What is your book's hook?

Getting clear on your message and why readers should care

You want to write a book, or maybe you’re already writing one. While that is a daunting enough task, you must also answer an essential question. Preferably, before you begin to write.

What is your message? What is your book about?

That may seem ridiculous. Certainly if you are writing a book, you know what it is about, right? You’d be surprised.

Writers often struggle to articulate concisely what their book is about, and more importantly, why anyone should read it. They have a topic, generally. Or they’re writing a memoir or personal story. But organizing that topic, or telling their story in a way that connects with readers, is much harder.

What, in one sentence, is your book about, and why should anyone besides you care? What are you promising readers?

Photo by Kaushal Moradiya: https://www.pexels.com/

In other words, what’s the hook?

When I work with aspiring authors, I give them a copy of the Start Your Powerful Story workbook. This resource guides them through four big questions:

• What is your message?

• Who is your reader?

• Who are you?

• Who else is writing about this?

All four of these questions will shape what you write—but will also help you to market your book once it’s out in the world.

Many aspire to write, but fewer aspire to take on the job of being an author, which requires that you not only write but publish and then market your work.

Even if you land a deal with a traditional publisher, they will expect you to participate a lot in the marketing of your title. Clarity about your message, and being able to state it in one clear, compelling sentence, is an essential first step to marketing your book. Readers need to know what the book is about in order to make the decision to buy it. And they need to believe that investing in your book is worth it.

So this month, I want to look at each of these questions, one each week. Getting clear on the answers will save you time and money. You won’t spend time writing the wrong book, or wandering off message. (While there are times to wander and just write a very rough draft, this month I want to help you focus your efforts, especially if you aspire to not just write but publish.)

What is your message?

I’m currently wrestling with this question myself, for a book I want to write. Essentially, what I’m trying to discern is—what is the “hook” of my book? I know the topic, and I have a lot to say about it. It’s interesting to me. But I need to find a way to craft the message that will get readers to care about that topic. I need to tighten the focus and figure out the take-away. What will make readers feel compelled to pick up this book and read it? In other words, what is in it for them?

Your message is not just your topic, but what’s in it for the reader. A one-sentence statement that explains both is the book’s hook.

A book cannot be about everything. That may seem obvious, but often, writers want to include far too many topics or ideas in one book.

When you think about your message, you do need to decide which topics and ideas to include, which anecdotes will illustrate those ideas. But you also need to decide—and this is much harder—what you will leave out. What stories are just not compelling enough? What ideas are good but not in line with your topic.

A book’s “hook,” as the name implies, is the idea that grabs readers. It’s a promise of what the book will deliver.

If you’ve ever tried to describe your book and found that it takes you more than a minute, you probably need to work on refining your book’s hook. The hook is a one-sentence description that tells what the book is about and entices the reader.

A book’s hook is kind of like a movie trailer. It’s essentially a tagline that draws the reader in with a promise of what the book will give them. I love these examples of book hooks for well-known books from writing coach Rochelle Melander.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. In this memoir, a messed up, just-divorced woman finds peace through a spiritual quest that takes her to Italy, India, and Indonesia.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. In this novel, a young rich white woman helps black maids tell their story in 1960s Mississippi.

Outliers by Malcom Gladwell. This book teaches readers the surprising factors that contribute to success and how you and your children can replicate them.

If you’re writing non-fiction, your hook explains what the book will deliver, stated in a problem-solution format. A great way to start is to think about a problem and a solution. For example, a book about building a healthy lifestyle would have a hook that states:

--the problem: your reader is struggling to lose weight or find time to exercise

--the solution: clear strategies to build an exercise routine, and healthy eating habits

In the Start Your Powerful Story Workbook, I have four questions to help you determine your message:

Books typically encourage, entertain, or educate. Which will yours primarily do?

What topics need to be included in your book?

What concepts need to be defined and explained?

What stories (besides yours) do we need to tell?

These questions can help you build an outline for your book. They can help you decide what to include, and more importantly, what to leave out. They can help you craft your book’s hook.

To get a free copy of the Start Your Powerful Story Workbook, subscribe today.