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.

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.

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.

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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