Matt: Welcome back everybody. Another exciting episode of Publish & Prosper. Today - 

Lauren: I think they're exciting.  

Matt: Well, let's wait till we get to the end of this one. But, well, yeah, I don't want to set it up out of the gate as negative. But just so everybody knows where I'm coming from. Today we are talking about how to write a really good book description, so.

Lauren: Matt thinks this is going to be boring. 

Matt: It is boring. 

Lauren: I could talk about this for two hours straight. 

Matt: I'd rather talk about your voice and why you're coming into the podcast studio sounding like you just spent all night drinking whiskey and smoking cigarettes. 

Lauren: I think my voice would actually sound better than this if I'd spent all night drinking whiskey and smoking cigarettes.

Matt: You wouldn't have made it into the podcast studio. 

Lauren: Well, that's true too. 

Matt: Yeah. All right. 

Lauren: But, I'm doing my best. 

Matt: Writing a book description is boring. 

Lauren: No, it's not. 

Matt: Yeah. Why don't we just let ChatGPT do it? 

Lauren: I specifically asked ChatGPT for help coming up with examples later in this episode. And I rejected all the examples that it gave me.

Matt: Yeah, I don't know. 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Matt: All right. 

Lauren: All right. 

Matt: Well, that's what we're going to talk about. 

Lauren: Okay. So maybe that's, maybe that's the first step of this, because I think that a book description is really important and that writing a good book description can be really fun. And it has to be something that you believe in yourself because you're not going to sell something to anybody if you don't believe in it yourself. So let's see if we can convince Matt that this is interesting and worthwhile by the end of this episode. 

Matt: All right. Well, let's go. 

Lauren: All right. Bring it on.  

[2:04]

Lauren: Okay. First of all, uh, just to add a qualifier up at the top in case you're like, what do you mean by book description? There are a lot - this is one of those weird things in the industry there's a lot of different terms for. You might also hear it referred to as like, cover copy, back cover copy, just your book summary. 

People sometimes use book blurb, but I'm generally opposed to that because there is another part of your book that is called a book blurb and colloquially in the industry the second definition is more common than referring to your cover copy as a book blurb. So I'm trying to train people out of the practice of calling cover copy or book descriptions, book blurbs. So join me on my soapbox. 

Matt: You're single handedly taking on that mission. 

Lauren: I am. 

Matt: All right.

Lauren: I'm working on it. I have a platform. I might as well use it for some kind of purpose. 

Matt: Yeah. well, I didn't realize you were also going to come public with that mission of changing terminology across an entire industry.

Lauren: Not an entire industry, most of the industry is already there. It's, it's getting people on our side of the industry on my level.

Matt: Okay. 

Lauren: Yeah. It's fine. Don't worry about it. 

Matt: Alright. 

Lauren: Anyway. 

Matt: So today we're talking about book blurbs. 

Lauren: Get out. I'll do this episode on my own. It's fine. The other definition of a book blurb, in case you're wondering, is like a one sentence review from another author that goes on the front cover of the book, or on the, like, top of the back cover. It's, it's more of a testimonial. It's, or a review. 

Usually, like, if you refer, it's like if I went to a publicist that worked in the book industry and said, hey, can I get a blurb for this book? That's what they would think of first and not the cover copy or book description. 

Matt: Okay. 

Lauren: So anyway in case that wasn't like super clear, can't imagine why it wouldn't be, your book description: it's the thing that you're gonna use on the back cover of your book, if it's a paperback, or the dust jacket interior if it's a hardcover with a dust jacket. You're gonna use it on your cover, your website, on your bookstore, wherever you're selling your book, it's going to be that sales pitch description that's going to get people to buy your book. 

And realistically, this is, I would say either the second or third most valuable marketing tool in your entire arsenal. Only your cover, I think is higher than this - Matt is making a face like he's trying to decide whether he agrees or disagrees with me, and I can't wait to see where this goes.

Matt: I'm just picking and choosing my battles. How about that? I don't - 

Lauren: No I'd like you to, I'd like you to fight on this one. What do you think?

Matt: I don't want to fight on it. I just think that, well, first of all, I do think me, personally, I think that you could ChatGPT a book description, and maybe fix a few things here or there, but I'm interested to hear at length, ad nauseam, what your, what your suggestions are here.

But I think more importantly, more seriously to the topic, I do think that the description is important. Yes, I, I think it's more important in the sales life cycle of your book, and I think it's more of a sales tool versus a marketing tool per se, but I guess you would use that description for other things too in marketing your book. Like you would use pieces of that description in social media posts or things like that.

I, I think that a book description is one of those things that helps sell a book once the reader has their hands on it. Or they're looking at the digital version of it or looking at buying the digital version of it. I look at it as more of a sales tool versus a marketing tool. And that's why I think that it's probably a little lower on my list of important things. I think when it comes to marketing and selling your book, but nonetheless, it's important. Yes, I agree, because we know the covers first. 

Lauren: Yes. 

