Among the “required information” still necessary is the distributor’s annotation. This is the information about your book that we will submit to Ingram which, in turn is provided to Baker & Taylor, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and every other sales channel for your book. For example, on Amazon, your annotation appears as a “Product Description” under the “Editorial Reviews” section.
In many cases, this can be exactly the same as your back cover synopsis (see why we suggest you keep your back cover copy handy in a Word document), but in some cases, you may have reason for it to be different. People who shop for books online will see this information about your book long before they see your back cover text. In fact, in many online cases, this will be the ONLY information they read about your book when deciding whether to buy it.
This information should be compelling and complete, without any spelling errors or typographical errors. Double-check your work! We submit to Ingram exactly what you provide to us. In fact, it’s a good idea to write this text and include it in your manuscript prior to submitting your manuscript for copyediting, so that it gets edited, too (just a little hint, there).
A recommended length for this information is approximately 3000-3400 characters (including spaces). Yes, that is long — but years of statistics support the claim that MORE information here statistically increases the chances of selling more books, especially if it is well written and persuasive. Remember, people buy non-fiction books to solve problems, so focus on benefits to the reader. People buy fiction books to “escape” so focus on the entertainment value.
Once you’re happy with the content, Click to Submit. For Fandemonium, I’m using almost the same exact copy as the back cover copy, so I cut and paste that from my Word document I saved from the Custom Cover stage, make very small changes to this version for distribution, and click submit.
What’s next…?
President of Outskirts Press 