A curious blend of vanity and fatigue, I'm thinking, explains the attitudes of many writers once they've completed their book. As far as many of us are concerned, once we're done, the book speaks for itself. And, really, after all that work, it's an understandable reaction. It really should speak for itself.
It would be unwise though to lose sight of a simple and uneasy fact: a book can only speak for itself once someone reads it. And, alas, that depends upon said same someone buying it. You see where I'm going with this.
Elsewhere I've provided some other valuable tips about how to optimize the author tools for self publishing on Amazon, toward this end. As important as are all those tips, the most important and most challenging is doing a good job on your book description.
Prospective readers who have already invested cold cash in your book, even if only a modest sum, will generally give you about 20 pages or so to persuade them to read on. They have no such investment in your book description. Clicking away doesn't constitute any loss for them. It's a lot easier to do. Consequently, you have about 20-30 seconds, probably around three sentences, to capture their attention enough to keep them reading.
Failing to capture their attention will have them clicking away and a potential book sale lost. So, the question is, what does your book description need to do to keep prospective readers interested? And, how do you do it? Basically, you have about three sentences to impress such prospective readers in three important ways: tell, entice and show.
#1 Tell them what the book is about. I don't mean by this rehearsing your plot. The point is to concisely provide the genre details. Is your book fiction or non-fiction? Drill down from there. For the sake of discussion, assume it is fiction. Is it fantasy, romance or kitchen sink realism? Is it a period piece? Set in an alternate world or exotic locale? Some kind of evocative comparison could be helpful: e.g., a throw-back to the style of Jacqueline Susann, reminiscent of Salman Rushdie; Michael Chabon-like.
#2 Entice your potential reader with the benefits accruing from reading your book. It may be the case that non-fiction writers enjoy a certain advantage on this one. It's hardly self evident to me, however, that the majority of self-published non-fiction writers actually leverage this advantage. Presumably, though, all non-fiction aims to meet a specific need. Minimally it wants to increase topic-specific knowledge. Pretty much, always, though the goal is more focused than that and you should be as focused as possible. Emphasize the benefit of your book to potential readers. How will their life be better, easier, or wealthier as a result of reading your book?
This enticement challenges can be a bit trickier for fiction, but it can still be done. An obvious approach is to emphasize the nature of the conflicts your characters much overcome. Tap into the prospective reader's personal experience with similar conflict. Invite them to understand the conflict better, to relive it, or live it vicariously through your book.
Third: Show them what reading your book is like. Maybe the most difficult of the three, this can be the clincher. Think of the book description as a mini test drive of your book. If your promise is to explain some technical skill, such as website building or home micro brewing, show off your gifts for explanatory clarity. Use clear, easy to follow language to explain some technical detail, so they'll feel confident of being able to follow and learn from your book. Give them confidence that you can make it all easy to understand.
For fiction writers, I'd recommend conveying (not naming, but showing) the genre and style of your novel. Imagine beginning with a first sentence hook that evokes the tone and temperament of your book. For instance, if your novel tells a story of urban city drama, you could evoke the kind of desperate situation which the limited options of life on the street may present to your protagonist. This is a tease, but, if you do it well, it's also an audition.
Here then is the challenge of writing a great book description for self publishing on Amazon: tell what the book is, entice with the benefits it provides, and illustrate the style and tone found between the covers. Make no doubt: a tall task lies before you. It is though precisely because of how difficult it is that authors who do it well harvest great rewards.
Don't be surprised or discouraged if you find yourself doing three to five times more drafts of your book description than you did of the book. Getting it right is taxing work. And, after you've done all that, you still haven't any guarantee of an Amazon bestseller. The truth is that, despite the self-serving claims of marketing type, none of us can be induced to purchase a product that we don't actually want.
What we can do, though, is persuade prospective readers, who are open to what we have to offer, that our book is the one that will give them the goods they're after. Therein is your opportunity to sell a book and create the potential for a return reader.
The first order of business, though, is to not have them pass you over as inadequately interesting from the start. And that takes a book description that is gripping from the get-go. Finishing your book wasn't the completion of your writing duties. There's still one more big job to do. Sharpen up that pencil.