Matt: If your cover's garbage, they're probably not even going to pick up your book or pull up the page if it's an ebook to look at purchasing it. But I think your author brand or your, your reputation, first and foremost, for what you write, what genre you're in. Secondarily the cover. I think what you're arguing is third would be the book description, and I don't know that I have any data or anything else to support my, my assertion that I would not put that one third, but I don't know. 

Lauren: You want to know a secret? 

Matt: Sure. 

Lauren: I'm making this argument as a person who does not read book descriptions.

Matt: Oh my, I'm leaving. This is, you just baited me into, this is ridiculous. 

Lauren: One of these days, you're going to figure out that most of these episode topics and outlines are bait specifically for you. 

Matt: That's wildly inappropriate. 

Lauren: Anyway, um, I would actually… Oh, if only we had the camera set up for this episode. We're so close to doing video episodes, but you guys are missing some great faces from Matt right now. 

Matt: I mean, I'm still flabbergasted. You come in here sounding like Miley Cyrus after a birthday celebration that lasted a week long. Then you set me up and bait me into this whole long argument about book descriptions, knowing by the way, that they're just lower on my importance scale and you don't even read them.

Lauren: I don't read them, but somebody has to read them somewhere along the line in order for a book to get to me in the first place. 

Matt: Sure. 

Lauren: So, they're still valuable, even if I don't use them. Doesn't mean, and I'll actually, I'll explain to you why I don't read them anymore later in the episode. 

Matt: We can't start with that?

Lauren: Sure, I guess we can. So, when I worked at the bookstore, back in the day, there was a book that came in one day, it was a used copy of a book, it was a new and used bookstore, it was a used copy of the book and we were going through and pricing them and one of the two owners of the bookstore picked up this book and he was like, oh, I loved this book, this is such a good book and he flipped it over and he looked at the back cover and he just immediately got really mad about something. 

And was like, I can't believe they did this, this is insane, what an insane choice, I don't know who wrote this, blah, blah, blah. And he hands the book to me and he goes, take this home and read it, but do not read the book description before you do. And I was like, okay. Now, first of all, it was rare enough for anyone at that bookstore to hand me a book for free and be like, don't pay for this. 

Matt: Yeah. 

Lauren: Just take this home and read it. So I was like, okay. But this was like generally a very mild mannered man that I was like, well, he got really worked up about this. Like, I wonder what it is. And I'm not going to say what the book was because I'm going to spoil the book now. It was basically the whole premise of the book is you learn at the beginning of the book that it's about -  it's a novel and it's, it's written like from the perspective of a woman who was raised by parents that were doing like a psychological or sociological study on children. And she was an active participant in the study. And so the first like hundred pages of the book is her talking about her childhood and being raised by her parents and her relationship with her sister. And how they were raised together and how this like study impacted all this and blah blah blah. And then around page 100 you turn the page to a new chapter and it says at this point in the story I should probably tell you that my sister is a chimpanzee.

Matt: What? 

Lauren: And it changed the whole, it changed everything, like it changed the whole premise of the book and now you're learning that like the study her parents are doing is about human children and chimpanzee children and all of this and it was a novel again, but it was, it was a very good and it was very interesting and this was like a significant plot twist. Except for the paperback edition of the book they had put in the cover copy, on the back cover of the book in like the second paragraph, that it was a story about a young girl and her chimpanzee that she was raised side by side with.  

So they like, blew the big reveal of the book in the cover copy on the book. And I completely understood why my boss was so mad about it. And after that, I was like, you know what, I'm not going to read cover copy anymore because I don't need to know I'm basing my choices purely on recommendations these days.

So anyway, pro tip number one, when you're talking about a book description, when you're writing your book description or when you're using ChatGPT to draft your book description for you, don't give away any major plot twists in the book description. 

Matt: I, okay. I think based on that description of the story, most people could probably go in Google and find out what book this was.

Lauren: Yeah, for sure. 

Matt: I certainly am going to. But nonetheless, whoever that was failed miserably at their book description for sure. I get it. It's still wild to me that based on that, you don't read book descriptions anymore, but why don't we go ahead and launch into this podcast where we're going to talk to people about the importance of book descriptions, even though you don't read them.

Lauren: Okay. Well - 

Matt: I do read them. I just don't know that they rank in order of importance for me, the same way they do for you, especially now knowing that you don't even read them. 

Lauren: Let me rephrase it. I read them as I'm browsing books. 

Matt: Okay, that’s better. 

Lauren: Like if I'm looking for - if I'm looking for something new to read, I will read the book descriptions. Cause how else am I going to know? I do not read them when friends recommend books to me. So if somebody says to me, like, I think you'd really like this book. You should read it. I say, cool. And I add it to my Goodreads want to read list. And that's it. 

Matt: Right. 

Lauren: So I guess sometimes I read book descriptions, it's fine. But also, counterpoint and last point in general on book descriptions, it can also be valuable as an SEO tool. 

Matt: Yeah, I think that's, that's a little more interesting and a fair statement. Although that's probably also changing as we speak and the way that people use search with obviously the integration of AI into most search tools and things too, but there's definitely some SEO value to a book description, especially a well written book description. So that's a valid part of your argument. Sure. 

