It’s time to write the book description.
Don’t write the book you think your audience “should” read. Write the book your audience wants to read.
Guidelines:
- It won’t be perfect
- Basic description
- Take less than 15 minutes to write it
- 200 words max
What is the book about?
Who is the ideal reader?
What will the ideal reader get from the book?
The recommended method is the Hook, Pain, Pleasure, Legitimacy, Open Loop format.
1. Hook - The first sentence should be something that grabs the desired reader’s attention. Generally speaking, it should be the boldest claim or the most sensational fact or compelling idea.
2. Pain - Clearly describe the current pain your reader is in. Just be accurate. What pain is in their life? What unsolved problems do they have?
3. Pleasure - Tell them what this book will do to solve the pain. You want to create an emotional connection by describing how the book will make the potential reader feel after reading it. How will their life be different because they read this book? Be clear about the benefits, but don’t insinuate them. You are selling a result to the reader, not a process.
4. Legitimacy - Let the reader know why they should listen to you, why you are an authority and expert they need to hear from. This can be short.
5. Open Loop - You state the problem or question your book addresses, you show that you solve or answer it, but you also leave a small key piece out. This piques the interest of your reader and leaves them wanting more. You want to be very explicit about what they will learn but don’t go deep into the “how.” They need to read the book to get that.
The book description is not a synopsis or summary. It’s an advertisement. Think of it like a trailer for your book. Use compelling words. Keep the writing simple. The description should be third person objective voice and not the author’s voice. It should be written as someone else describing your book. Don’t compare your book to other books.