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Angling for Readers

Jul 30, 2012
by Caroline Miller
promos
0 Comment

Question: If you were browsing through a bookstore and read the blurb below would you buy the book?

The character-driven novel “XXX”* brings a distinct knowledge of literature and literary convention together with current knowledge on crime, punishment and “green” architecture.”

A friend who works with writers sent me this one sentence summary a client provided about her book. I scratched my head reading it. What did all these words strung together mean? I was puzzled but not tempted to buy the book. Only the author’s mother could love this gobbledygook.

To my friend’s credit, he wrote a cogent response:

Who are these characters and what are they like? Is this novel a meditation on literature, architecture, or a crime story? At bottom, what sets it apart? Is it the characters or you who “bring a distinct knowledge of literature, etc..” Breathe life into the description.

The mistake many beginning writers make is to exhaust themselves creating their books and then failing to find the right words to sell it. Hollywood knows the value of a good pitch. Their promos are sometimes better than their movies. So here’s a piece of advice to everyone who’s written the great American novel. Your work isn’t ended when the book is finished. It’s just begun. No matter how brilliant the pages are between the cover, the jacket is where to cast your line. If the words don’t hook there, you’ll never catch a reader.

*title deleted

Fly Fishermany

 

 

 

 

(Courtesy of outdoorsurvey.com)

 

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published five novels

  • Getting Lost To Find Home
  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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