[11:06]

Lauren: All right. So let's try to take a look at some of the different parts of a book description and how you're kind of going to craft it. And I guess to Matt's point that you could use ChatGPT to write your book description for you if you want to. I'm going to say that you could, but you still need to know what to tell ChatGPT to use to write the book description because you probably don't want to upload your entire manuscript to ChatGPT.

Matt: Do tell why we don't want to upload our manuscript to ChatGPT. 

Lauren: No, I'm going to leave it there. 

Matt: Okay. 

Lauren: Okay, but you do want to know, I mean, it might be helpful to you to give like a longer summary of your book to upload to ChatGPT and then just say like, can you summarize based on what I've provided here? In which case these are the elements that I would suggest that you consider including in your summary. Or write it yourself because you know your book better than ChatGPT does.

Anyway, the first part is going to be the hook. It's going to be that thing, that first sentence, that opening line - maybe lines - that are immediately going to catch the reader's attention. You want to keep it concise and engaging. And, like I already said, you want to make sure that you don't give too much information away, but that you give the reader just enough information that they're gonna go… okay, go on. Because you want them to keep reading. 

It also doesn't have to be necessarily about the book directly. It's something that can be about you as the author. It can be accolades for the book. It can be - something that we see a lot is people using comp titles as the hook for their book. Which is also one of the reasons that I recommend that you make a list.

The examples that I'm going to use kind of throughout this episode are going to be - I'm going to use a couple of different examples, but two primary books are going to be using this whole episode. One of them is going to be for Matt, My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. 

Matt: Very good book - 

Lauren: It is. 

Matt: Terrible movie.

Lauren: I didn't see the movie, but I really liked the book. I think I listened to the audiobook, actually. 

Matt: They butchered the movie. 

Lauren: Typical. 

Matt: Yep. 

Lauren: The opening line of My Best Friend’s Exorcism’s book description is: from the New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, this unholy hybrid of Beaches and The Exorcist blends teen angst and unspeakable horrors into a pulse pounding supernatural thriller. 

That single sentence told me a lot of information about the book.

Matt: I feel like that sentence was generated in ChatGPT though. 

Lauren: Do you think so? 

Matt: Well, I mean, if you look at it again, especially that second half, right? A unholy hybrid of Beaches - the movie Beaches, for those who are trying to understand if we're talking about an actual beach - an unholy hybrid of Beaches and The Exorcist blends teen angst and unspeakable horrors into a pulse pounding supernatural thriller. That is ChatGPT at its finest. Like if somebody in marketing got paid to write that then the publisher should get their money back.

Lauren: I think actually the editorial team usually writes cover copy.

Matt: Either way, that's generated.

Lauren: Okay.

Matt: I'm not saying it's not good. Like, I like that description. 

Lauren: I mean, it's a good description. 

Matt: And I love the book, so. And that description, by the way, is pretty spot on for the most part.

Lauren: It is. 

Matt: Beaches is a stretch, but I think what they're alluding to are the relationships between the characters there and kind of that summertime… But anyways, that is definitely generated. 

Lauren: I'll take your word for it. But more importantly, it tells us a lot of information, whether ChatGPT wrote it or some editorial assistant wrote it. It tells us a lot of information. It tells us that it's a either critically or commercially popular author. Tells us another book that they wrote that we might recognize. I own The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. I haven't read it yet, but it has a really compelling cover, so I definitely bought it when I saw it. 

I like the unholy hybrid, that kind of sets the tone for like, it's going to be a little tongue in cheek, but it's going to be scary too. The comp titles, and it tells you what to expect - blends teen angst and unspeakable horrors in a pulse pounding supernatural thriller. You got a lot of information on the book in that first sentence and like… I don't know, I mean, I guess this is a bad example because Matt and I have both read this book already. But it like - I would keep reading to find out more about it.

Matt: Yeah, it’s a good description. I agree. It's a good hook. 

Lauren: Have you read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil?

Matt: Yes. 

Lauren: Oh. Alright, I was gonna see if I had one that you hadn't read. Okay, well, we'll use this example from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Fantastic book if you haven't read it. 

Matt: And they did not butcher the movie. 

Lauren: They did not butcher the movie. It's a great movie. But the opening line of that book description is: Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty early morning hours of May 2nd, 1981. Was it murder or self defense? 

So, if you need a good hook, A rhetorical question, or a question that can only be answered within the copy of the book itself, isn't a bad option.

Matt: I agree. 

Lauren: Alright. 

Matt: I love that one. 

Lauren: In case anyone's curious, the example that I'm not reading because it's too long is from Taylor Jenkins Reid’s, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which is also a phenomenal book.

Matt: I'll read it - 

Lauren: Ugh, fine.

Matt: Since if you read it, it'll probably put you in the hospital.  But yes, from Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo:

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? 

Boring.

Lauren: I read this book in a single sitting and then spent two hours just laying on a lounge chair staring at the sky trying to compose myself.

Matt: Because the description was so bad? 

Lauren: Sure. Yes. Email us at podcast@lulu.com if you'd like to explain to Matt why The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a phenomenal book. 

Matt: Well, I'm not saying the book itself is not phenomenal. I'm saying that description was boring. 

Lauren: Okay, fine.

