Something a little different this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve jabbered a lot in the past about the importance of nailing your elevator pitch: making sure that your basic novel concept is one that people feel the need to pick up and explore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think that\u2019s not just commercially important. I think it\u2019s artistically important too. It\u2019s key to any genuinely great book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve also always said that the elevator pitch \u2013 that basic concept \u2013 is FOR YOU. It\u2019s a mother with 100 daughters. The daughters arise anywhere your book concept touches the world. So, for example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Your query letter<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Your book blurb<\/li>\n\n\n\n
A two-line pitch on social media<\/li>\n\n\n\n
A conversation with an agent at our London Festival of Writing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
But also, for example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Your text itself<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Your opening page (and what it hints at in terms of the future)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Choices you make about what and what not to include.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
But also: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Your book cover<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Your website<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Your Twitter profile (I\u2019m not going to call that company by a stupid name just to please an erratic billionaire)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Your Facebook ads (ditto). <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Today, I thought it would be interesting to pick up the very last of those. Here, for example, is a Facebook ad for one of the Fiona books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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What\u2019s the elevator pitch for that book? Well, all my pitches have two layers, I guess. There\u2019s the series pitch (\u201cDetective who used to think she was dead\u201d). And there\u2019s the individual book pitch, which in this case is something like \u201cDark religion + kidnap + remote Wales village\u201d. That\u2019s the pitch if you pick out the central ingredients. If you want a more conventional pitch, then \u201cWoman, wearing bridal white, found dead in a country churchyard. Who is she? And why is she here?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hope you feel that the image above connects adequately with the pitch. It\u2019s not that they say the exact same thing, but they live happily together \u2013 like lemon and mint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nearly all my ads use the same colour set \u2013 yellow and white text, dark monochrome image \u2013 because that basic mixture says noirish crime, with strong hints of seriousness. (Yellow and black together convey danger \u2013 it\u2019s one of the standard colour sets of warning signs and crime tape.) Also, of course, the more consistency in the ads, the more casual users start to notice the brand on repeat viewings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s another ad for the same book: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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That\u2019s a more direct expression of the elevator pitch, but they\u2019re both playing on the same basic turf. At the moment, both ads have roughly the same link click-through rate, so I can\u2019t yet say which one will come out on top. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or take another example, this time for the ($0.99) series opener. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here, the elevator pitch is all about my damaged detective \u2013 who\u2019s kinda nuts and used to think she was dead. The ad that\u2019s worked best so far is this one: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The actual image there is pretty much bog-standard: tough, crimey woman + moody landscape. But the ad text tells you who that woman is: \u201cBrilliant, quirky, damaged, fascinating.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again, that\u2019s not a direct statement of the pitch, but it\u2019s certainly a very clear echo. It makes you want to know more\u2026 and when you get to the actual book sales page, the basic offer expands from that exact starting point. The journey from ad to book page, to \u201clook inside\u201d, to purchase, should all be very clear, very consistent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another ad that has done well is this one: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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That ad offers a landscape \u2013 a somewhat foreboding, Welsh-looking one. That establishes genre (moody, Celtic noir, crime), but it doesn\u2019t say much directly about the pitch. But again, \u201cWales\u2019 strangest detective\u201d slaps the elevator pitch right there, up top. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both those ads have done better than one that uses a really positive review as its central element. Take this ad, for example: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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That ad has done OK\u2026 but it\u2019s not been any kind of star performer. And I think that\u2019s because its relationship with the elevator pitch is just too murky. OK, so Fiona Griffiths stars in some crime books. We\u2019ve never met anyone like her. But\u2026 what? She\u2019s super-girly? She\u2019s a klutz? She\u2019s half-robot? She speaks Ukrainian? She mostly works as a part-time hairdresser? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In terms of ads that really deliver readers \u2013 that is, ads that command the user\u2019s attention from first sight through to completion of purchase \u2013 it\u2019s been my experience that the pitch matters. That\u2019s why your original concept matters so much, even before you\u2019ve started to write a word. It\u2019s why that concept matters so much when you\u2019re selling, not just with the text you deploy, but the image composition too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s it from me, my furry companion. May the grass lie softly for you and the air taste sweet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you have any visual material for your book? If so, let\u2019s hear your pitch and see your visuals. That\u2019ll be fun! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you don\u2019t have anything available yet (and you really don\u2019t need to), then just give us your pitch and sketch out for us what a book cover or Facebook ad might look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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