Book Marketing Copy 101

Nobody can buy something they don’t know about, which means writers following all paths to publication need to know how to hook attention and convince an audience. However, drafting marketing copy is a different skill than other writing.

Before we get into the details for writing digital marketing copy, let’s first understand how it differs from longform or prose work.

Marketing copy generally needs to be short and snappy, with a clear value proposition. The specific goal will depend on where in their purchase journey the buyer is, but generally it’s to drive awareness of your offering and show how it aligns with a need.

The buyer’s journey is important to keep in mind. Even if no money is exchanged, you’re asking for trust and an investment of time from your reader. Their willingness to make an exchange may depend on what stage of the journey they’re at.

The process is often messier than this, but it helps to keep in mind that if you’re not on a reader’s “instabuy” list, you’ll need to help them decide that you should be!

For marketing copy, we want to keep reading level on the lower end. This will usually be around Grade 8 or even lower, although you may find it creeping higher for more complex topics or more advanced vocabulary. A tool like the Hemingway App can help you figure out what the reading level of your piece is and why it was rated that way.

Copy written at a higher reading level requires more cognitive resources to process—and that can impact how quickly someone can decide to buy from you (or even turn them off completely).

Books or articles are in a contained space, both physically and mentally. They live within an e-reader, audiobook app, or a physical copy, and the reader has made a decision to set aside time and attention to consume that product.

Marketing can be encountered anywhere someone goes online (or off, if you decide to make print or other offline marketing materials). The audience may not have made a conscious decision, or even had a choice, about engaging with it.

So how do we write something that hooks them?

Before you can sell a thing, you need to have a clear understanding of what it is you’re selling. It may help to draft this first, and then adjust it to the length needed for other places.

Think about the information that underpins many narratives, whether fiction or nonfiction:

Including some tension can help drive a feeling of needing to know what happens next.

There’s no need to give away everything or over-explain. Hit the highlights and focus on what readers need to understand to feel confident in a purchase.

This copy goes on a retailer website or on the book’s page on your author website. The goal here is to help readers understand why your book is the right one for them and confirm their decision to buy—without using a potentially off-putting hard sell.

While you can include your back cover blurb, think about what other information might be interesting or helpful to a prospective reader, such as:

Keep it focused on the most relevant and important information for your reader.

[10 Things a Publishing Copywriter Discovered About Book Blurbs]

Writing for the web includes pages on your website as well as blog posts.

While it might be tempting to write for the search engine algorithm, remember that a human will be reading your site and book information. Use natural language rather than trying to stuff keywords, and stay consistent in tone and style.

When drafting web copy, stay focused on the goal of the page. Some goals include providing information, assisting with navigating elsewhere, supporting a transaction, or gathering sign-ups. Unfocused pages that try to do too much run the risk of confusing or distracting visitors. Think of the one thing someone should do as a result of reading a page or blog post, and keep your writing and calls to action tightly focused on that.

Also consider the use of white space, headings, bullets, and other structural formatting to aid in comprehension. Walls of text and overly long or complex sentences may reduce comprehension, so avoid those as much as possible. Additionally, headings should be used to help organize information—not for style or design!

Remember that some site visitors will be using assistive devices. Familiarizing yourself with the accessibility standards at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) can help make your website more accessible to more readers.

This can be the most intrusive or disruptive marketing copy, so getting it right means ensuring it’s one or more of informative, entertaining, educational, or inspiring while keeping it tightly focused.

Social media tends to be an awareness channel—an opportunity for people to passively discover new things based on what’s shared into their timelines.

When drafting copy for social media, remember your audience and your purpose for being on a given platform. If all you post about is how hard writing is, sure, you may connect with other writers. But if you’re trying to reach potential readers, the focus needs to be on them. What would readers find interesting about you or your work? Build authentic relationships, so when it’s time to promote your book, it feels more like an invitation and less like a hard sell.

The key thing to remember is that people aren’t on social media to be sold to, regardless of how many ads now clutter these spaces. They’re there to connect with others who share their interests, get news, share funny videos, or learn something. So, a word to the wise: avoid spammy “buy my book” posts.

Finally, try to tailor your social content to each platform rather than using the same copy on every platform you’re on.

This can be the most challenging copy to write, because it generally needs to be the shortest and snappiest. There’s no need to cover every step of the buyer’s journey in a single ad—you just need to move them to the next step.

Good digital ad copy sets an accurate expectation for the landing page. The call to action (often a button) should also match what the person clicking is expected to do: “Get My E-book” is more descriptive and compelling than, “Click Here.”

Lastly, always keep it truthful. There are laws against deceptive advertising, and tricking people into buying your book isn’t a good way to retain readers!

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Remember, the goal of marketing copy is to quickly hook a prospective reader who may only be glancing at your marketing for a few seconds or while doing something else. Putting the reader’s informational needs first is key—as is keeping your copy tight and your goals focused.