Matt: I would not read that book based on that description.

Lauren: That's fair. I actually can't argue with you on that, but I did like the way that it ended with the questions. 

Matt: Why her? Why now?

Lauren: Yeah. Why? 

Matt: Come on. They should have ChatGPT'd that one too. 

Lauren: All right. I'll take those notes to the publisher. Sure. 

Matt: I do think when you sandwich that one between the other two, I mean, come on, you almost set this description up for failure by doing that, so. 

Lauren: Okay. 

Matt: And I don't know if you did that on purpose, but even without the description from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, or any of Grady Hendrix's books, by the way, that one, that's just boring. I would use that as an example of what not to write or how to not structure a description.

Lauren: I don't necessarily disagree with you.

Matt: Okay. I mean, you can usually do, but -

Lauren: I usually do.

Matt: Alright.

Lauren: But in that case, I'll, I'll give you that one. 

Matt: Okay, cool. 

Lauren: So, all right. 

Matt: Does anybody out there keep a tally, by the way? Can somebody email us and tell me how, how many times she said I was right?  Or she agrees with me? 

Lauren: There was a window of time where I was saving clips, but that, uh, that got boring.

Matt: Yeah. Kind of like that book description.  

[17:51] 

Lauren: All right. Well, I guess two out of three ain't bad. We got Matt on two of our books. So now that we've got him on the line, we got to keep him there. So the next part that you're going to want to consider for your book description is the connection. Once you've got that reader interested, you've got them hooked in, you want to show them that you have something interesting or valuable to share with them. If it's fiction or nonfiction, it's gonna vary a little bit. 

If it's fiction, this is where you kind of start to get into the main plot of the book. Again, not giving too much away, but just kind of teasing enough to let the readers know what they're getting themselves into. I mean, obviously you could kind of assume that by now the readers have enough context clues to figure out what genre your book is - assuming that you've done your job correctly up until now - but this might be a good opportunity to let them know that this is a murder mystery and not a love story. 

Nonfiction it's a little more straightforward. This is where you're gonna tell your readers what they're gonna learn, what you'll help them with, what pain points you can solve for them. You're not gonna give them the answers to the things but you're gonna let them know what questions or problems that you'll address in the book itself. 

It's also, it's kind of - you’re not making promises yet, but you're kind of, like, you're, this is where you're laying out the deal with your readers. Like, if you choose to read this book, this is what you'll get out of it. 

This is the part out of all of them that is the most like a movie trailer, or where I think you use what you know from movie trailers. Cause there are plenty of movie trailers that you watch and you go, I just watched the whole movie. Like they just showed me every beat from the movie. I don't have to watch the movie now, I've just seen the whole thing. And then there are also movie trailers that you watch the whole two minutes of it and you go, I, I don't, I still don't know what this movie's about. And so you kind of want to find the sweet spot between those two.

Matt: I mean, how could I argue with that? As somebody who lives and dies by movie trailers for sure, because I'm, I will base whether or not I watch a movie based on the trailer alone. 

Lauren: Same. 

Matt: Even if it's a, let's say it's the fourth in a series of, of movies. And I liked the series for the most part. If the trailer looks bad or if it looks like they've jumped the shark, I won't even invest the time.

Lauren: Yeah. 

Matt: I just won't. I definitely, I'm going to agree with you there for sure. 

Lauren: Well, and that's like, I think, like there's, there's been this like recent trend in movies in the last year where movie trailers are like intentionally hiding the fact that the movie is a musical. And it's baffling to me, it is absolutely baffling to me why they keep making this choice over and over again. 

Because of all things, like, musicals are the thing that most people are not happy that they've accidentally stumbled into a musical. Like, if you, like, people that are not necessarily musical fans that are surprise in a musical now, are not going to be happy about it. It's not going to be a pleasant surprise for them. So you're more likely to get bad or critical viewer reviews after the movie experience if you hide the fact that it's a musical.  

Matt: Oh, a hundred percent. 

Lauren: I don't, I don't understand the logic behind this at all. 

Matt: I agree, but I think that goes for any genre. Like if your movie is a, a horror movie, right? But let's say it almost falls into the realm of comedy horror, but you hide the fact that it's comedy horror, and people show up expecting just a straight up old fashioned slasher film. But then there's lots of like, you know, studio laughter and things in the movie or whatever - 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Matt: Like, camera asides where somebody is making a funny face, or - I agree a hundred percent.

Lauren: Yeah. 

Matt: Like you're just setting yourself up for failure there too. So obviously the same would apply for a book. 

Lauren: Absolutely. So learn that lesson. And maybe that's why you don't want ChatGPT to write your entire description. 

Matt: No, I don't think that's a good argument for that. 

Lauren: Oh, well. 

Matt: I think that just means you need to make sure you, you read what ChatGPT gives you and adjust accordingly.

Lauren: So you're saying edit after ChatGPT writes your description? 

Matt: Oh, of course. 

Lauren: Kay, good. 

Matt: Yeah, a hundred percent. 

Lauren: I just wanted to not be the one to suggest that at some point. For once. 

Matt: Well. Yeah. 

