Chapter 2 | On Pitching
Here are some of the logline and tagline examples that were shared with me in the past, plus some nonfiction taglines from books on my bookshelf!
Fiction
Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Logline: Despite her struggles with memory loss, a voyeuristic alcoholic tries to help police solve the mystery if a missing woman whose house she passes daily while taking a train.
Tagline: You don’t know her, but she knows you
Notes:
it mentions the mystery in passing – internal (memory loss and alcoholism) and external (voyeuristic) struggles
protagonist = villainesque, unreliable.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Logline: When his wife’s disappearance becomes the focus of an intense media circus, a man’s portrayal of his happy marriage crumbles and he soon becomes the main suspect.
Tagline: There are two sides to every story
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Logline: A story set in Ireland about the relationship between two people, complicated by their social and socio-economic divisions.
Tagline: I’m never lonely when I’m with you.
Notes:
the tagline is a quote from the book.
Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan
Logline: After learning he is the son of Poseidon, a youth must prevent a war among the gods and rescue his mother from Hades, king of the underworld.
Tagline: Half boy, half god, all hero
Notes:
the external stakes communicated, and the mention of Percy’s mother makes us care about the internal stakes.
the tagline appears on every single book cover across the series.
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
Logline: An absorbing historical fantasy, Shelley Parker-Chan reimagines the rise to power of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor.
Tagline: Rebel. Warrior. Hero.
Only a Monster by Vanessa Len
Logline: Joan Chang-Hunt has no idea she’s part monster until she’s thrust into a battle between a monster-slayer and one of the most ruthless monster families of London.
Tagline: In every story there is a hero and a monster. She is not the hero.
Nonfiction
Monsters by Claire Dederer
Tagline: What do we do with the art of monstrous men?
The Other Side by Jennifer Higgie
Tagline: A journey into women, art and the spirit world.
Lies Damned Lies by Claire G. Coleman
Tagline: A personal exploration of the impact of colonisation.
The Queen is Dead by Stan Grant
Tagline: The time has come for a reckoning.
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
Tagline: Why you can’t pay attention
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Tagline: Tiny changes, remarkable results.
I Didn’t Do the Thing Today by Madeleine Dore
Tagline: On letting go of productivity guilt
The Neuroscience of Self-Love by Alexis Fernandez-Preiksa
Tagline: How to improve your most important relationship
Bite Back by Hannah Ferguson
Tagline: Feminism, media, politics, and our power to change it all.