Elevator pitch examples for authors
An elevator pitch fails when it describes the business instead of giving the listener a reason to ask a second question. These end somewhere the other person can pick up.
Ten of them follow, written for authors rather than filled in from a template. Your customer is a reader, an editor, a festival programmer or someone writing an introduction for you, and what they are weighing up before they get in touch is giving a book hours they will not get back, for a writer they are not sure about.
The one-liner
I am an author in [your town] — I write novels and non-fiction for a reader, an editor, a festival programmer or someone writing an introduction for you.
Use this when you have one sentence and no idea who you are talking to.
Problem first
The thing people worry about with authors is giving a book hours they will not get back, for a writer they are not sure about. That is the part I deal with. I am an author, and the bio comes in three lengths, so the right one is always to hand.
Use this where the problem is instantly recognisable and the service is not.
Names who it is for
I work for a reader, an editor, a festival programmer or someone writing an introduction for you. Mostly novels and non-fiction. If that is not you, you probably know someone.
Use this at an event where most people are not your customer, to find the ones who are.
Credential first
I am a published author. Published work, with the publisher and year stated rather than implied. I mostly do novels and non-fiction.
Use this in a room where qualification is the thing that buys attention.
The contrast
Most authors [what the default does]. I am the one that has a bio ready in the length the form actually wants. That is more or less the whole difference.
Use this when your market has a clear default and you are not it.
With a number in it
I am an author — [number] years, [number] books, and I name the books and who published them.
Use this when you have a real number. Do not invent one.
The origin
I started because giving a book hours they will not get back, for a writer they are not sure about was normal in this trade and it did not need to be. So that is the business: an author where the bio comes in three lengths, so the right one is always to hand.
Use this when the reason you started is short and true.
Ten seconds
Author. Novels, mostly. [your town].
Use this when someone asks what you do and is already half-turned away.
Ends with the ask
I am an author doing novels and non-fiction. If you ever hear someone say [the thing your customers say], that is me.
Use this when the point of the conversation is a referral, not a sale.
The warm version
[their question] — I am an author. The part people usually ask about is writing that earns the hours it asks for.
Use this where the pitch would land badly and a conversation would not.
Writing for authors: what actually matters
What should an author’s website say that a generic one does not?
Three things, in this order. That you are published. That you understand the thing people are actually worried about, which for authors is giving a book hours they will not get back, for a writer they are not sure about. And what happens next: tell me which book you have read and what you want to ask about it. Everything else on the page is decoration by comparison.
What does a reader, an editor, a festival programmer or someone writing an introduction for you check first?
The credential, then the proof. For authors it sounds like this. I name the books and who published them. I keep the bio in three lengths, because every form wants a different one. I say what I am working on now. Put at least one of those above the fold rather than on a separate page nobody opens.
What is the most common mistake on an author’s website?
Writing about the business instead of the customer. "We have been established since 1998" answers a question nobody asked. "Tell me which book you have read and what you want to ask about it" answers the one they are actually holding. If you only fix one thing, fix that.
How long should the copy be?
Shorter than you think, except where trust is being built. An About page of 120 well-chosen words beats 500 vague ones. The exception is anything explaining giving a book hours they will not get back, for a writer they are not sure about — there, specifics earn their length.
Everything else for authors
Elevator pitch for other trades
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