Lauren: It's fine. Anyway, some examples of connections. This is going to be the longer part of the copy for sure. So I'm reading, the book that I'm reading right now, I'm using as an example throughout this and it's one that Matt hasn't read, so let's see if we can get him to pay attention to it. 

And it is Masters of Death by Olivie Blake and the connection, I guess, part of the description is:

Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent and a vampire, but her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the mansion has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on. 

Fox D’Mora is a medium, and though he is also most definitely a shameless fraud, he isn't entirely without his uses, seeing as he's actually the godson of Death. 

Matt: Well, first of all, let me jump in here and say, yes, it sounds like a good book, but it's also a storyline or plot that's very reminiscent of the most recent Haunted Mansion.

Lauren: Oh, you're not wrong. 

Matt: Oh I know I'm not wrong. 

Lauren: You're not wrong. 

Matt: That's all I could think about when I read this. 

Lauren: Although this does predate that movie. This book does predate that movie.

Matt: Okay. I have no idea. Cause I, again, it sounds like a good book, but yeah, all I could think of was the most recent Haunted Mansion movie.

Lauren: That's fair. You're not wrong. Also shout out to Olivie Blake. If you don't recognize that name, she is one of the biggest authors out there right now who started as a self published author and gained massive, massive commercial success, so.

Matt: It's that last half of that sentence for me - in the last sentence, seeing as he's actually the godson of Death. That's where I'd be like, okay, purchased. 

Lauren: Right. 

Matt: Where's the register? 

Lauren: Right. 

Matt: Take my money. 

Lauren: This is now setting us up for like, oh, oh, oh, oh, okay. You have my attention. Uh huh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm seeing, I'm seeing where you're going with this. It's setting up the expectations. It's got supernatural elements to it. The tone of it is funny. It's not going to be a horror novel. It's definitely like some tongue in cheek campiness going on here. There's multiple characters. We're getting set up. I'm here for this promise. 

Another alternative, if you're talking about nonfiction, like I said, This is kind of where you set the deal for what you're going to offer your readers if they go ahead and read this. I'm going to use Joe Pulizzi's Content Entrepreneur as my example. And that is just:

In this comprehensive guide for serious content creators, you'll find critical strategies to accelerate your success as you move from content creator to content entrepreneur. 

It's a really succinct way to tell me who the book is for, what they're going to get out of it, and what goals you're going to achieve by doing it or by reading it, but without actually giving any of the information away. So I have to keep reading to learn more about what I'm actually going to get out of this book. 

Matt: Yeah. I can't argue with that. No notes. 

Lauren: Okay. 

Matt: Why is my microphone level lower than yours? I think you did that on purpose. I feel like that's one of your little tactics. I'll turn his microphone level down low so when he's arguing with me people barely hear it.

Lauren: People barely hear you anyway! 

Matt: Well, I don't think that's true. 

Lauren: I definitely talk louder than you in most of the episodes. 

Matt: Well, that's, that's true. 

Lauren: I'm working on it. Sorry in advance, everybody. 

Matt: Well. 

Lauren: Or, sorry belatedly? I don't know. It's fine. Let's escalate this to the next part. 

[24:55] 

Matt: Oh, look what you did there. So we're going to look at the escalation. Very good. 

Lauren: Yes. So, most books need stakes. And I say most books because not all books. 

Matt: Do you mean the kind of stakes that you kill vampires with? 

Lauren: Some books. Yes. 

Matt: Okay. I like that. 

Lauren: Wouldn't it be really cool if you had like a stake hidden in the spine of a book? 

Matt: Then you'd be trafficking weapons across state lines and that's probably illegal.

Lauren: Not if I'm hiding it in my own books. 

Matt: Oh, you mean not every copy of your book was sold with a stake in the spine? 

Lauren: No. 

Matt: You just happen to keep your own there? 

Lauren: Yeah, yeah, I'm just like - 

Matt: Oh, well. 

Lauren: You know, keeping my home defensible from vampires. 

Matt: Yeah. 

Lauren: Which also, for the record, vampires can't get into my home anyway, because my welcome mat does not say welcome or any other form of come on in. And I have never in my life welcomed a stranger into my home. 

Matt: Well that just sounds like a sad existence. 

Lauren: So my house is already vampire proof. Does it? My welcome mat says Come Back When You Have Tacos, which I think is a very happy existence. 

Matt: I'll agree with that. 

Lauren: Okay. 

Matt: Yeah. 

Lauren: Quick change of your mind there. I like that one.

Matt: That's true. 

Lauren: But no, I do not necessarily mean the kind of stakes that you would use to kill vampires. Mostly - 

Matt: That’s unfortunate. 

Lauren: I know. But nonfiction books don't always need stakes. It depends on what kind of nonfiction book you're writing. Some of them, like obviously some kind of history, memoir, narrative of some kind that is still nonfiction, you're gonna want to raise the stakes in some way in that. But something like a how to guide, business book, something like that, you don't really need to elevate the stakes in any way. 

So if that's the case, if that's the kind of book you're writing for this third element of the book description, consider dropping in alternative selling points in there instead. So something like credentials, social proof, any kind of record of success, anything that shows why you're an expert or what unique value you can give readers that no other book on the subject written by anybody else could give them. Something like that. 

