a result, is a major tool in your spread-the-word campaign.
I will leave you with this: you may get it wrong the first time you try to write a book
description, and that's okay. It's just another part of the process. As you go through various
versions, don't delete those earlier ones. I've found that by combining the elements of the
latest version with earlier versions, I hit pay dirt. Good luck, and happy selling!