Taming Amazon discussion

Amazon has recently made changes that prohibit you from using HTML from Author Central to edit your description. So, even though it propagates a lot faster than using the KDP dashboard, I don’t suggest using Author Central. Once you’ve edited your description using Author Central, all future changes will have to be made there.

Using the KDP dashboard, Amazon allows you to use certain HTML tags to format your description. Here are some examples:
<h1> <h2> <h3> Up to h6
Be sure to close the tags:
</h1> </h2> </h3>

Goodreads doesn't allow use of these tags so I can't show an example of how it would look, but these “heading” tags are what gives you the familiar “Amazon Orange” text. Here's an example of the code:
<h1>Example Heading Text</h1>

Some of the other tags allowed are:
<b>Bold</b>
<i>Italics</i>
<u>Underline</u>
<br>
Line break

Here is a link to a KDP help page listing the allowed tags.
https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A...

Are you using HTML to format your book’s description on Amazon?
I think it helps to make your description stand out. If anyone needs help with adding the formatting to their description, I'd love to help you with that. Just let me know!

Thanks and good luck!
Jim

I always used the Author Central feature to synchronize my descriptions, which look pretty good, I think.

What is the Amazon Orange text? The labels they put there themselves? Like Book Description?

Thanks Jim,

I noticed some books have review excerpts by the description. I know how to do this for B&N/Nook, but I can't figure out how to do it for Amazon. Any thoughts?

Hi Martyn,
Here is an example of the Amazon Orange heading tag and list tags in the description.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HUZNRXA

Jim

E.G., you can add editorial reviews from the Author Central dashboard. When you've signed in to AC and claimed your books, you'll see an "Editorial Reviews" tab.
Let me know if you need more information.
Jim

Jim wrote: "Hi Martyn,
Here is an example of the Amazon Orange heading tag and list tags in the description.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HUZNRXA

Jim"

Clear, Jim. I wonder how I could use that for my books... Maybe make the tagline Amazon Orange?

If you've used Author Central to edit your description, you won't be able to use HTML. Maybe you could try it on your next book.

I found that on Author Central, when I edit my descriptions, I can chose to 'edit HTML'. And I have copied HTML into my book description there.

Jim, this is great.

EVERYONE should use use these HTML formatting options, and iterate on the appearance and formatting of the text until it is absolutely perfect. Careful authoring and formatting of your description is crucial for making the best impression and increasing your sales.

Thanks for the tips on the process.

Thanks Bob, I'm surprised that more people don't use this feature. I've looked at several books and the large majority of them use very little, if any, formatting. I think it really makes your description stand out.

Jim, I discovered Amazon's html policy about two weeks ago and have given the descriptions of all of my books a makeover. The difference is huge. I actually took a before and after screenshot of one of my book's Amazon pages and posted it on my blog if anyone is interested in seeing what a difference html tags can make to the look of a books description. The images are a little squished in the frame of the blog, but you can click to blow them up. I hope this help other authors see what they can do with their descriptions: http://shywriter.com/fun-with-html/

Looks great, J. Thanks for sharing.

Jim wrote: "Hi Martyn,
Here is an example of the Amazon Orange heading tag and list tags in the description.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HUZNRXA

Jim"

Jim, if you remove the book description from Author Central and upload your book again, using the 'book description window in your upload, would that change the text? And will Amazon always make the text orange if you use the heading?

Edit: I have contacted KDP, asking them if it's possible to change my elevator pitches to Amazon Orange.

Let's see what they have to say...

Interesting idea, let us know what happens.

My fourth book, Regulated for Murder, will have a 99-cent promo next weekend. The book has been out a couple years. I'd like to add Amazon Orange in the book description.

Can I alter the description via the KDP desktop and use HTML to spruce up the appearance of the description? Author Central has a tab for using HTML; has anyone tried doing that?

How about CreateSpace? Can Amazon Orange be used there?

Suzanne Adair

You can't use the head tag on AC. It only works on KDP.

Jim wrote: "You can't use the head tag on AC. It only works on KDP."

Thanks, Jim.

H1 - H6 tags v. regular text on Amazon: can anyone send me to a url that shows me how Amazon formats the point size for the different level headers? I don't whether H1 is gigantic in comparison to regular text. Thanks.

Suzanne Adair

J. wrote: "Jim, I discovered Amazon's html policy about two weeks ago and have given the descriptions of all of my books a makeover. The difference is huge. I actually took a before and after screenshot of on..."

Thanks for that terrific example! What level header tags did you use?

Suzanne Adair

I used the h2 tag.

Jim wrote: "I used the h2 tag."

Thank you! I did a makeover for the book description of Regulated for Murder, and it looks much better. You can view it here.

Suzanne Adair

Thanks Suzanne, I used the h2 tag to create the orange header. You're right about the h1 tag -- it is gigantic. I haven't used that one in a single description.

I have discovered that CreateSpace allows you to use some html tags, but not all of the same ones that KDP allows. Specifically, it does not allow the orange h2 tag, but does allow bold and italics tags.

The weirdest thing is that CreateSpace will not include paragraph breaks unless you specifically use the p paragraph html tag. If you are selling a physical book through CreateSpace, check the description on Amazon. You may notice, as I did, that the entire book description is just one huge blob with no paragraph breaks. To fix this, you need to sign into your CreateSpace account and add the p paragraph html tags.

If anyone has trouble with this, I can explain is better. Html can be confusing for someone who has never coded before.

You can also use the break tag.
br / (surrounded by <>) I can't add it here because it is applied instead of showing.

Thanks for these tips! (six months or so later...)

=)

No problem Brian, thanks for stopping by!