Marketing Materials - Short Form, Content

6 September 2011, Marketing Materials - Short Form, Content

I also produce a short form for my novels.  The short form is not complete.  That is, unlike the long form, it doesn't include all the information you might need to give a publisher or an agent.  It does include the kind of information you might need for a reviewer, a newspaper, a book show, a website, and etc.  You can additionally use this information for teasers and to help write other marketing material.

The short form gives you quick and terse words to describe yourself and your work.

Short form information: 

1.  No more than 3 sentences about the content of your manuscript.

Aksinya contracted the demon, Asmodeus to save her family from the Bolsheviks, unfortunately her family was already dead—now, who can save Aksinya.   

The demon, Asmodeus' purpose is to tempt Aksinya to accomplish evil.

Before Aksinya can gain her freedom from the demon, Asmodeus, she might lose her friends, family, and acquaintances, and it will all be her fault.     

Okay, here are three sentences about the novel Aksinya.  You can see, these statements are written as tightly and sucinctly as possible.  You want to be terse, yet keep them exciting and flowing.  The point is to provide three teasers.  You can expand these later or use them just as they are.

Try to get excitement into them.  They to encapsulate the feel of the novel or the tension of the novel. 

There is no way to fully describe any complex work in a sentence--this is what you as a writer must do.  Even if you don't use them for marketing, consider this a great exercise in writing.

2.  One sentence about successful works similar to yours.

3.  No more than 2 sentences about yourself. (use 3^rd person)

4.  No more than 2 sentences that include “other,” i.e. any reasons, relationships, or other factors that might make your work more attractive.

Tomorrow, we'll start filling out the short form for Aksinya with commentary, of course.