21 Questions You Can Ask To Help You Sell More Books

21 Questions to attract more interest to your book description

If you have ever played the 21 questions game, you’ll know that people really can open up when they answer the questions you ask.

Interesting questions make people think, funny questions make people laugh, and a good question demands a logical answer.

By playing this game, you learn how powerful a great question can be.

There is a natural, almost irresistible, attraction to answering a list of questions.

But have you thought about using the power of questions in your book description to help you sell more books on Amazon?

Don’t tell them the story

They will react much better if you ask them a question.

If you are a published author and you are selling your ebooks on Amazon or any other online retailer, you know that your book description is the hook that should help you market and promote your book.

But is it working for you?

Your book description is one of your most powerful marketing strategies, but for many new Indie authors, they often write it as an afterthought.

A quick three-sentence summary of your story is not going to help you attract potential readers’ attention. You need much more than that.

Successful book publishing is about having a book launch and ongoing marketing plan and doing everything you can to ensure that your book ranks.

One often overlooked element of these plans is the use of questions in your book description to help you in attracting reader interest and attention.

The selling power of questions

In any form of promotional writing, adding questions helps you to engage a reader.

Questions are powerful selling tools. In How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, he said, “Ask questions the other person will enjoy answering.”

If you want to sell your home, sell a car, or even sell a book, think about how you can use questions to engage a potential buyer.

Questions work particularly well on social media, in blog posts and even on your author pages. If you have an email list, a question in the email subject line is likely to help your opening rate.

It’s so easy to do

All it takes is to stop and think for a moment before you post. Can I turn what I want to say into a fun question?

For example, if you want to post something about book reviews on a Facebook group, you could say that they are tough to get and give all the reasons why.

But if you use a question to start your piece, your group readers are more likely to engage and respond. Do you have any tips on how to get an honest review of a new book?

If you are drafting a blog post about writing a novella, you could say that it is possible to write one in a month. It would be easy to detail a step by step plan to write 1,000 words a day. Your title could be, How To Write A Book In 30 Days.

But a question in the blog post title would work far better.

Would You Believe That You Can Write A Book In Only 30 Days?

Questions are powerful engagement tools. But how can you use them in a book description?

The three question forms

You can choose between three different types of questions to encourage a reader to think for a moment. Each one serves a different purpose.

Do you want your potential reader to think, decide or choose?

1. The open question

An open question uses a question adverb, and the response is entirely up to the reader. They need to think about their answer.

Where would you travel to in a time machine?What is your all-time favourite movie?Why did you leave your hometown?

2. The closed question

A closed question encourages a decision because it can only be answered with a yes or no.

Do guys or girls read more?Do you want to visit the future?Are you content and happy to stay in your hometown?

3. The choice question

A choice question forces the reader to choose from only two or three limited options.

If you had a bad meal at a restaurant would you return again or stay away?Do you prefer to have your solo time or visit your family?Are you a reader of fiction, non-fiction or both?

21 Questions as ideas for a book description

You shouldn’t overdo it.

But just by adding one or two questions, it can make all the difference in gaining a potential reader’s attention.

Instead of very quickly scanning your book description and leaving, your question can keep their attention for a few more critical seconds.

If they stop for this time and form a response in their head, you will significantly improve your chances of making a book sale.

You should also think about the point of view of your questions. Do you want to ask the reader directly, or pose a third person question?

Here are 21 questions for ideas that you can modify and use for your fiction or non-fiction book description to add a little intrigue or mystery.

1. She had finally met Mr Right. What could possibly go wrong?

2. Why do the rich always get richer while the poor get poorer?

3. Where do you go to hide when you are feeling blue?

4. Do you know the three worst questions to ask a guy on a first date?

5. How many times does she have to say no?

6. Will it be the perfect murder?

7. How would you survive, alone on a distant planet?

8. Do you want to know how to make money from writing exclusive content for magazines?

9. Christelle knows she must make a tough decision. Will she run or face the music?

10. Are you ready to be scared to death?

11. When you are betwixt and between, do you go for the bottle of wine or the box of chocolates? Or both?

12. Does Eric know what he needs to do to fight off a zombie attack?

13. She heard a scream, a gunshot and then silence. What does she do now?

14. Do you want to terminate your life as a cubicle warrior and become your own boss?

15. Could she fall in love all over again with her ex after 15 years?

16. Would you like to be cryogenically frozen today and return to life in 200 years?

17. He is now a retired spy. But will his new identity keep him safe from his lifelong enemies?

18. The president has a deep, dark, hidden secret. Who will have the courage to expose the truth, and face the consequences?

19. Are you ready to move on from the past and create the new you?

20. It was love at first sight. But what happens when Mary discovers that Richard is not everything he seems to be?

21. What is the best time of the day to commit the absolutely perfect bank robbery?

Summary

Improving your book description has multiple benefits.

Not only can you get more attention from book buyers, but you can also help your book search metadata. Every word you write and question you add is used by an Amazon algorithm to help readers find your book.

A longer description, with a sprinkling of questions, will add extra keywords to the metadata for your book.

You should always be looking to improve your book’s searchability and adding more metadata through your Author Central page.

Do you know that with Author Central you can make parts of your book description bold or italic? Great for your questions.

So are you ready to improve your book description with questions?