So What's Your Book About: Learning To Talk About My Own Work

It has occurred to me, SheWriters, that I haven’t even told you anything about my new novel, SILVER SPARROW. And this dovetails perfectly into my challenge for this week—How to talk about my book. It’s a tricky proposition. I want something punchy that people can remember, but I also want to do justice to my project. When someone asks me "What's Your Book About?" I could answer that a thousand different ways. It's almost as bad as "Tell me about yourself." I have no idea where to start.

Here’s what my publisher has written on the dust jacket:

With the opening line of Silver Sparrow, “My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist,” author Tayari Jones unveils a breathtaking story about a man’s deception, a family’s complicity, and two teenage girls caught in the middle.

Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s, the novel revolves around James Witherspoon’s two families—the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode when secrets are revealed and illusions shattered. As Jones explores the backstories of her rich yet flawed characters—the father, the two mothers, the grandmother, and the uncle—she also reveals the joy, as well as the destruction, they brought to one another’s lives.

At the heart of it all are the two lives at stake, and like the best writers—think Toni Morrison with The Bluest Eye—Jones portrays the fragility of these young girls with raw authenticity as they seek love, demand attention, and try to imagine themselves as women, just not as their mothers.

As you can imagine, I cannot go around speaking about myself in these terms. (I can just see myself saying “Think Toni Morrison…”) But exactly how does a person talk about her book? There's no avoiding it. It has to be done.

There was a time when I would say, “Silver Sparrow is about bigamy.” Then people would say, “Like Big Love?” So then I started saying, “It’s about bigamy, the lying, cheating kind, not the religious kind.” This gets more to the heart of the novel, but the tone is off. It wasn’t a description, it was a pitch. And while it’s an accurate characterization of the subject matter, it wasn’t a true portrayal.

What I have settled on is not a one-sentence summary. I worked five years on the novel and I feel that I owe it more than a five-second run-down. I have been told a million times that you have to be able to talk about your book in ten words or less. I think that so many guides to marketing forget the fact that these books are our babies in so many ways. A novel is not just an object to sell. I would even argue that when we start to talk about it as an object, people think of it as an object. But when we slow down and speak of it as a lovingly crafted work of art, others will treat it the same way.

I believe the best marketing tool is your own sincerity. We do interviews, tours, book club meetings, et cetera because we want to connect with readers. If we’re speaking in sound bytes and jingles we are not respecting ourselves, our work or our readers. And without respect, there is no connection.

Now, when someone asks me about my book, I say this—

Silver Sparrow is about two girls that have the same father. One knows, but the other lives in the shadows. It’s also about the wives, the acknowledged one, and the secret one. I wrote it because there are many people who live this way, and I really wanted to try and figure out how people can connect with each other and overcome the shame, anger and hurt in order to take responsibility for their own lives.

Just now, I timed myself saying that and it took twenty-one seconds. My book deserves at least that much.

_____

Now, over to you, SheWriters-- are you comfortable talking about your own work? How do you describe your project?

Tags: #publishing, marketing, public speaking, publishing

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Comment by Lynne Morgan Spreen on June 12, 2011 at 2:30pm: And Silver Sparrow is also noted in Vogue magazine! Okay, I'm now officially jealous, Tayari.

Comment by Lovenia Leapart on June 9, 2011 at 2:45pm: Awesome post. Thank you! I have struggled with this very same issue as well and I agree wholeheartedly with the points you make in this post.

Comment by Lynne Morgan Spreen on June 8, 2011 at 6:09am: I just settled in with my new O Magazine and YOUR BOOK IS FEATURED IN IT!!! Tayari, you are way too humble so obviously I am going to have to do it for you (and congrats!)

HEY EVERYBODY, CLICK HERE!!! http://www.oprah.com/book/Silver-Sparrow-by-Tayari-Jones

Comment by Connie Rausch on June 7, 2011 at 5:09am: I find it difficult to start talking about my book as well. My book is very personal and very tragic. Some people have said they found it difficult to read because it was so emotional. Others loved it and wanted to read more.

My book starts with my husband in the hospital while fighting for cancer and then I start talking about my life before we met. The last part of the book is about the grieving process and my recovery.

Comment by Kenya D. Williamson on May 18, 2011 at 3:24pm: I wrote screenplays before I finished my first novel. So, I know how difficult the logline or elevator pitch can be. I still haven't mastered it. When the story's stripped down too much, I feel it loses what makes it unique. It can seem like describing a beautiful painting by telling the buyer what type of frame it could fit into.

As for my book, here's one of my pitches--

Depth of Focus is about an aspiring photographer who fears following in her parents' footsteps. If she can't find a way to balance a meddling roommate, nosy neighbor, former lover, current lover, mostly-absent father, jealous sibling, insecure best friend and suicidal mother with the demands of her lousy job, approaching birthday party and shrinking college fund, she won't be going to school. And chances are, she'll lose a lot more than her career.
It's an adaptation of my first script, inspired by moving 3,000 miles from everything and everyone I knew. Although it’s written purely in prose, the entire manuscript –- in my head -– is constructed of poetry without the stanzas.

Comment by Lynne Morgan Spreen on May 18, 2011 at 10:19am: Thank you so much for this post, Tayari. I have run into EXACTLY the same conundrum: how to answer the question quickly but still do it justice? I have found that when I relax and talk about the book, with all the affection and sincerity I feel for it, people really respond. And when I try to stuff that little speech into an "elevator pitch", it sounds like crap. So you have validated my feelings and I thank you. Best wishes with what sounds like a lovely story.

Comment by Jennie Jodziewicz on May 16, 2011 at 11:04am: I used to think that writing was 'my thing.' When someone would ask me what I'm passionate about, I would say "writing," without hesitation. However, I've recently discovered that writing is not my passion at all. It's merely my vehicle. My passion is helping others realize their significance, and through my words, I hope to encourage them to overcome their past, their current obstacles, and any future preconceived notions they have that are holding them back. When I thought writing was my passion, it was very hard for me to describe my writing projects succinctly. I was too afraid I just wouldn't do it justice - it was my passion after all, and people might not understand. But once I was able to separate my true passion from my vehicle in which my passion travels, it became much easier to lay out the words needed to describe any project at hand.

I currently have 5 eBooks that I’m working on, all of which are briefly described in my profile. I’m new to SheWrites, and am so thankful to have found a site with so many like-minded women who have their minds set on success, sharing that success, and even sharing the times when things aren’t so ‘successful.’

Comment by Sandi R. Sams on May 12, 2011 at 10:07am: I am not comfortable talking about my work. My WIP has been so sporadic over such a long time... turmoil and life interfere... though I lay it down it refuses to stay lie there. Willa insists upon her voice being heard.

I know I could never ever adequately describe her in 10 words or even 100... but here goes...

Willa (working title) is about......

Ok, maybe not.

I have discribed her as "a young artist trying to escape an abusive relationship"... but she is much more than that. Her life was a rocky road right from the beginning. Her mother abandoned her and her adoptive parents were killed when she was still very young.... Ok... each time I try... I seem to be 'telling' the story.

Comment by MiMi Atkins on May 11, 2011 at 9:55pm: I describe my project as a work in progress and there's no need to shy away from your work. A writer should not feel as if she/he is boasting. Confidence is key in everything. If you can't talk about your book when asked then who will pay homage?!?

Comment by Kimberly Wesley on May 11, 2011 at 9:45pm: I struggle with this a bit and have yet to have anything published. But when they ask, what are your working on, I'm all "It's like..." and name another novel mine is similar too, instead of just saying what mine is about.

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