Amazon Book Description Formatter

How to format a book description for Amazon KDP

Amazon lets you style your book description with a small set of HTML tags. You get bold, italics, underline, three sizes of heading, paragraphs, line breaks, and bulleted or numbered lists. That’s it. Headings h1 to h3 aren’t allowed, and links, images, colors and fonts get stripped or rejected. This formatter only ever writes the tags on that list, so what you copy is what Amazon shows.

The limit is 4,000 characters, and KDP counts the HTML tags too. A <b> and its closing tag cost you seven characters before you’ve written a word. That’s why the counter shows two numbers. The first is what KDP counts. The second is what readers actually see. We warn you at 3,600 so you have room to tweak.

A book blurb structure that sells

Most blurbs that work follow the same shape. They open with a hook, show what’s at stake, tell readers what kind of book this is, and end by asking them to read. You don’t need all four in every blurb. But if yours feels flat, one of these is usually missing.

• The hook. One or two lines that make someone lean in. Put it first, in bold or as a heading, because Amazon may hide the rest behind Read more.
• The stakes. Who is your main character, what do they want, and what happens if they fail? Two or three short paragraphs. Stop before the twist.
• The comps and promise. Tell readers what they’re getting. A short bulleted list of tropes or a “perfect for fans of” line works well. Keep comps to one line so it doesn’t read like keyword stuffing.
• The call to read. A last bold line like “Start reading today” gives people a nudge toward the buy button.

Amazon book description formatting dos and don’ts

Good formatting makes a blurb easy to skim on a phone. Too much makes it look like an ad. Here’s what tends to work.

• Do keep paragraphs short. Two to four lines on a phone is plenty.
• Do bold the hook and the last line. Bold everything and nothing stands out.
• Do use italics for book titles and inner thoughts, the same as in your book.
• Don’t add links, email addresses, prices or emoji. Amazon doesn’t allow them, and the tool flags them.
• Don’t paste review quotes here. Amazon asks you to put those in Editorial Reviews in Author Central instead.
• Don’t rely on extra spaces or blank lines. Amazon ignores them. Use paragraphs and line breaks.

Why your KDP description HTML looks wrong

Text pasted from Word or Google Docs brings along hidden styles, fonts and empty tags. Google Docs even wraps the whole thing in a bold tag that isn’t really bold. KDP may keep some of that and drop the rest, so your blurb ends up with odd spacing or stray formatting. Paste into this editor first. It keeps your bold, italics and lists, throws away the rest, and removes empty tags and doubled-up formatting. If you already have a messy listing, use Import existing HTML to clean it.

Seeing raw tags like <b> on your Amazon page means the HTML went into the normal view of KDP’s editor. Open the description box again, click Source, and paste the HTML there. Or use Copy formatted and paste into the normal view.

Use the same blurb on your book page

Your description is the hardest-working copy you’ll write, so use it everywhere. Copy the plain text for Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble and your newsletter. On your own author website, it belongs on the book’s page, right next to the cover and buy links. With AuthorPage, your site lives at authorpage.me/yourname and every book gets its own page. Paste your blurb once and it’s there for readers who find you on Google, not just on Amazon.