The Best Tip I Give to Authors at Writers Conferences

If you can’t explain your book in a sentence, you’re screwed. 

(If you’re an entrepreneur, this applies to your business too.)

I could tell you that we all have shorter attention spans, that the iPhone and the 24-hour-news-cycle have killed our ability to focus and listen. 

And while that might be true in some aspects, there’s a bigger, crueler truth.

Very few people care enough to keep listening.

That’s why I try to get good at winnowing down what my clients are writing about. Instead of a page, I try to distill the author’s idea and platform into a paragraph. And then a sentence. And then, finally, a five-second clip. That’s relevant to everyone.

Instead of . . . I’m working with an entrepreneur who has developed a system for living and spending in alignment with our core values, which allows us to generate and save more money leading to holistic, sustainable wealth . . . I say:

I’m working with an entrepreneur who helps you enjoy your life while making more money. 

Of course, that’s a simplification.

And it certainly doesn’t get into the nuances I know about the author’s system, or the practicality of her program, or even who her audience is. 

But that doesn’t matter because that snippet, that first line, that pitch?

Is what catches someone’s interest. 

Then I can dive deeper. 

Or not.

But if I were to come at someone willy nilly with a bunch of random ideas, I promise you: very few people will stick around to try and understand it.

I’ve seen this in action at writers conferences. A well-meaning author will walk up to the pros in attendance and talk in circles. Or apologize constantly about their lack of focus. Neither of which is helpful. 

And though a quick pitch isn’t necessary to get an agent (especially when you work with someone like me) or even a publisher, authors need to get good at distilling their concept down for publicity and marketing. 

Imagine you get to be on the Today show. 

Are Hoda and Jenna going to listen to a five-minute spiel about the intricacies of whatever you’re writing about? Probably not.

But I bet they want to learn how to enjoy their lives while making more money.