When someone asks, “What’s your book about?”, what do you tell them?

You spend a year or more writing a novel. It’s a good novel, so you start telling people about it. Then one day someone asks, “What’s your book about?”

The first time you hear that question, you smile because somebody is interested enough to ask. The first time someone asked me, this is what I told them.       

“Well … it’s about a cop who’s nearing retirement and he ain’t got no money to retire with and he has to chase this bad guy who kills a lot of girls and he has this new captain that doesn’t understand the old ways and wants to get rid of him and there’s a medical examiner.… No! Wait! TWO! TWO medical examiners, and this hot FBI agent chick who looks like a sexy librarian….”

Total implosion.                 

All this, and not one word about his cool car. Meantime the person who asked the question has dozed off, and you have to poke him awake just as you get to the good part.

That actually happened to me … except it was worse. Stumble and stutter and stammer … it wasn’t pretty. It finally dawned on me why the marketing director of Intrigue Publishing (the lovely B. Swangin Webster), said to me…. “Develop an elevator pitch. Make it two minutes or less, since that’s the average elevator ride. Open a dialogue and hit the high points to generate interest in your novel. Make sure you mention the title, hand them a business card, and try to leave them wondering.”

My elevator rides are one floor. Five seconds, so I have to talk fast. 

“HEY! You look like you can read! Wanna buy a book?”

There is nothing simple about delivering an elevator  pitch.  See for yourself. Try it on one of your family members. If they won’t sit still for 30 seconds or so, offer your dog a treat and run it by him. For the right snack, he’ll sit for almost anything.

OK, so now you know you need a brief synopsis of your novel, one you can deliver in the time it takes to pour a cup of coffee at the 7-11, or pump 20 gallons of gas into your tank. For that, you need to write an effective delivery, and you have to commit it to memory. You won’t have time to pull out a crib sheet, although writing it on your hand might work.

You’re the only one who can write it … for free, that is. You could pay someone, but not in copies. Cold hard cash. So, economically speaking, you should write it yourself. Besides … you’re a writer, are you not?

I spent hours, in the car, at work, at home, mulling over the pitch. Then more hours trying to find the right “tone,” if you will, and I’m sure if I read the damn thing again, I’ll change it again ... such is the lot of a writer.  For your review, here are the variations as they developed.

Chain of Evidence is the story of Moby Truax, an aging cop tracking a killer of women. But the diminished senses that come with age interfere, as does his young headstrong captain, and Truax must decide whether to follow orders and keep his job, or follow his gut and save lives.

Chain of Evidence is the tale of Moby Truax, an aging cop tracking a killer of women. Truax struggles with the toll the years have taken, and his young commander pairs him with a disobliging FBI agent. She rejects his theories in favor of her own, and works behind the scenes in an effort to sabotage his investigation. 

Chain of Evidence is the tale of Moby Truax, an aging cop working a case that could make a cop’s career. The problem is, his career is over. Seen as a dinosaur in the eyes of his new commander, Truax struggles with the toll the years have taken, and when his young captain pairs him with a rookie FBI agent to track a killer of women, she rejects his theories in favor of her own, and works behind the scenes in an effort to sabotage his investigation. 

This last iteration is the one I’m going with. You can see in the variations above, and in any writing, the words you use are paramount.

As Mark Twain said in a letter to George Bainton, 10/15/1888, “The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” Source: www.twainquotes.com

Let me know how you make out.

Happy Pitching.

DB

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The Waiting Game

So, as my publisher said, “now we wait.” That’s not an exact quote, mind you, but its close. As soon as I get the “Final” iteration of the cover, I’ll post it and solicit comments. I know, I had the cover up last week, but I spotted an irregularity and took it down. Now it’s in rework. It’s a small change, so I don’t expect it will take all that long, but in the meantime, I expect the galleys are in the pipeline, at least that’s my impression of “What’s next.”

I didn’t know what galleys were until a year ago. Who knew they made a book of a book? For those who are not knowledgeable in the publishing biz (like me), a galley is a proof … like in photos. Remember when the photographer gave you those brownish pictures of yourself and told you to pick one for the high school yearbook? They’re like that. Except they’re not brown.

According to Wikipedia:

In printing and publishing, proofs are the preliminary versions of publications meant for review by authors, editors, and proofreaders, often with extra wide margins. Galley proofs may be uncut and unbound, or in some cases electronic. They are created for proofreading and copyediting purposes, but may be used for promotional and review purposes also.

Galley proofs are so named because in the days of hand-set type, the printer would set the page into galleys, the metal trays into which type was laid and tightened into place. These would be used to print a limited number of copies for editing mark-up. The printer would then receive the edits, re-arrange the type, and print the final copy.

Some publishers use paper galley proofs as advanced reading copies, providing them to reviewers, magazines, and libraries in advance of final publication. These print-on-demand (POD) pre-publication publicity proofs are normally bound, but may be lacking illustrations (or have them in black and white only). Proofs in electronic form are rarely offered for advance reading.

I hate cutting & pasting from Wikipedia, but sometimes there is no sense in reinventing the wheel. Besides, they said it much better than I ever could.

So there you have it. That’s where we are … I think. Now I wile away my copious spare time working on the new effort; a Crime Thriller where the protag’s sister is murdered and….

Well, you’ll just have to wait.

Maybe I’ll see if we can include the first chapter at the end of Chain of Evidence.

Illustration used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com

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