What’s your book about? You’re going to be asked over and over. So, what do you say? You need a brief and compelling answer so that the person you’re talking to

  • Is interested
  • Can remember what you said
  • Can repeat what you said about your book

And that is how you build the most powerful form of book marketing – word of mouth advertising. People talk to you, hear you on the radio, in a speech, or on a talk show, and they tell their friends about you and your book.

So, my friend, what is your book or screenplay about?

And you’re a writer, so I know you can step out of your book – with all its nuance and complexity – and into another persona, and answer this question as a marketer.

You just have to have the awareness, and make the decision to do so. I know you want to share every cool idea in the book, but keeping it short will make it work for you. Think of all its attributes, and then choose ONE to focus on.

Before you start working on that, let me give you a few examples of how it’s done.

“Baby shoes for sale, never worn.”

This story is considered the epitome of flash fiction, and the birth of the 6-word story craze. The very short story is attributed to Ernest Hemingway, and epitomizes the power of brevity.

In 2011, Travis Kalanick described Uber as a mobile app where

“You push a button and in five minutes a Mercedes picks you up and takes you where you want to go.”

Facebook’s IPO, Mark Zuckerberg describes Facebook as:

“Something where you can type someone’s name and find out a bunch of information about them.”

Facebook and Uber have thousands of features, yet they focus on a single concept, so people can easily understand, remember, and most importantly, talk about it afterward.

When You Talk About Your Book

When you talk about your book – in public – you want to be

  • consistent
  • brief
  • intriguing/vital to the potential reader

The only way to do this effectively is to list all your books attributes and plotlines, and then look at them and PICK ONE. Pick the ONE that is most intriguing to the potential readers.

Then memorize that ONE book description and use it routinely. (Hint: memorize it.)

I know this might sound dull to many of you creative types, but it is effective. Give them something they’re excited about and that they can talk about afterward.

How do you describe your book, briefly? Write a few (or a hundred) and then narrow it down to a few. If you’re having a hard time deciding which is most compelling, come on over to Write Without the Fight FB group and ask. I’ll be happy to help.