How (and Why) to Write a Logline and a Tagline for Your Book
A few words that pack a big punch.
First, some vocabulary in case you need it:
A Logline gives the gist of your book in a sentence. It tells something about the main character, the conflict, and the stakes. So, the WHO, the WHAT, and the WHY of your story.
When someone asks you what your book is about, you’ll probably give them your logline.
A Tagline is a catchphrase that sucks the reader in. It’s the idea behind your book. AKA: the hook. It might be on the front cover of your book.
The tagline’s job is to evoke emotion.
Writing a logline and a tagline for your work in progress is a great exercise.
The logline especially helps you to build a framework for your story. The tagline helps you narrow down the emotion you want to evoke in your readers.
This exercise also forces you to distill your story down. You can’t put every single thing in one sentence, so you have to decide what’s most important.
That can be very difficult with your own book, because to you it’s all important. That’s why you need to do this exercise ahead of time, so that you can organize your…
