There are so many examples of how book descriptions lead to huge changes in sales. One of my favorite stories is for JT McCormick’s book, I Got There. Despite having a nice cover and receiving good reviews, it wasn’t selling as many copies as it should have. So we dove into the book description, figured out the flaws, and completely revamped it. Sales doubled—within an hour. This isn’t uncommon. In many cases, the description is the factor that solidifies in the reader’s mind whether the book is for them or not. If you get it right, the purchase is almost automatic. If you get it wrong, very little else can really save you (except a recommen- dation from the right source). Remember, people are looking for a reason to not buy your book, so having a good book description is key to keeping them on the purchasing track. HOW TO WRITE YOUR BOOK DESCRIPTION At Scribe, our copywriters use the Hook, Pain, Pleasure, Legitimacy, Open Loop format, which is very similar to how we write introductions. 1. HOOK The first sentence should be something that will grab your desired reader and make them take notice. If that isn’t right—or worse, if it’s wrong—you can lose the reader immediately, and then it doesn’t matter what the rest of the description says. People are always looking for a reason to move on to the next thing. Don’t give it to them. Make the first sentence something that forces them to read the rest of the description. Every good book descrip- tion you see is interesting from the first sentence. 242 · ThE SCriBE METhOD