6.2 Amazon description
Once you open this file, you get to…
Start playing with how you’re going to talk about your book once it’s finished.
Collect phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. Toss into this file anything you think might help with your marketing materials. Don’t let anything get away.
Early in your writing process, trying typing out a description of your book for when you put it up on Amazon.
And in the spirit of play, you could type one up before you even start writing. Sometimes there’s something magical about writing the description when you’re still inside your initial impulse for the book.
There can be a fresh energy to this description that you might want to touch back to on days when you feel like you’ve gotten lost in your writing.
Most Amazon book descriptions are written third–person. But try one first–person to see what that does for you.
And when you’re in the mood, play with the length. Write a description that’s three times as long as the typical one. Then cut it in half, and then in half again.
Then cut it to a single sentence.
Every time I’ve done this, happy surprises popped out at me.
And on a day when you feel like writing has turned into a slog, try this. Open your description file and write a paragraph about your book that’s goofy. Or tangential. Or rebellious. Or sacrilegious. Or super formal. Or street. Or razzle–dazzle. Or intimate. Treat yourself to playtime.
Maybe even write out what you’re saying to yourself about why you love your book that you’d never say to another living soul.
Over time, you might find that all your different experiments are converging into a description that is both true to your book and makes your heart sing.
At the very least when it comes time to write your marketing materials, you’re going to have a whole lot to work with.
Or rather, play with.
