Why use a Tagline for your latest Novel?  Because it gives your reader more information about you and about your book.  It is different from the short synopsis you place on the back cover. The tagline is a great way to hook the interest of readers who have little time, and the online surfers, who usually allow ten seconds to read it, become interested and buy it.  Authors use Taglines for their books—Advertisers use Taglines for marketing products, and Movies have had Taglines since the early 1900’s.

These marketing slogans have proven their worth by lasting years and years, without change. Here are a few advertising Taglines still in use:  “KFC’s “Finger Lickin’ Good”, Wheaties, “Breakfast of Champions, and the one for the Army: “Be all you can be”.

The first movie released with a tagline was a Poster designed by Jules Cheret, a Frenchman, promoting a short film in 1890.   In 1895, they depicted an actual Train Scene from the film “Arrival of a train”.  In 1910, the studios produced their own, with special border art, titles, Studio logos, and “slogans” or Taglines.  Did you know the Number One Tagline from all Movies is 1979’s “ALIEN”—“In space, no one can hear you scream.”   

    To continue,—you need a Tagline for your novel. Let us assume your novel is a love story. Here are a few thoughts that will make a tagline effective.

  What is the conflict or basis of the story (love or career)—what is the meaning of your story (can she do both?)—Emphasize an important quality of your character (Determined, stubborn)—Highlight something distinctive about the novel (does love win?)—Inspire the reader’s curiosity, by not telling all, but just enough to interest them—the genre of the novel? (Romance, Young Adult).

  Start each word with the same letter: Example, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.

Rhyming:  Love came to her in a dream…but was it all a scheme? The tagline tells you it is a love story, with a mysterious character, and it may not turn out well.

Try a short, dynamic tagline like: “Love hurts.”  Sometimes the shorter the tagline, the more interest in your book, and the urge to buy it.

If you quote something in the novel, maybe what your character says, use it as a Tagline. Your fans will recognize it and the result will be an increased enthusiasm for your book.           

Because of the importance of your Tagline, you may want to enlist the help of someone.

However, whatever you do, keep trying new combinations until the right one is found.

Here’s to a successful TAGLINE, Paula