When you see an advertisement for a movie, check out a promotional poster, or hear a commercial there is usually a one or two line phrase designed to stick with you and make you remember the movie until you finally go see it. The same happens for books. Sometimes the line is printed on the cover as a way to draw the reader in while other times it can be found as a title line for the synopsis on the back cover.
My book Survivor which was released back in October of 2015 has the tagline on the back. At the top of the synopsis is the line A Nightmare Hidden In A Dream. I have bookmarks that I include where people pick up the book at shows that also has that same tagline along with colors that match the cover of the book.
A tagline can be a great marketing tool if it is catchy and memorable enough but I have struggled for years to come up with the perfect line for my books. Never Give Up has a tagline of "Life can change in the blink of an eye". It is a wonderful line for the book and definitely apt but I didn't come up with it. A friend helped me with that one. Survivor I came up with on my own but once again as I prepare to submit and / or publish the next few books I am once again struggling to come up with lines for the next few projects.
For Breathe I am still doing my best to understand exactly what genre the story even is, let alone a line to perfectly capture the essence of the book. The Voices books are thrillers but because it is a four book series and only two of them are fully written it is difficult to envision the line that would best envelop the books or even just start it off properly. Sharing Strength, and the novellas that will complete the series now to be written hand in hand with Survivor, is another book I have only the vaguest of ideas of for the tagline.
I will figure out the lines as I finish the books (I hope) but I encourage everyone to look a little closer at the lines on book covers and movie posters. See if when you read the book or see the movie that line helps to truly bring the essence of the story to life.
Tag lines are something I struggle with also. I didn't put one on my first book, and probably won't on my second for the reasons you mentioned. It's hard to think up one. Coming up with an author tag line has also been challenging. I have one on my blog now, but not sure if I'll keep it or not.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely a challenge. Eventually I would like to have one on my website and my business cards but for now I am just doing my best to find ones for my books. Haha.
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