Soapbox
“When you create copy for a brochure or back cover... the final sentence is made as intriguing as possible, to
leave a lasting impression. Yet on Amazon, that all-important final sentence will probably not be read.”
The 130 Most Important Words
An author stresses the value of book descriptions on Amazon
By Maggie Anton
as possible, to leave a last-
ing impression. Yet on
Amazon, that all-impor-
tant final sentence will
probably not be read.
Pleased at recognizing
this, I figured I could simply count the words on a
few Amazon descriptions
to determine how long
mine should be. But they
were all different, ranging
from 119 to 145 words. I
checked character count too, only to find
that it varied even more.
Clearly Amazon utilized some undecipherable method of deciding where to
cut off a description. So I examined a
larger sample to determine the average
word count, which came out to 130. For
safety’s sake, I decided I would craft my
description slightly shorter.
So I needed to create a new description
that packed its biggest punch in the first
120 words, whose next few sentences
were interesting as well, and was long
enough to fill the allotted space on my
Web page. Plus, I had to do it ASAP,
before too many people saw the old one.
After spending an entire day writing
what I believed was a decent substitute,
I sent it off to my agent, publicist, freelance editor, and webmistress. They
provided criticism and suggestions, and
so I rewrote. This process was repeated
several times before I had 176 polished
words to send to my editor at Plume,
who displayed her editing chops by
improving it yet again.
Here’s what we ended up with: “Fantas-
tic tales of demons and the Evil Eye, mag-
ical incantations, and powerful attractions
abound in Enchantress, a novel that weaves
together Talmudic lore,
ancient Jewish magic, and a
timeless love story set in
fourth-century Babylonia.”
(On Amazon, the previous
paragraph is in bold.)
“One of the most power-
ful practitioners of these
mysterious arts is Rav His-
da’s daughter, whose innate
awareness allows her to pos-
sess the arcane skills men
lack. With her husband,
Rava—whose knowledge of the secret
Torah enables him to create a ‘man’ out
of earth and to resurrect another rabbi
from death—the two brave an evil sor-
ceress, Ashmedai the Demon King, and
even the Angel of Death, in their quest
to safeguard their people, even while
putting their romance at risk.”
The text above is 117 words long, so
the next two lines might appear on the
product page, depending on the browser:
“The author of the acclaimed Rashi’s
Daughters series and the award-winning
Rav Hisda’s Daughter: Apprentice has con-
jured literary magic in the land where
abracadabra originated. Based on five
years of research and populated with
characters from the Talmud, Enchantress
brings a pivotal era of Jewish and Chris-
tian history to life from the perspective
of a courageous and passionate woman.”
I sighed with relief, until I realized I
still needed to fix the Amazon descrip-
tions of my previous five novels. ■
The most important words are not your book’s opening lines. They are not found inside the book at
all. They are your book’s description on
Amazon.
As an author of six published histori-
cal novels, I’m embarrassed to admit
that I only just discovered this critical
information. In the lead-up to the release
of my latest, Enchantress: A Novel of Rav
Hisda’s Daughter (Plume, Sept. 2014),
my webmistress sent me a link to an
updated version of my site, and I was
appalled to find a strange and inaccurate
description of my novel there. When I
asked—demanded, actually—where
this synopsis came from, she said, “ I got
it off Amazon.”
To my astonishment and horror, there
it was on my book’s preorder page. It was
a description I’d written and sent to
my editor a year earlier, but the story
had changed significantly by the time I’d
finished it. This was a calamity!
These days, not only do potential
online buyers check Amazon, but those
who frequent bricks-and-mortar bookstores do, too. Worse, Goodreads displays Amazon’s descriptions, and many
online library catalogues use Goodreads.
When I pointed this out to my editor
at Plume, she asked me to craft a new one
as soon as possible. But instead of opening Word, I went back to Amazon. I’d
noticed that not all of my current description appeared on the screen. Rather, it
ended abruptly with the phrase, “Click
here to read more.” It was the same for
other books.
When you create copy for a brochure
or back cover, you assume that every
word will be visible. With that in mind,
the final sentence is made as intriguing
Maggie Anton is a Talmud scholar, with expertise in Jewish women’s history, and the award-winning author of Enchantress: A Novel of
Rav Hisda’s Daughter and the Rashi’s Daughters series, published by Plume Books. She lives in
Los Angeles.
