Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Taglines

Today I took a stroll through the American Christian Fiction Writers forum and saw the Ane Mulligan had started a thread on taglines. She offered to help author's come up with one before the conference in September, or share her opinions on taglines they already had. After reading through the thread, I was inspired to contemplate my own tagline. I hadn't really done so yet since I'm only about 25K into my novel.

What makes a good tagline?

Taglines in marketing are catchy slogans that peak the interest of consumers. We can all name present/past slogans for brands such as Nike, Pepsi, and many others. Similarly, taglines in writing are interesting sentences that grab the reader's attention and don't let go.

Taglines are:

--STRONG! They use as few words as possible to get the purpose of the novel across. They use powerful verbs and nouns in place of stretching out the description with adjectives and adverbs.

--CATCHY! A tagline must snag the reader. It should give them just enough information without giving away the secrets of the novel. Get creative!

--DEFINIATIVE! A super tagline defines a novel. It wraps in character, plot, purpose, etc all in one, while throwing in a taste of the style of the novel. A happy-go-lucky novel won't have a tagline which uses verbs/noun with a heavy or disheartened connotation.

So, I spent part of the morning messing with some words and metaphors, etc. and came up with what I think are a couple of good possibilities.

"When life shut the door on her memories, God opened a supernatural window to help her save the world."

"A disillusioned loan officer loses her memories, but gains a supernatural gift meant to save the world."


What do you think? Are they strong enough? Which do you think is better?

6 comments:

  1. I definitely like the first one better. I have been thinking about taglines lately as well. I am trying to come up with one for my book but so far they don't seem catchy enough. I'll keep working! Good job on yours, I like them :)

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  2. great post! good food for thought!

    I personally didn't like the first one. The words felt too superlative and metaphoric. The second one was better, but still too wordy. Most taglines I've seen are very short, often questions. Like: "With no memory of who she is, can Ninevah save the world?"

    anyway, just an example. may not be what you're going for, and everyone's tastes are different!

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  3. Yeah, it is probably definitely a matter of taste as well. You are right, Tamara, it is probably a little wordy. I'll have to work on it some more!

    Thanks for your help, ladies!

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  4. Hey Raylene!

    Being such a newbie, I'm not sure I should even be commenting on taglines for a book yet. However, I guess I won't let that stop me from sharing anyway. (giggle)

    A couple of things came to mind and even if they stink they might -- in some minute way -- help you. Kind of like how brainstorming gets the juices flowing. Just remember, free advice is sometimes worth only what you pay for it. =) I might also add that these are probably NOT technically taglines, but more random thoughts. That said...

    "She loses her memory, but gains a gift unlocking secrets that will change the world. "

    "In losing her memory, she gains an amazing gift that changes not only her life but the world around her."

    "The very thing that causes her memory to vanish brings a gift which sets off a chain of almost unbelievable events."

    "She can't see her past, but what she sees now changes things forever."

    "How can she know things no one else does, when she doesn't even know who she is?"

    So, anyway, that's what flitted into my mind.
    Have a great day and Happy Writing!

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  5. Ooo...I like the one about "seeing", Susan. I may play with the wording a bit and see what I come up with. Thanks!

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  6. some great ones in there! I really liked the second one and the last one!

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Thank you for taking the time to leave your thoughts/opinions.