Is your Amazon description formatted to sell?

Amazon renders a subset of HTML in book descriptions. Paste your description and get KDP-safe HTML, character counts, and a readability verdict.

Amazon allows <b>, <i>, <ul>, <li>, <p>, <br>, and <em> in KDP descriptions — not <div> or CSS. A 120-word opening with a bold hook, two short paragraphs, and three bullets renders cleanly on mobile and desktop and keeps readability near Excellent. Plain text without HTML wastes the above-the-fold that decides the click.

Format your Amazon description

Use line breaks for paragraphs. Start bullets with "- ". First line becomes the bold hook.

Fill in the fields and run it. Everything is calculated in your browser — nothing is uploaded, and there is no signup.

Worked examples

Real results from the calculator above, shown in full so you can check the method against your own numbers.

Bold hook + 3 bullets — excellent

130 words, Excellent readability with hook and bullets.

Readability Good — 79/100 at 86 words

86 words, 5 sentences, avg 17 words/sentence. Bold hook present and 3 bullets. KDP HTML is 537 chars.

Words
86
5 sentences
Characters
487
3513 remaining to 4,000
Readability
Good 79
avg 17 words/sentence
HTML
537 chars
Bold hook + 3 bullets

What KDP will render

  • Plain words5 sentences86
  • Characters3513 to 4,000487
  • Allowed tagsBold hook + 3 <li>With <b>, <p>, <ul>
  • Readabilityavg 17 words/sentence79/100 Good
  • HTML lengthWhat you paste into KDP Description537

Fixes you can paste

  • Bold hook + 3 bullets at 79/100 is the KDP pattern that converts. KDP HTML length 537 is well under 4,000.
  • Copy the HTML below and paste directly into KDP Description — allowed tags are <b>, <i>, <p>, <br>, <ul>, <li>, <em>.
How length changes the fold
WordsFoldReadability need
<80Thin on desktopAdd hook + bullets to 120
120–200Above-the-fold shows hook + bulletsExcellent/Good at ≤16w/sentence
>350Collapsed behind “Read more”Front-load stakes into hook

```html <p><b>A missing clock the town swore was gone still ticks at midnight.</b></p><p>Three sisters inherit the house that broke their mother. The oldest remembers the fire, the middle remembers the garden, the youngest remembers nothing — and the house remembers all of them. Secrets tick behind every wall.</p><ul><li>A house that keeps time differently</li><li>A sister who remembers what the others forget</li><li>A midnight choice that costs a life</li></ul><p>The sisters must decide whether to keep the house or bury what it knows.</p> ```

Thin 20 words — warns

Too short for Amazon fold.

Thin — 8 words is short for an Amazon description

At 8 words (43 chars) the description will look thin on desktop and on mobile where Amazon collapses below the fold. Aim for 120–200 words with a bold hook and bullets.

Words
8
1 sentences
Characters
43
3957 remaining to 4,000
Readability
Excellent 98
avg 8 words/sentence
HTML
57 chars
Bold hook + 0 bullets

What KDP will render

  • Plain words1 sentences8
  • Characters3957 to 4,00043
  • Allowed tagsBold hook + 0 <li>With <b>, <p>, <ul>
  • Readabilityavg 8 words/sentence98/100 Excellent
  • HTML lengthWhat you paste into KDP Description57

Fixes you can paste

  • At 8 words the page looks thin. Expand to 120–200 words — bold hook (25–35w), two paragraphs, three bullets.
  • You have 3957 characters to 4,000, so length is not the constraint — hook and bullets are.
How length changes the fold
WordsFoldReadability need
<80Thin on desktopAdd hook + bullets to 120
120–200Above-the-fold shows hook + bulletsExcellent/Good at ≤16w/sentence
>350Collapsed behind “Read more”Front-load stakes into hook

```html <p><b>A great thriller about sisters and a house.</b></p> ```

Long hard sentence — warns

Long average sentence triggers Hard readability.

Hard to scan — Hard 20/100 at 47 words

Average 47 words/sentence is long for an above-the-fold description. Split sentences and keep paragraphs to 2–3 lines. Add 3 bullets for scannable stakes.

Words
47
1 sentences
Characters
249
3751 remaining to 4,000
Readability
Hard 20
avg 47 words/sentence
HTML
263 chars
Bold hook + 0 bullets

What KDP will render

  • Plain words1 sentences47
  • Characters3751 to 4,000249
  • Allowed tagsBold hook + 0 <li>With <b>, <p>, <ul>
  • Readabilityavg 47 words/sentence20/100 Hard
  • HTML lengthWhat you paste into KDP Description263

Fixes you can paste

  • Sentences average 47 words. Split them so avg is 12–16 words; readability moves from Hard toward Good/Excellent.
  • Add three bullets for stakes: each bullet starts with "- " and states one cost or promise.
  • Bold hook is present — keep it to one sentence.
How length changes the fold
WordsFoldReadability need
<80Thin on desktopAdd hook + bullets to 120
120–200Above-the-fold shows hook + bulletsExcellent/Good at ≤16w/sentence
>350Collapsed behind “Read more”Front-load stakes into hook

```html <p><b>When the sisters who had not spoken in a decade return to the house that broke their mother and find that the missing clock the town swore was gone still ticks at midnight with a rhythm that matches their own heartbeats, they must decide what to do.</b></p> ```

Above the fold is the only description most shoppers read

Amazon shows the book description as a collapsed block on the product page. On mobile the first lines and the first bullets are the above-the-fold — everything else sits behind "Read more." The KDP Description field accepts a subset of HTML, not Word styling and not CSS. Allowed tags are , , ,

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