Everything Wrong With HARRY POTTER Fanfictions

DON'T NO 13: Little To No Description

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?