Matt: Yeah, I agree with that. 

Lauren: Okay, cool. Great. So the escalation is the part where I'm not really going to get too deep into how to do it because obviously it's going to vary from book to book. But the thing that I'm going to highlight here is that you want to highlight the conflict or the main stakes or whatever it is in here without giving it away.

The example that I'm going to use again from Masters of Death, this part of the description here is: When Viola seeks out Fox to help her with the ghost infestation, he becomes inextricably involved in a quest that neither he nor Vi expects or wants. 

So it's escalated the plot. It's told me that they cross paths, they get caught up in something, they're both kind of reluctant about it, but they get caught up in something that they cannot get out of, and that's going to be the plot of the book.

But at no point during that description did it tell me what it is that they get caught up in. And I've just gotten to that part of the book while reading it right now, and it's not really anywhere in the book description. Which I think is well done. Like, it was something that the book description in general has led me to this point of thinking like, okay, something is going to happen here. There are high stakes here. There's this, that, and the other thing here, but it never actually told me what it was. 

So I think this is a great example of a well written book description. If anyone is sold on it by the end of the episode, I'll link it in the show notes and you can let me know that you were sold on it. I haven't finished yet either. So I can't tell you if it's actually good or not. What?

Matt: How many books are you currently reading at once? 

Lauren: Oh, I only read one book at a time. 

Matt: You're currently reading this book? 

Lauren: Yes. 

Matt: Oh, okay. 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Matt: All right. 

Lauren: Why? 

Matt: Just checking, I thought earlier you had told me you were reading something else, and then you just said you're only halfway through this one, and I was like, wait a second, how many books do you read at once?

Lauren: Oh, no, I absolutely - I have a lot of friends that will bounce back and forth between books. 

Matt: I know people that do that too. 

Lauren: I can't do it. 

Matt: It drives me insane. 

Lauren: I genuinely can't do it. 

Matt: I can't even have something on in the background when I'm reading. 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Matt: No TV, no music. My kids will have their headphones in listening to whatever God awful music they listen to and reading a book or doing homework or studying. And I'm just like, I don't understand how either of those are getting effectively into your brain with any sort of retention, but it seems to work. I just can't do it. 

Lauren: I will listen to music that doesn't have lyrics mostly because I can't sit in silence. 

Matt: Oh, yeah. 

Lauren: But yeah, no, I can't, I don't, I don't know how people remember what happens. Like, I would wind up blending the books together if I tried to read more than one book at a time. 

Matt: Yeah, I don't know. I just, it feels like watching two movies at once to me or something like that. Like, yeah, like - 

Lauren: I mean, yeah. 

Matt: Why not just finish one and then go to the next?

Lauren: I also don't know how you can watch two TV shows at the same time. 

Matt: Right. I have on occasion. I've been reading a fiction book and also skimming a nonfiction book like for work or, you know - 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Matt: Just trying to understand whatever, right? Like that's a little bit different, but I definitely have known people too who read two or three fiction books at a time that are not in the same series. They're just completely and wildly different and it just doesn't, I don't understand that. 

Lauren: No, I don't either. 

Matt: Maybe the book descriptions were so good that they just had to start those books immediately. 

Lauren: Maybe they were. 

Matt: Hmm. Okay. 

[29:55]

Lauren: Well, this last part is going to be the part that sells you on whether or not.

Matt: That's how you got me into the studio today to begin with. 

Lauren: Oh, I know. 

Matt: You baited me. 

Lauren: I sure did. So the last part of your book description is going to be the bait. 

Matt: Dun, dun, dun. 

Lauren: It's going to be where you wrap up the description with a tease or something that hints at what else is in store for the readers if they read your book and or what you promise to deliver if they do read your book.

For fiction, if you have elements that are not directly related to the hook, the main plot, or the main stakes, but are things that you want to entice readers with, as a promise of more in the book. So, continuing the example, this is the last little bit of Masters of Death: 

With the help of an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp voiced angel, a love stricken reaper, and a few mindfulness-practicing creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn't nearly as distinct as they thought.

There's a whole lot going on in there. 

Matt: Yeah. I - 

Lauren: And it's mostly just a promise for more. It's really all it is, because I don't know what any of those things mean out of context. But it's telling me all of these other elements are going to be in this book. 

Matt: Yeah. 

Lauren: So.

Matt: Interesting.

Lauren: Yeah. 

Matt: Yeah. 

Lauren: We'll see how it goes. 

Matt: I don't hate it.

Lauren: I'll let you know at the end if it's worth reading or not. 

Matt: Actually, yeah, you should. I might actually read it. 

Lauren: Yeah, it's pretty fun. But it's also a good place to pose a rhetorical question, which is what Grady Hendrix’ publisher did with My Best Friend's Exorcism, to bring that one back. The end of that book description is: 

By the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil? 

You know, typical high school questions that all teenage girls must answer at some point or another. Again, great book. 

Matt: It is a great book. Yes. 

