This chapter must have come sooner and labelled as Don't no 3, but I have no idea how I forgot it. Anyhow here it is now as the 13th don't of writing fanfiction.

After the title and the cover, the most important aspect of your book is the description. The book description goes on the back cover for paperbacks and is included right below your cover and the Read icon at Wattpad. It's crucial that this short paragraph be right.

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, readers are more likely to add your book in libraries and read it. If you get it wrong, nothing else can really save you (except a recommendation from the right source).

Have you ever been in a perfume outlet or a cosmetic store? These shops have testers for their products so that the customer may apply the tester and easily judge whether they want to purchase the item or not. Similarly, your book description is that tester.

Also, these testers are a marketing trick. If the outlet lets the customer use testers of their products, they feel that the outlet cares for them and wants them to be satisfied with the results given by the product before aimlessly throwing money at it.

For books, if the book description is good the readers feels the need to read the book. That is why it is always important to include descriptions. People are more likely to check those books out which have a sufficient description rather than the ones which have nothing at all.

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Below I'm including two descriptions of the same book, Sweet Vengeance by Angelily2015. You can yourself decide which description you like best but I'll also state the dos and the don'ts from these descriptions.

Description 1 (Don't):

In a hopeless world where evil is at peak and the innocent have seldom places to hide, a target killer is on the loose. You must not be fooled by his looks for he may appear to be a gentleman, a banker, a businessman or all in all a civil member of the society but in reality he is neither. He is a killer... And a deadly one at that.

Description 2 (Do):

If revenge truly is sweet, Lysander should have been at peace by now. But unfortunately that isn't the case.

No matter what happens, somehow or other karma finds a way to get back at those who did wrong to the innocent. But when the innocent try to outsmart it, by delving deep in the quicksands of revenge, the consequences are even worse.

Unknown to Lysander Smith, his karma is also waiting. Waiting like a clever predator seeking the right time to hunt. A bitter grudge, carefully hidden and nurtured, is about to erupt.

And there is no escape from karma's dirty work.

In the first description, you can see that there are no questions, no hook and the description itself is very vague. The only thing you can understand about the story is that it is based on a smart and unpredictable killer. Nothing less, nothing more. 

The second one is contrary. No only do you get to know the main character but also get an idea that the theme of this story is revenge and it has an essence of mystery to it There are a few questions hidden in the description to such as:

Who is Lysander? What was his revenge? Why did he take revenge and on whom? Why isn't he at peace? What is meant by the karma which is waiting for him? Which grudge is the author talking about?

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Why Is A Description Important:

1. It gives your reader an insight into the story.

2.He/she can analyse your writing skills from the description.

3. If the description is intriguing, the reader will immediately get your book.

4. It helps readers to decide whether they want to read a book of this genre and subject or not.

5. It works quite similar to the makeup testers. Readers feel that the author wants them to have a look at their work and if they like your tester they will buy the real deal almost immediately. And will also be confident that they are in the right hands.

The Three Basic Guidelines For Your Book Description:

Word Count: On average, Amazon Bestsellers have descriptions that are about 150-250 words long. Most descriptions are broken up into two paragraphs, but some are kept at one, and some run to three.

Simple Writing: Keep the writing simple. Use short, clear sentences. You don't want anyone to struggle to comprehend what you're trying to convey because you've strung too many ideas together in one long run-on sentence.

Write As The Publisher, Not The Author: This will probably be obvious to you, but the book description should always be in a third person objective voice, and never your author voice.

What You Should Always Do While Writing Descriptions:

1. Make an effort:

You have to make an effort while writing your book's description. Make sure you have a basic outline of your plot, or in my case just let it flow through your pen but even then you must have an outlook on your characters.

2. ‎Don't make it too short:

It depends on you but personally I prefer reading stories with a clear and moderate length story description. Readers deserve to be given a fair chance at deciding whether they want to read the story or not. And that can be done through a good and moderate length description.

3. ‎Explain but don't give away everything:

Now that we've covered the length of description, it is also important not to give everything away in it. Remember that the book description is not its summary, it is a kind of teaser trailer of the book which encourages readers to read it.

4. ‎Leave a few questions:

A description isn't complete until it furnishes a few good questions. A reader won't read your story until he/she's sure that it gives him/her a good question for which the answer is to be pursued.

5. ‎Pay attention to the back story:

The back story of your characters must be sorted out before you write the description. The back story always has an impact on your description. Are you writing about someone who is coping with the after effects of some trauma like the wizarding war? Are you writing about an orphan who suffered abuse at his foster house? Keep this things clear in your mind before drafting a description.

6. ‎Include tiny chunks from before the beginning of your story:

And here is why I mentioned the previous point. Before starting the story you can give a view in what happened before the story started like a prologue and it can be included in the description.

7. ‎Establish a clear sense on the main characters:

If possible, insert your main character in the description. Readers usually form close bonding with the person they are introduced to at the beginning. And as you want your main character to be that person, insert him/her in the first view your reader is going to have of your book.

8. ‎Try to avoid purple prose:

Too many flowery words and elaborate phrases should be avoided in a description. You want your reader to read your book instead of finding a dictionary to understand the description. Many readers won't pay any heed to all the difficult words they see and they will just click out of your book assuming that it will be extremely difficult and painstaking to read. Make your words compelling but not unnecessarily descriptive.

9. ‎Draft out your descriptions at least thrice before finalizing:

The first description you come up with is not always the final product. Drafting is very important when it comes to writing. Write out the description on a piece of paper then leave it. Read it after a while like probably a few hours or a day and then highlight the things you want to keep in the description and things you want to erase or add in it. Do this twice or thrice. I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results.

10. ‎Leave a hook at the end:

The description won't get you anywhere if it doesn't hook readers in to your story. You can leave a question at the end or just a hook like:

Will Oliver and Samara manage to make it through or will the war tear everything apart?

Or

Lysander Smith better watch out. Because if karma is a bitch and revenge is sweet, he's about to face the sweetest bitch he'll ever meet. 

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For more help before writing the perfect description, read the description of the bestselling books of your genre. Note the way they are written and the style the words flow into. Different genres have their specific styles of descriptions. And you can get the hang of it by looking at other examples from your genre.

And that's all for today.

See you soon with the next update.