10 Tips On How To Write Killer Taglines For Your Fiction Books

Tagline is a key element for my fiction books.

When writing my blurb, I tend to state the book’s tagline first followed by a compelling copy of what the fiction book is about, what genre it falls under etc. This tagline can thus be seen as a teaser. In addition to hooking readers, taglines also capture the essence of your novel.

Here are some tips on how to write a killer tagline for your fiction books.

Also, check out my blog post for tips on crafting fiction book blurb that sells~

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1. Arrest Your Readers’ Attention

Your tagline, which probably is the first statement in your blurb, should hook and intrigue readers. You need to make them curious and want to continue reading your blurb. Or even better, jump right into the first page of your novel.

There isn’t one correct way to do this. There are many ways and if they manage to pique your readers’ curiosity, it’s a good tagline.

Here are some ways that I can think of to arrest readers’ attention

• Include something strange: If there’s anything out of the ordinary, people will look twice.
• Create a cliffhanger: Just like how you deliberately end your story in a suspenseful or shocking way, you can do the same to your tagline too.
• Use “I” or “You”: First and second person pronouns narrow the distance between characters and readers. Such a tagline will make your readers imagine that they’re the characters of your book!

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2. Pack A Punch: Be Concise & Simple

Your tagline should be punchy. Therefore, it shouldn’t be too long. Instead, try to keep it short and simple.

But how many words is “too long”?

I don’t really have a number. But based on the taglines across all my books, they can be as short as 4 words or as long as 13 words. Likewise, my taglines vary from 1 to 3 sentences.

Instead of rambling on, try to convey your tagline in as few words as possible. Be direct and get your point across.

Again, this is my personal opinion. But I feel that taglines shouldn’t include too many difficult words. Firstly, it’ll make readers stop reading: some might give you a chance and search the dictionary while others might just leave the page. Secondly, it might make readers perceive you as an arrogant author who looks down on others due to your expansive vocabulary. But of course, there are exceptions. For instance, you can deliberately include difficult words in your tagline if you’re featuring your highly intelligent protagonist who always uses big words.

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3. Convey The Gist Of Your Story

Besides being a teaser, your tagline should also capture the central idea or essence of your story.

Most people think that a tagline is a hook where you try to arouse your readers’ curiosity so they consider buying your book. That is correct.

But a tagline should be able to succinctly express the main idea of your story.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should squeeze everything: your protagonist, setting, theme etc. Instead, you can try focusing on one to three elements. Gather just a few elements and put them into focal point.

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4. Choose Between First, Second Or Third Person Point Of View

This is my opinion. But I don’t think the tagline’s point of view need to match your story’s point of view. For example, my Countdowner trilogy is written in third person perspective but my tagline uses first person pronoun.

For me, I feel that the key is selecting the point of view that best conveys your tagline.

• Want your readers to imagine that they’re the protagonist of your story? Choose first person.
• Want to close the distance between your characters and readers? Choose first or second person.
• Want to be the omniscient all-knowing narrator who knows your characters’ thoughts and secrets? Choose third person.

In this case, my story revolves around the female protagonist. In fact, the series and book titles are named after her species and ability. Thus, it makes sense that the tagline is written from her perspective. It also adds on to that counting down narrative that is consistently repeated in the series and book titles and now in the tagline itself.

Here’s a breakdown of first, second and third person

• First person: I/we perspective
• Second person: you perspective
• Third person: he/she/it/they perspective

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5. Evoke Emotions That You Want Readers To Feel

Depending on the way you craft your tagline, you might be able to evoke certain feelings in your readers. This could be done via word choice, syntax and more.

You can jot down the emotions that you want readers to feel then work on creating a tagline that evokes these feelings.

For example, if you use the word “research-backed”, it creates trust. People will believe you because the word implies that there’s data to substantiate your claim. Whatever you say will seem credible. Let’s look at “jaw-dropping” and “breathtaking” which both elicit surprise. The former is more like shock or astonishment from something really surprising. The latter, however, is like surprise after seeing something really beautiful or picturesque. It also evokes the feeling of awe.

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6. Leverage The Rule Of Three

As mentioned earlier, I personally like the Rule Of Three copywriting technique. I do use it sometimes in my day job when copywriting ads, emails or landing pages.

The Rule Of Three is the idea that groups of three words, phrases, or ideas are more engaging, effective and memorable. Readers are also more likely to remember the information conveyed because having three entities combines both brevity and rhythm and creates a pattern.

When using the Rule Of Three for your book’s tagline, just ensure that it isn’t too wordy. You can use 3 short sentences or one sentence with 3 items separated by commas. The possibilities are endless.

Let’s take a look at how some authors do this.

“35 Girls. 1 Crown. The competition of a lifetime.”
– The Selection

This tagline is brilliant because it immediately tells readers what’s at stake. I also love that numbers (written in numerals) are included. Much like copywriting, numbers do stand out more than words. The Rule Of Three is applied here with 3 short sentences as the tagline.

“Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.”
– An Ember in the Ashes

This tagline introduces the protagonists and highlights the key conflict. Again, it taps into the rule of three. This works because it connects the two protagonists and hints at the romance between them.