Lauren: But it is, if that's the kind of question that you, if you were reading this book description and you got to that and you said ‘I don't know, is it?’ it's only one way to answer that question. 

Matt: Yeah, I think it's a compelling question and I think it does add to the, the intensity of that book description. Yeah, I agree. 

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: I like it.

Lauren: Yeah, me too. For nonfiction. Obviously, you're not gonna have quite the same kind of impact with that. So for nonfiction, you're probably going to want to reiterate your earlier promise of what you can teach readers or what you can help readers do, maybe tease more things they can get out of your book, or just kind of wrap up your description with a little bit of a summary impact statement. 

I pulled up Ann Handley's Everybody Writes: In this new edition of Everybody Writes, you'll find the strategies, techniques, tips, and tools you'll need to refine, upgrade, and most of all, inspire your own best content marketing.

Generally summary of what you're gonna find in the book, what's the, what the book is gonna do for you, and why you should read it. It works. It tells what you need to know. 

And then the, the last one, which I have not read, sorry, Brené Brown's Dare to Lead: 

Whether you've read Daring Greatly and Rising Strong, or you're new to Brené Brown's work, this book is for anyone who wants to step up and into brave leadership.

Closing statement promising what you're going to get out of the book, enticing you to read it. 

Matt: Yeah. 

Lauren: That's your bait. 

Matt: I like her books. I have read Daring Greatly and I did skim through Dare to Lead, but I will say that sentence, that description leaves me a little bit sort of just like, eh, okay. 

Lauren: Fair enough. 

Matt: I would have ChatGPT'd that one.

Lauren: Well, ChatGPT it and see what you can do better. 

Matt: I will. I'll send it to her. I mean, she hasn't opened any of my other emails, so I'm not sure why she would open this one. But - I'm just kidding. I've never emailed her. 

Lauren: I, you genuinely could say that you did and I'd be, and I would believe it. So I never know with you. 

Matt: That's a good thing. 

Lauren: That's true. 

Matt: Keep you on your toes. 

Lauren: That's true. 

[33:43]

Lauren: One other thing that I wanted to talk about for this episode because we've referenced plenty of times about the importance of an elevator pitch and having an elevator pitch for your book, which is not a book description. So I like I want to be clear that those are two distinct things. Although when you're working on writing your book description, that's probably the best time to also work on writing your elevator pitch, because you'll want to use some of the elements from your book description for your elevator pitch, you know?

You're kind of gonna want to think about it as like the elevator pitch is maybe the, the intro to your book description. I mean, if people are like at a bookstore where you're not there or online They're browsing and they see your book the thing that's gonna catch their eye first is the cover. Your elevator pitch is what you're gonna do when you're talking to somebody in person.

Matt: Right, like we talked about, if you're at an event and you're at your author table, and you're going to have lots of people coming up to your table, you don't want to spout a three paragraph description of your book every time somebody says, oh, what's your book about?

Lauren: Yeah. You don't want to, and neither do the people talking to you at the table. 

Matt: Exactly. Yeah. 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Matt: That's, so - an elevator pitch is extremely convenient. 

Lauren: Yes. So we're talking like one to two sentences, thirty seconds max. And it's basically going to be, your goal with the elevator pitch - ideally, your goal with the elevator pitch is that they're going to go sold, no further questions, hand me a copy of the book right now, I'm going to hand you some money, and we're going to walk away.

But at the very least, if that's not your goal, then your secondary goal is for them to at least then pick up the book and read the book description. So this is kind of your in into the book description. You're going to want to set  the book description with your elevator pitch. 

Matt: Yeah, an elevator pitch is just like what we talked about earlier, the Grady Hendrix one is basically: this book is an unholy hybrid of Beaches and The Exorcist, and it blends teen angst and unspeakable horrors into a pulse pounding supernatural thriller. 

Lauren: Yeah. 

Matt: That's an elevator pitch. 

Lauren: Absolutely. 

Matt: Going into actual names of characters and certain plot elements or things like that, that is not an elevator pitch. 

Lauren: Right. You don't need that stuff. You don't need that. I literally, this was one of the examples that ChatGPT gave me that I rejected. The first sentence of the five - which is already too long for an elevator pitch - was: a tenacious journalist named Lucy stumbles on a secret society. I don't need to know that her name is Lucy. It's irrelevant. 

Matt: Fair. 

Lauren: And while you're not really saving that much space by just saying a tenacious journalist stumbles on a secret society, it's one less detail for people to have to remember and for people to get caught up on and hung up on and not think about the rest of the pitch that you're giving them.

Matt: Yeah. 

Lauren: Cut out the details that don't matter. Things like character names and really specific plot points and stuff like that. And focus on the actual details that do matter. In that case, a journalist stumbles on a secret society. Go on. Tell me more. What happens? 

Matt: Just pray that Lauren walks up to your table anytime you've got one somewhere.

Lauren: That's true. I mean, I love learning about - no, okay. We don't have time for this. Okay, obviously this is gonna be different for fiction and nonfiction. For nonfiction pitches, focus on who your book is for and what problems you're gonna solve for those readers. You don't necessarily have to focus on how you're gonna solve those problems, that's a given and or the answer is in the book. So who it's for and what you can do for them. 

