What’s Your Book About?

 

If you’re an author, you’ve found yourself in this situation a hundred times. You’re at a party, talking to a fellow author, at a workshop or seminar, or just shooting the bull with a friend or relative when, invariably, this unassuming question rears its ugly head—“What’s Your Book About?”

It seems mundane enough. They’re asking you what your book is about. Shouldn’t you know? After all, you wrote the damn thing. It’s not like you didn’t spends months and months writing, and editing, and formatting, and promoting and marketing. But, invariably, you freeze. You stand there flatfooted and begin blabbering on with no rhyme or reason. You stumble about and give a different answer every time someone asks you this simple question. You know you’re in trouble if your inquirer asks you the magical question and you say, “Uh, well, it’s about…” Don’t worry, you’re not stupid (although I don’t really know you personally). The problem is, you know what your book is about; you just can’t convey it in one concise statement.

If you’re a New York Times best-selling author and you’re signing books for an adoring fan you can always answer as follows, “read the book and find out” (asshole).

Well, have no fear. I’m here to help. You don’t need to invent the wheel every time some inquisitive person ask you about your book. You don’t need to write a book every time some non-caring bozo asks you one modest little question. You just need one simple line. You need a premise line.

            Yes, that’s right, a premise line—a one-sentence book description, a hook, an elevator pitch, a TV Guide pitch—hell, any way to let your fellow writers or your readers or your inquisitive cousin know that you know what your own book is about.

            Let’s say someone (who’s been living on the planet Mars for the past thirty years) approached me and asked me what the movie Jaws was about (a movie I’ve only seen about 15 times and read in book form about 3 more).

After a giving them a shocked look I would answer incredulously. “You’ve never seen Jaws?”

“No,” they would say. “I don’t watch many movies.”

I would then roll my eyes, take a breath and begin, “Well, there’s this big great white shark and he’s eating people around this coastal resort—a resort called Amity—and the Sheriff is trying to close the beaches and the mayor doesn’t want him to and the Sheriff and the city hire this guy named Quint to kill it this shark but in the end it eats him instead. Quint that is. You know, it was Spielberg’s first movie,” I would add. You think he got the idea?

            Well, yeah, I know, this is a movie but a good premise line works the same for a movie as it does for a book.

            I’ve written both non-fiction and fiction books but my first work of fiction—the first in a series of three books—is entitled Book of Samuel. Fear of having to describe my book in concise fashion no longer grips me. As soon as I realized that I could stop jockeying from one leg to the other and stammering about every time someone asked me the dreaded, “What is Your Book About” question if I came up with a premise line. It goes like this:

·         After attending a family wedding, an obstetrician, his wife and his parents miss their return flight to Pittsburgh, finding themselves left alone to confront one another with two explosive family issues during their eight-hour layover in the Savannah airport.

Will I spew this out word for word every time someone puts me on the spot? Of course not. But it sums everything up rather well. And it sounds good if I do say so myself. Especially when you consider that I used to answer the question with something like this, “Well, there’s this family who misses their flight and starts fighting with one another and…” And at least I have some parameters to go by, some organized words put together that I can draw from when the time comes.

 

  Now, let’s try that Jaws thing again.

·         When a great white shark starts attacking beachgoers in a coastal town during high tourist season, a water-phobic Sheriff must assemble a team to hunt it down before it kills again.

 

Yeah, water-phobic Sheriff. That’s what I meant to say.

 

Thanks to Alexandra Sokoloff’s, Screenwriting Tricks For Authors (And Screenwriters)

 

JJR

KATHLEEN SHOOP INTERVIEW

 

I was honored to sit down with Kathleen Shoop—award winning, best-selling author of The Last Letter, After the Fog and the Home Again (The Endless Love Book Series). A versatile author, she is known for both historical fiction as well as romance. Kathie is not just an author but a good friend and the person most responsible for expanding my horizons from strictly a non-fiction author to a fiction author as well. She has been my inspiration and a powerful motivator. I think that you’ll find her thoughts very informative especially if you’re trying to maneuver about in that maze known as self-publishing.

Kathie, what is your philosophy on making it in this world of publishing and digital publishing in particular? For most authors, myself included, it’s a real struggle.

Don’t give up! You have to engage. There is no way around it. “It doesn’t work” for all of us at some point. You have to adjust and alter and circle back again. Writers have to be willing to listen and try… unless an author hires someone to do the work for her, she has to be willing to experiment and actually do what is suggested. There’s no magic answer. Layers of marketing and promotion need to be created and writers have to leave their comfort zone. Melissa Foster, for instance, may be more ambitious and energetic than most, but if an author doesn’t take her advice either wholly or scaled back but consistent, then no, the author might not sell many books. Sometimes people get lucky and sell a lot with no effort, but that’s rare. Some people work their asses off and still have trouble. The author has to continue writing, connecting with readers saving up for ads, and putting PR/Marketing into the weekly if not daily schedule. As much as it stinks there is not a magic solution. Hard work, more hard work and hopefully some luck.

