About the Book Description Formatter
A book description that is one solid block of text is hard to read on a product page. Short paragraphs, a bold hook and a scannable list make a big difference, but writing HTML by hand is fiddly and easy to break. This formatter turns lightly marked up text into tidy, safe HTML.
Write or paste your blurb with a blank line between paragraphs. Wrap words in double asterisks for bold or *single asterisks* for italics, and start lines with a dash or a number to make a list. Options let you bold the first line automatically, convert lists, switch straight quotes to curly ones and remove extra spaces. You get a live preview, the HTML ready to copy, and cleaned plain text without the asterisks.
Both versions are counted against KDP's 4,000 character description limit, so you can see whether the tags push you over. Supported formatting on Amazon can change, and not every tag is displayed in every store, so always check KDP's preview and your live product page after publishing.
How It Works
Line endings and spacing are tidied, runs of blank lines are reduced to one, and curly quotes are applied if you choose.
Every character of your text is HTML-escaped first, so anything that looks like a tag is shown as text and cannot break the page. Only then are paragraphs wrapped in p tags, single line breaks turned into br, asterisk markers turned into b and i, and blocks where every line starts with a bullet or number turned into ul or ol lists.
Character counts are shown for the plain text and for the HTML version, each compared with the description limit.
Example
A short blurb with a hook, a list and a call to action
- Input: "Hook line here.", a blank line, "What you get:", a blank line, then "- 50 recipes" and "- weekly plans".
- With Bold the first line on, the hook becomes <p><b>Hook line here.</b></p>.
- "What you get:" becomes its own paragraph and the two dash lines become <ul><li>50 recipes</li><li>weekly plans</li></ul>.
- Counts: 59 plain text characters and 100 HTML characters.
Clean HTML of 100 characters, well within the 4,000 character limit, ready to paste into KDP.
Important Notes
- Put a blank line before and after a list. A dash line inside a normal paragraph stays as text with a line break.
- Amazon decides which tags it displays, and this can change. Preview in KDP before publishing.
- Avoid pasting formatting from a word processor directly into KDP; paste the HTML from this tool instead.
- Your text stays in your browser and is never uploaded.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which HTML tags does this tool produce?
Only p, br, b, i, ul, ol and li. These cover paragraphs, line breaks, bold, italics and lists, which is all most book descriptions need.
Do HTML tags count toward the description limit?
If you paste HTML, the tags are part of what you paste, so plan as if they count. The tool shows both the plain text and HTML counts so you can stay safely under the limit either way.
Can someone break the preview by pasting a script?
No. All input is escaped before any formatting is added, so a pasted <script> tag is shown as harmless text and never runs.
Why didn't my bullet points turn into a list?
Every line in the block must start with a dash, asterisk, bullet character or number, and the list needs a blank line before it. A list line directly under a normal sentence is treated as part of that paragraph.
Should I bold the whole description?
No. Bold works best for a short hook or a few key phrases. Too much bold makes nothing stand out and is harder to read on mobile.
Can I use headings?
This tool focuses on paragraphs, emphasis and lists, which display most reliably. If you add heading tags yourself, check carefully in KDP's preview, since support varies.
Related KDP Tools
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- KDP Page Count CalculatorConvert word count to estimated pages, or pages to words, by trim and font size.
- Word Count CalculatorCount words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, with page and reading-time estimates.
- Book Launch ChecklistAn interactive checklist from manuscript to post-launch, saved in your browser.