And just to reiterate, like I said, you can use the details from your book description. So like if you've already kind of identified this is my hook, like Matt used the Grady Hendrix example, that was great. If you've already got a really good hook in your book description, just use that as your elevator pitch.

But you can also use elements that didn't make it into your book description if you have something that you want to include. So maybe, you know, think about what it was that made you want to write the book in the first place. If there was some kind of hypothetical question that you were answering, or some kind of very real question that you said, I don't know… nobody has written a book on this in my specific niche. How can I dive deeper into this? 

And you did a bunch of research and you found the answer, and now you want to share that answer with other people. That's a good reason for people to want to read your book. No one has ever done this book before, and so I did.

Matt: Yeah, I'd say it's one of the most compelling reasons to read a book. It's hard these days to be able to say that you wrote a book that nobody else has written. 

Lauren: Another element that you can consider including in your elevator pitch that might not be part of your book description in general is if your book has a tagline. If it's nonfiction and your book has a subtitle, that could be something hopefully useful that you can use in your elevator pitch. If it's fiction and you have a tagline, a lot of publishers, you'll see it on the front cover of a book on the top, or maybe on the back cover above the actual copy of the book description.

If you're looking at a traditionally published book for some examples - which I recommend you do. Go pull your ten favorite books. And check out the cover copy on all of them. Or the list of comp titles that you've put together for your book. Look at all of them and look at the cover copy and book descriptions and all that for them. 

But if your book has a tagline if you have something - the example from Masters of Death has a tagline on the back cover: There is a game that the Immortals play. There is only one rule: don't lose. 

There is nowhere in the rest of that book description that talks about a game that immortals play, but it's a pretty big part of the plot. So the fact that that's included in the tagline is a detail that is not in the book description, but it tells me, it gives me a little bit more information about the book itself. So, if that's something that you wanted to include in the elevator pitch, that's a good way to get that detail in there that you're not pulling from the book description. 

Matt: Yeah. 

Lauren: And then people go, oh, okay, cool. Tell me more. 

Matt: I like that. 

Lauren: Yeah. Again, gonna say it again and again and again and again, an elevator pitch is really important for you. I would potentially argue that it's more important than a book description. 

Matt: I would too. 

Lauren: Great. So we should redo this entire episode. 

Matt: No, that just goes along with what I said at the beginning of the episode. 

Lauren: I know. 

Matt: I don't think, you know, there are other facets of your book and the construction of your book and that you'll use for the marketing and sales of your book that I just think are a little more important than a book description.

But I do agree that especially after talking through a lot of this, that a book description, crafting a really well written book description, can serve as the foundation or basis for a lot of your marketing and sales material. Like, you know, again, your elevator pitch, taglines, things you're going to use for social media where you only need a sentence, you know, you don't want to be too wordy, things like that. So yeah. 

[40:01]

Lauren: Yeah. I didn’t totally convince you, but I didn't completely lose you either. So I will take that as a draw. 

Matt: Yeah. You got me a little closer to your point of view, for sure. 

Lauren: All right. I'll take it. But more importantly, I hope I convinced the listeners that a book description is something important that they need to consider. Do not sleep on your book description. I think it's really important for your book, whether or not Matt agrees with me, it's good to have a well written one. 

It might not be the thing that sells your book, but it has definitely been the thing that made me put a book down and not buy it, so. Keep that in mind as you're crafting your book description, and also as you're crafting your book cover design, because that's an important element of your book's cover design. 

If you have any questions about book descriptions, if you have any questions about - I'm so serious, literally email me your book description and I will read it and workshop it with you. I love this kind of stuff. I've done this at conferences with when we, when Lulu has been at events and conferences before I've like helped people write elevator pitches of their book. 

Because it's always something that when they come up to the table and they talk about like, how can Lulu help me self publish? And we'll say like, oh, what's your book about? And then they launch into a five paragraph essay. And I'm like, okay, T for time. 

Matt: So when you disappear an event now for periods of time, we know where you're going? 

Lauren: Yes. 

Matt: You're off workshopping book descriptions with authors. 

Lauren: It's definitely me off workshopping book descriptions and not going on a hunt to find a Monster.

Matt: There's some authors out there that owe me some money. 

Lauren: Well, they can just give me an acknowledgments in the book and we'll call it even. 

Matt: Yeah, hopefully they sold more copies. 

Lauren: Yeah, I would take that as a win. Well, I'm going to go overall and say this episode was a success. Thanks everybody for joining me on this journey to convince Matt that book descriptions are somewhat valuable, at least.

And if you want to talk more about book descriptions, if you want to talk about anything but book descriptions, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, ideas for future episodes - reminder that we are still taking questions for a mailbag / ask us anything episode. So if you have anything you want to hear us talk about in an episode, go ahead and email us at podcast@lulu.com. 

Keep an eye out on Lulu social. You can always drop comments there. And keep an eye out on YouTube because coming pretty soon, we're going to start recording these on video. So you can watch me cough directly into a microphone and I can't edit it out. It'll be great. Can't wait. And until then, thanks for listening.