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How to Write Great Back Cover Copy
Sell your words with your words
You have one paragraph to sell your book. It’s by far the most crucial paragraph, and it’s not even part of your story.
Imagine a potential reader walking through the bookstore, browsing for something good to read. They pick up your book because you got the cover right, but after reading the description on the back cover, they place it back on the shelf and continue browsing. Potential reader lost.
One paragraph to sell them all.
No other paragraph is as important as your back cover copy, yet so few writers put any thought into it. Some even pay copywriters, who’ve never read the book, to write persuasive text to try and net sales. If you want to get someone to look at it — someone good at selling things — that’s fine, encouraged even, but you need to write the core of it yourself. Here’s how.
Tease the reader
Like any good sales pitch, your back cover copy should leave a potential reader wanting more. That’s the whole point of it.
Think of your book’s description as the trailer of a movie. You want to tell your potential reader what the story is about (without giving too much away) while enticing them with a little wow factor.
