Amazon’s description box accepts a small, undocumented slice of HTML. Use the wrong tags and they appear as visible code on your listing; use none and the description collapses into an unbroken wall of text. There is a narrow correct version, and it takes ten minutes to apply.
What you receive
- A cleaned description with the redundant markup stripped and the intended emphasis preserved.
- Store-safe tags only — bold, italic, line breaks, lists and a horizontal rule — tested on the live listing rather than assumed.
- Paragraph structure tuned for the fold, since only the opening lines show before “read more”.
- A plain-text version for Kobo and Apple, which do not accept the same markup.
- A copy-paste file for each store, so a future edit does not break the formatting.
How it is prepared
- Start from the copy, not the code: we agree the paragraph order and the emphasis before marking anything up.
- Apply one tag for one purpose — bold for the hook line, bullets for a short feature list, nothing decorative.
- Test in the store’s preview and adjust until it renders as designed at phone width.
- Deliver per store, because the same description needs three different versions of the same idea.
What Amazon accepts, and what it punishes
Bold, italic, ordered and unordered lists, line breaks and horizontal rules render dependably. Headings, tables, colours, font sizes and inline styles do not, and some of them cause the whole description to be displayed as raw text. Scripts, iframes, images and affiliate links are removed or rejected. The practical rule is to treat the description as lightly formatted plain text — because that is what the reader sees, in a column about 600 pixels wide.
Why formatting changes conversions
Short paragraphs with a bold opening line are read. A single 400-word block is skipped, however good the writing. Bullets let a reader scan the promise in three seconds and decide. A horizontal rule separates the blurb from the review quotes. None of it is decoration; it is the difference between a listing that gets read to the end and one that is scrolled past on a phone.
Keeping it maintainable
A description gets edited for promotions, price changes and series updates, and each edit risks breaking the markup. Because you receive the copy in both a rich and a plain version, with the tags noted, a future change is a text edit rather than a debugging session. We also keep the source on file, so re-issuing a corrected listing takes minutes.
Pricing
| Tier | Scope | Price | Was | You save |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 1 ebook | $10 | $10 | |
| Professional | 5 ebooks | $40 | $40 | |
| Bulk / Authority | 10 ebooks | $70 | $70 |
Frequent questions
Can you format a description I wrote?
Yes. Send the text and we will structure it and apply the markup without rewriting your voice.
Does the HTML work on Kobo?
No — Kobo strips it. That is why the plain-text version is included.
Will bold text still show after an edit?
Yes, if the tags stay intact. Paste as plain text into the box and re-apply from our file if a platform editor strips them.
Format my description — send the text and the store you are publishing on.