Entice Readers with Your “About the Book”

You’ve worked for months (quite possibly years) building your manuscript. Now it’s time to develop your “About the Book” text. You must describe your book in one to two paragraphs and entice readers that your book is a book the book they want to read. Sounds easy, right? Not as easy as you might think!

The task is daunting and one that many authors struggle with. However, it’s something that must be done before publishing your book and should not be taken lightly. Your “About the Book” text is the first (and hopefully not last) bit of your book that a potential reader will see.

Learn from your favorites

Being a writer, you no doubt read quite a bit. Before you begin to write your book’s summary, look at what some of your favorite authors write about their books. What details do they include? What details did they decide could wait to be learned while reading the book? Try to emulate their balance between enticing the reader and giving away too much. The synopsis of one of your favorite books is probably one of the reasons you decided to read it in the first place. Therefore, it must be effective.

Keep it simple for the Web

Before publishing your book AuthorHouse, you will be asked to create the text that will appear in the “About the Book” section of your page in our online bookstore. Writing for the Web is different than writing for print. Readers are more likely to scan text on the Web. Therefore, your copy needs to be simple and relevant. Lengthy explanations will most likely be passed over. In fact, it’s probably a good idea to use half the words for the Web that you would use in print.

Edit carefully

With your “About the Book” copy, you are trying to entice readers to read your book. Your writing needs to be grammatically correct and well written. If you construct your synopsis in a word processing program or a content management system, be sure to print it out and edit the hard copy before publishing. Oftentimes, changing the medium can help you catch mistakes you wouldn’t otherwise catch. It’s also handy to read aloud what you’ve written. You’ll be more likely to catch grammar mistakes, misspellings, and uneven flow if you stumble through the paragraph.

Show, don’t tell

While it’s tempting to tell readers that this book is right for them, it’s more effective to show them. Don’t say, “This book is the most exciting book in decades!” Instead, highlight the exciting points of your book to draw them in. They will form their own opinions by reading your text. If you’ve written your “About the Book” well, it will probably be the opinion you want them to form.

Get an opinion

Have your family and friends read your “About the Book” copy. Get their honest opinion as to whether or not they find it intriguing and not overly lengthy. Take their criticism and work with it. The thoughts they have are likely the thoughts that your potential customers will have.

Don’t be intimidated by this job. It can be done well if you use the tips listed above and spend the right amount of time crafting the words that will catch your reader’s eye.