Having written The Last Letter, what was the first thing you did as far as getting it published and marketing it?

I saved money, treated it like a business, and hired the people who knew more than me (a publicist) met people online who knew more than me and listened to what they suggested. And then I helped people who knew less than me. Helping someone else—teaching—is what really gives a person a grasp of a concept or process. Also, creating communities where people help each other with every phase of writing and marketing. There are huge bestsellers who haven’t ever hired a publicist or paid for marketing. They just write and for whatever reason the market responds. The same issues plague traditionally published authors who aren’t given six-figure advances. In some ways their position is more difficult because they can’t control pricing, promotions, etc. But any author who wants to sell needs to write good books first and then be prepared to sell and talk about their work.

When did you decide to go digital?

In 2010. I went to Pennwriters and attended a workshop where four agents listened to people’s queries and stopped the reader when they became disinterested. When they all agreed they wouldn’t request a partial because the author used amateur sleuth in her letter it hit me hard what a crapshoot the query business was. They didn’t even care about the characters, the plot, the writing—it was over for that book because the author used the phrase “amateur sleuth”. WTF?  That made things crystal clear. Then at the conference I met a woman who had self-pubbed and sold 2000 books. She hired a publicist and that made a difference for her. I thought if she could do it, I could—she inspired me. I hired her publicist and started the process and since then I’ve sold over 100,000 books. I also listened to JA Konrath’s advice on nearly everything. I listen to people who know more than me and weigh and measure what might fit my plan. But I really try things others suggest.

Did you have any reservations?

Off and on, but that’s just ego. I don’t like it when I get the eye roll about publishing on my own. But does it mean anything at all about my actual writing? No. Pull on the thick skin and deal.

 What strategy did you first employ when you went digital? What was the process? How did you know what to do to get the word out? What was your main goal?

For my first book my publicist helped me brand the Last Letter, create the PR materials, etc. But I did all the legwork and the marketing. I just googled ads, I networked people, we all helped each other problem solve. But it’s give and take. If you are a taker, people won’t feel like helping much. Some of the most generous people I’ve met are Indie authors. They share strategy, craft, logistical stuff. But you have to do everything—tweet, enter contests if you like that validation (I do placing and winning in contests that include small presses and university presses—I do like that validation though not everyone needs it or wants it.) Facebook, blog, blog tour, buy some ads, and build around the good ads so each time you have a good ad run, you are building more and more audience. Write articles and post to your blog or other blogs. Cooperate with others. Give, give, give, and every once in a while something will come back to you. Treat this as a business. Save money for the best ads and build free social stuff around it. And write the next book. That’s the current, obvious thinking around building an audience and a career—write great books and get them out as fast as quality allows. And series sell like hotcakes.

To what do you attribute your immediate success?

A good book, local buzz through launch and book clubs, buying inexpensive, but quality ads. Timing.

How were those times different than now?

The ads don’t work as well now, but building an audience with readers is even more important. If you write romance with characters who live in the burbs, find groups who fit that demographic and offer to come to their book club. Same if your series is set in a rural in rural areas. With historical fiction, you can do a ton of promo around the events in your book. I still go to Donora, PA each year to sit on panels that discuss the “Killing Smog,” I wrote about. Write about your process, write about the content in your book. If your character starts a cupcake business and becomes wildly successful, write short articles about people who do this and tie it to your book. Provide readers with content that lets them get to know you and your work without just saying “Buy My Book.” But do everything and do a little at a time, but consistently. Keep a list when you tweet, when you blog, when you Facebook and rotate. Don’t rely on memory.  

If you wanted to promote your book what is the first promotion you would use?

Promo and marketing are two different things. Promotion is getting other people to talk about your work—like a newspaper. Marketing is you telling others about your work. If you choose a promo price and use “Bookbub” that’s marketing/promo combo. But marketing tours like Beck Valley Tours are Promo—don’t always result in sales but get you noticed. Buyers need several exposures to something before they buy.

What do you think of free promotions?

I’ve never done free. But I will once my third novel in Endless Love Series is out. I'll make one book free and see what happens. It works great for some people and not great for others. It apparently works best with a series.

Will they provide a spike in sales?

Don’t know.

If you had just completed the book yesterday. How would you market it?  

Facebook, blog tour, press release, book clubs, small ads to build up to a Bookbub Ad, giveaways for readers who want to leave honest reviews.

How much do you write a day?

Depends on the day.                      

Why do you write historical fiction?

I love entering another world. As a reader, I like learning about another time and place and I like to do that for readers as well.

How many books have you written besides your historical fiction books?

Four