I wouldn't. And I curse a lot in real life and in my books.

I have no expertise or experience in Amazon policies to back me up, but why put off a read right from the get go? I know you can say, well, if they can't handle it in the blurb, they can't handle the book. But that's not always the case. I assume in the book profanity is character/place/situationally appropriate. It's not as much of a shock.

For example, I don't mind nudity, but I don't expect it when I'm browsing through book covers.

Just my .02

 

I think it'd do more harm than good. Some people will see cursing in the blurb and assume there's an excessive amount in the book, whether there is or not. Kind of seems unnecessary.

 

Can you?  Yes, there are products on Amazon doing it now, including books.

I suspect linking to them would be not appreciated by board rules , but google said word and Amazon and you'll see plenty with it in the description in the first page of results   (#1 in my results, the button, was my favorite LOL)

 

Okay, I don't know what you found, but now I really, really want, a remote-controlled flying f*ck. Please?

 

Most I have seen do a variation of this.

f*ck.

I must admit I actually haven't anyone seen write it full out in the description while I have seen dozens of the former.

 

Seems to be fine if you * it out.

 

Thanks, everyone. I think this is good advice, and I won't use it in the blurb.

 

We miss you, Harvey Chute.

 

I had "f*** buddies" in my description without a problem but I changed it to "f-buddies" because I was having trouble with getting my Facebook ads approved.

 

Curse words in descriptions is one of those issues that I suspect is perfectly fine until one day they decide it isn't. Then, watch out.

 

Okay, I don't know what you found, but now I really, really want, a remote-controlled flying f*ck. Please?

Now that I have seen it, me too :-D

Mine was a f*ck it button :-D

 

...why put off a read right from the get go? I know you can say, well, if they can't handle it in the blurb, they can't handle the book. But that's not always the case. I assume in the book profanity is character/place/situationally appropriate. It's not as much of a shock.

I basically agree with you, A.E.Wasp, and with MikeRyan's point about getting a mistaken impression of the quantity of swears in the book, but man! I've seen so many 1-star reviews for really great books with a "review" saying, "This book had bad language in it and I don't like that sort of thing."

Good grief. I mean, I can't stand the smell of shrimp, but I'm not going to give my grocery store a 1-star review just because I have to walk past the seafood display to get to the chicken!

Of course, when I do see that type of review, I tend to buy the book right away just on principle (if I don't own it already), so it's not entirely a bad thing, but I know how authors hate low reviews. I can really understand the temptation to try to avoid them by telling readers straight up.

 

Okay, I don't know what you found, but now I really, really want, a remote-controlled flying f*ck. Please?

Here ya go, Wasp! For when you really do give a flying %#@!

 

I think the general rule of thumb is to avoid profanity in the blurb. Think of it as a movie preview, you wouldn't want children in a movie theater at a G-rated movie to be seeing scenes from an R-rated movie.

If you really need it in the blurb, the ol' F - - - works. But I still don't understand why people would be offended by the word, 'Fish.'

 

Also consider how the Amazon algorithms work. There could be unforeseen consequences to using the F-word in your blurb should Amazon's Algorithm, in its...er...infinite wisdom...decude your book must be about something else.

Years ago when we published a novella called Foot Ways (coming-of-age modern folklore narrative), apparently Amazon decided the book was about foot fetishes and the "similar books" section was filled with adult books. Suffice it to say the author and I were unamused at first.

Come to think of it, though, I did get a lot of affiliate sales from people buying our title and then buying some of the suggested titles, so maybe Amazon realize DOES know something I don't!

 

I put a content rating in the listings just as you see on movies and games, a quick note about language, sex, violence. I get the impression some people don't bother reading descriptions, but it's there for people who are concerned about such things. I got a laugh out of one author's statement that if you need a warning before you read a book, this is not for you. But still, I prefer to let customers know because so many people are easily offended -- and those people aren't my target readers.