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7. Let The Tagline Come Naturally To You

Have you suddenly thought of an amazing story idea while you were in the shower? Or did your characters jump off the page and speak to each other such that you captured their dialogue in your story?

Well, I did. In fact, some of my book titles and characters’ names have suddenly popped into my mind. Likewise, this might happen to you for your taglines too.

If taglines appear all of a sudden, you should quickly jot them down. For me, I usually note them in Google Keep. I tend to jot them as soon as I can before I forget them. You can use them immediately if they’re good. Or else, you can polish the taglines further until you’re satisfied.

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8. Learn From Taglines Of Similar & Competitor Books

One great way to brush up your tagline writing skills is to analyze taglines of other books.

Check out the top 100 books in your genre. Look at their tagline. What do you like and dislike about them?

Obviously, you can’t copy these taglines word for word. But you can analyze literary techniques like diction and even punctuation.

The best way to learn is by looking at others. While improving your tagline copywriting skills, you’re also doing market research and competitor analysis.

Here’s an example to demonstrate the effective use of punctuation:

“Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?”
– Clariel

This tagline is phrased as a question that effectively intrigues readers: whether you control fate or fate controls you? I like it because it’s a thought-provoking question. This creates an impression that the book makes you think deeply about life.

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9. Brainstorm & Shortlist Taglines

Based on all the tips above, you might have brainstormed a dozen taglines.

For me, I came up with 100+ different taglines for one of my books. I was really torn and was undecided for a long while before settling on a tagline.

You will then need to trim this list: striking out taglines that aren’t as good and keeping better ones.

When deciding on your tagline, you can say it out loud and see how the tagline sounds and rolls off your tongue. The tagline shouldn’t be a mouthful such that you stumble over the words.

Try to narrow this list of taglines to just a few best ones.

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10. Get Feedback From Your Readers

Next, show these shortlisted taglines to your readers. Ask them

• What do they feel after reading the taglines?
• What have they learned about your story?
• Which tagline stands out and makes the book irresistible?

You can consider creating a poll with all your shortlisted taglines and see which is the winner. This way, you can make an informed decision based on data.

Also, let them know that you welcome any additional feedback. That the book will be better because of their feedback~

In fact, this sneak peek into your draft taglines can be a special privilege that’s only granted to your street team.

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Case Study: See It In Action

Okay, let’s put these tips into action!

Here are my taglines across my various books. We’ll analyze each of them one by one.

For my first Countdowner trilogy, I created a tagline for each book in the series.

• Book 1: As time ticks away, day by day, I meet you.
• Book 2: As time trickles away, hour by hour, I know you better.
• Book 3: As time dwindles away, minute by minute, I cherish every moment with you.

Notice how the taglines of my first trilogy are romance-related? The first-person perspective narrows the distance between the protagonist and readers. And you can vividly feel the protagonist’s love as she meets, knows and leaves her lover. The subtle differences of day vs hour vs minute and meet vs know vs cherish reinforce the protagonist’s decreasing time and hint at the tragedy.

For my next two trilogies, I decided to just use one tagline for all books in the series.

• Asphodelus: Dead girl. Deadlier enemies.
• Blood Hunter: Blood is my weapon. Blood is your food. Blood is our connection.

My second trilogy has the shortest tagline of 4 words only. I use alliteration and deliberately tap into the meanings of “dead” and “deadlier”. The first sentence immediately reveals the genre of my book—a ghost story. The second sentence adds on to the horrific feeling. It also implies that there’ll be some action and fighting.

My third trilogy is about love again. But it also hints at vampires. Also, notice how blood is repeated three times but means different things to me, you and us? In addition to bringing attention to the main element of the trilogy (blood in this case), the tagline arouses readers’ curiosity on why this item can mean different things to different people.

For my next novel, I used a similar formula of 3 sentences as 1 tagline. The Rule Of Three, remember? The first sentence succinctly highlights the protagonist’s occupation and the book’s genre—time travel. The second sentence hints that there’s romance. And the third sentence changes this love to a poignant one.

• Postman: Letters across time. Love across generations. Wait of a lifetime.

For my latest novel, I point out the central topics of writing and literary immortality. You’ve probably heard of “If a writer loves you, you’re forever immortalized.” Likewise, this book is about a story within a story. A metafiction about an author and a character she created. But the biggest mystery, which probably caused many readers to scratch their heads, is the word “memento” that suggests a tragic ending.

• You From My World: Because writing is forever. This is my memento of you.

Bear in mind that crafting taglines is an art and science. It’s something you need to practice and master. It also took me a while and many discarded taglines to settle on these final taglines. In fact, I think the taglines for my first trilogy weren’t very good. But seeing my improvement as I write more taglines is amazing~ And I hope you’ll one day master this art and science of crafting taglines too 😊

Now It’s Your Turn

I feel that taglines are really important. They’re the hook to pull readers into your novel. Thus, I strongly recommend that you spend time crafting your taglines. Hopefully, the tips are useful in helping you write your taglines!

Feel free to share your tips, process and experience when crafting taglines~