Is Your Backlist Hard to Sell or Hard to Describe?

Knowing how to pitch your books can be a superpower

Imagine you’re at an author event and someone picks up a book you’ve published a few years ago. They seem interested and take the time to look over your cover and read the description.

You wrote the book. You know why the main character makes that terrible decision in chapter three, which scene took you the longest to write, and exactly how it all comes together at the end.

And somehow, the first thing that comes out of your mouth is, “Well, it’s kind of about…”

This is one of the tougher parts of marketing a book you’ve lived with for years. You know so much about the story that choosing what to say first can feel like leaving out something important.

The same thing can happen when you sit down to write a social media post. You’ve talked about the book before, so you reach for the description you already have. Or you spend twenty minutes trying to fit the setting, the main character, and half the plot into a caption.

Either way, it’s worth asking yourself a question. If someone had never heard of this book, which detail would make them want to know more?

If someone picked up Escape City at one of my author events, I could tell them it’s a young adult horror novel about a group of influencers who visit an escape park.

But the part I get excited to tell people about is that the park is the size of a city, the zombies are animatronic, and somewhere along the way, the danger becomes real.

So what happens if I change which part of the book I talk about first?

What are you leaving out of your pitch?

I could describe my book Escape City as a young adult horror novel about a group of influencers who visit an escape park.

That’s an accurate description of the book. But if I heard it at an author event, I’d probably ask what kind of escape park it was.

And that’s where I’d get to the part I’m excited to talk about. The park is the size of a city. It’s out in the Las Vegas desert. The zombies are animatronic, and the whole point is to make guests feel like they’re trying to survive an apocalypse.

Then the game turns deadly.

The detail I’d be tempted to save for a follow-up question is the same detail that might make someone ask one.

Three ways I could pitch the same book

I could start with the premise.

A city-sized escape park in the Las Vegas desert lets guests play through a zombie apocalypse. For one group, the game turns deadly.

I’d use this version at an author event. I can say it out loud in a few seconds, and it gives the person holding the book something specific to picture. They can ask about the park, the zombies, or who goes inside.

I could start with the characters.

A group of influencers gets invited to try a city-sized zombie escape park. They go in looking for content and end up fighting to get out alive.

I’d use this version in a post introducing the group. It gives me room to talk about what the characters expect to get out of the experience and how far that is from what actually happens.

I could start with what I want the reader to feel.

If you paid to spend the day running from fake zombies, how long would it take you to realize you were in real danger?

I’d use that question at the beginning of a short video. It gives someone a chance to imagine what they’d do before I even show them the cover.

I can also see how these pitches would give me three different things to post about. I could talk about why I set the park in the desert, introduce one of the influencers, or ask readers who they’d bring with them if they had to get out of the park. Each post gives me something to say beyond “My book is available.”

Try this with one of your own books

Pick a book you’ve had out for a while. Write down what you’d say if someone picked it up and asked you what it was about. Use the words you’d actually say at a book table.

Then write three short pitches using these questions.

• Premise. What situation would make someone want to see what happens next?

• Character. Who are we following, and what do they stand to lose?

• Feeling. What do you want a reader to feel, and how could you give them a taste of it in one sentence?

If you’re still staring at the page, finish this sentence. The part of this book I get most excited to tell people about is…

For me, that’s the idea of paying to be scared and then having to figure out when the danger became real. I can work with that the next time I sit down to write a post about Escape City.

Read your three pitches out loud and pick the one you’d most enjoy saying to someone who just picked up your book. Try it in your next post or at your next event. Then pay attention to what people ask about. Their first question might give you your next post.