It would be unwise though to lose sight of a simple and uneasy fact: a book can only speak for itself once someone reads it. And, alas, that depends upon said same someone buying it. You see where I'm going with this.
Elsewhere I've provided some other valuable tips about how to optimize the author tools for self publishing on Amazon, toward this end. As important as are all those tips, the most important and most challenging is doing a good job on your book description.
Prospective readers who have already invested cold cash in your book, even if only a modest sum, will generally give you about 20 pages or so to persuade them to read on. They have no such investment in your book description. Clicking away doesn't constitute any loss for them. It's a lot easier to do. Consequently, you have about 20-30 seconds, probably around three sentences, to capture their attention enough to keep them reading.
Failing to capture their attention will have them clicking away and a potential book sale lost. So, the question is, what does your book description need to do to keep prospective readers interested? And, how do you do it? Basically, you have about three sentences to impress such prospective readers in three important ways: tell, entice and show.
#1 Tell them what the book is about. I don't mean by this rehearsing your plot. The point is to concisely provide the genre details. Is your book fiction or non-fiction? Drill down from there. For the sake of discussion, assume it is fiction. Is it fantasy, romance or kitchen sink realism? Is it a period piece? Set in an alternate world or exotic locale? Some kind of evocative comparison could be helpful: e.g., a throw-back to the style of Jacqueline Susann, reminiscent of Salman Rushdie; Michael Chabon-like.
#2 Entice your potential reader with the benefits accruing from reading your book. It may be the case that non-fiction writers enjoy a certain advantage on this one. It's hardly self evident to me, however, that the majority of self-published non-fiction writers actually leverage this advantage. Presumably, though, all non-fiction aims to meet a specific need. Minimally it wants to increase topic-specific knowledge. Pretty much, always, though the goal is more focused than that and you should be as focused as possible. Emphasize the benefit of your book to potential readers. How will their life be better, easier, or wealthier as a result of reading your book?
This enticement challenges can be a bit trickier for fiction, but it can still be done. An obvious approach is to emphasize the nature of the conflicts your characters much overcome. Tap into the prospective reader's personal experience with similar conflict. Invite them to understand the conflict better, to relive it, or live it vicariously through your book.
Third: Show them what reading your book is like. Maybe the most difficult of the three, this can be the clincher. Think of the book description as a mini test drive of your book. If your promise is to explain some technical skill, such as website building or home micro brewing, show off your gifts for explanatory clarity. Use clear, easy to follow language to explain some technical detail, so they'll feel confident of being able to follow and learn from your book. Give them confidence that you can make it all easy to understand.
For fiction writers, I'd recommend conveying (not naming, but showing) the genre and style of your novel. Imagine beginning with a first sentence hook that evokes the tone and temperament of your book. For instance, if your novel tells a story of urban city drama, you could evoke the kind of desperate situation which the limited options of life on the street may present to your protagonist. This is a tease, but, if you do it well, it's also an audition.
Here then is the challenge of writing a great book description for self publishing on Amazon: tell what the book is, entice with the benefits it provides, and illustrate the style and tone found between the covers. Make no doubt: a tall task lies before you. It is though precisely because of how difficult it is that authors who do it well harvest great rewards.
Don't be surprised or discouraged if you find yourself doing three to five times more drafts of your book description than you did of the book. Getting it right is taxing work. And, after you've done all that, you still haven't any guarantee of an Amazon bestseller. The truth is that, despite the self-serving claims of marketing type, none of us can be induced to purchase a product that we don't actually want.
What we can do, though, is persuade prospective readers, who are open to what we have to offer, that our book is the one that will give them the goods they're after. Therein is your opportunity to sell a book and create the potential for a return reader.
The first order of business, though, is to not have them pass you over as inadequately interesting from the start. And that takes a book description that is gripping from the get-go. Finishing your book wasn't the completion of your writing duties. There's still one more big job to do. Sharpen up that pencil.
About the Author:
Self publishing authors who have to keep up on the hottest news and tips need to follow the Self Publishing on Amazon site. Lance Fallbrook is a frequent commentator on writers and writing. See his provocative piece on famous American authors -- the dead list!
No comments:
Post a Comment