Jennifer Crusie's Blog: Argh Ink

On December 18, 2009 at 6:26 pm Briana said...

As I read through them, I think that Tell Me Lies is…not misleading exactly, but it doesn’t really fit the story as well as some of the others. Maybe that’s because it seems like more a tag line for CL and I think of it more as Maddie’s story.

I like the Fast Women and Faking It tag lines. As a reader, they best encapsulate the story (I think).

I’m kind of meh on the others. I can’t decide which other one would be in my bottom two.

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On December 18, 2009 at 6:44 pm Jennifer said...

Temptation is the only line I really don’t think works. It’s not nearly as sexy and fun as it should be. I probably would have gone for “What happens when the bad girl and the town boy meet,” or use the phrase “devil’s candy” or “The water tower says everything…” Okay, you probably can’t use the last one, but it’d be fun.

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On December 18, 2009 at 7:41 pm Beki said...

Crazy for You isn’t right. Quinn was not crazy; Bob was. And in that same vein, Tell Me Lies’s tag line does refer to CL and not Maddie. It probably could have been tweaked a little to better fit her.

Welcome to Temptation makes me laugh the longer I consider it. It really is all about those people dropping dead one after another. I may have to go dig that off the shelf.

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On December 18, 2009 at 8:18 pm Tabs said...

The Fast Women is my favorite. Makes me laugh every time I read it. I also love the Tell Me Lies one.

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On December 18, 2009 at 8:23 pm helen said...

The tags for Crazy For You and Welcome to Temptation don’t work for me. CFY just feels too wordy and clunky. WTT–my favourite Crusie ever– deserves something sexier. Loved the cover blurb though.

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On December 18, 2009 at 10:23 pm marly said...

Hmmm – well, Welcome To Temptation is not my favorite. I think of Zane and he wasn’t a Temptationite, Temptationer? resident. Oh, and Phin’s ex-wife. Sophie does have all those close calls, but I think I’d go with something like: WELCOME TO TEMPTATION: Don’t even try to resist. – I can’t think of a woman in her right mind who would.

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On December 18, 2009 at 11:27 pm Reb said...

To be honest, I think those are all kinda meh. Except for WTT, but that doesn’t fit. The only local to die had died years earlier.

I like The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes (“There’s magic in the night”) and D&G (“Dangerous men, dark powers, dog biscuits. They have it all.”) much better.

But I just dug out my copies of the books and they’ve got:

CFY: “She’s caught between the devil she knows – and the devil she’d like to know”
TML: “Sometimes the truth can be scandalous”
Faking It: “You’d know if it was the real thing … wouldn’t you?”

Have I got the UK editions or something?

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On December 19, 2009 at 9:52 am Lani said...

Titles, taglines, back cover copy, and cover art are all really important things. While anecdotally, everyone can point to a time when a title didn’t really matter, that’s because something else got you to buy the book. Some readers are drawn in by the title, others by the cover, others by the author. The tagline and the back cover copy are secondary snares. If they work, the reader hits the first couple of pages. That’s the sale. And I disagree about whether taglines can adequately represent a book. Of course, they can’t hit everything, but I think, “What has reality ever done for you?” is a fabulous line, it gets across the snarky tone of the book, which is a good thing to get across in seven words. So, while any one element might be unimportant to any one reader, Jenny’s a bestselling author because she takes this stuff very seriously. And because she has Argh People (Arghettes? Arghies?) watching her back.

Tell Me Lies: You can go home again. You just can’t leave.

I’m not a fan of this one. I think it should relate to the lies, because that’s at the heart of the book. Something like, “Nothing ruins a perfectly good marriage like the truth.” But better. Arghies? (I like Arghies.)

Crazy For You: Sometimes you have to lose your mind to find yourself.

This one appears to be problematic. I think Jenny’s right – it’s a little long. I like, “Sanity is overrated,” but that’s not terribly sexy, and the title has a little sexiness, but not a lot. Hmmm… “Sanity isn’t the only thing she’s losing…” But that’s a bummer. And sounds like a virgin secretary novel. Not that I’ve got anything against virgin secretaries, I’m just sayin’. “Choose love or sanity. You can’t have both.” Also long and if you’re gonna go long, might as well keep the original. “Love has benefits. Sanity isn’t one of them.”

Oh, god. Surely someone’s better at this than me?

Welcome to Temptation: Population 2,158. And falling.

I adore that one. Apparently, I’m in the minority. But still. Makes me chuckle, and it gives a good sense of what to expect in the book. I think “Welcome to Temptation” takes care of the sexy part.

Fast Women: They don’t break for anybody.

I had to make Jenny explain that this wasn’t a typo. I really Did Not Get It. But, I’m the only one, so moving on…

Faking It: What’s reality ever done for you?

This was the first Jenny book I read, and I bought it for that tagline. So anecdotally, I’m saying – leave it.

Bet Me: Put your money on fate.

Love it.

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On December 19, 2009 at 12:01 pm AgTigress said...

Well, I have re-read ‘Fast women: they don’t break for anybody’ numerous times now, and it remains completely baffling. Haven’t a clue what it means. I suppose it must be a pun, and I never get puns, because I don’t hear words when I read — I just get visual associations.

Okay, if the title is the story’s personal name, and the cover art is its clothing (which can be changed, and usually is, between hardback and paperback, between different countries’ editions, between first edition and later reprints, and so on), the tagline is an accessory — jewellery or an eye-catching scarf, perhaps. Excellent if they all fit beautifully together, but really, they are all just dressing. I can’t imagine that anyone would buy a book, fiction or non-fiction, on the strength of any one of those elements alone, or even on all three combined, any more than one becomes friendly with a person because of liking her name and her fashion sense. First impressions are important, but anyone who is not a total bigot knows that they are often misleading, and need to be re-examined in order to arrive at a sound judgement.

The crucial book-buying impetus comes from knowing the author’s work, from personal recommendation if one doesn’t, and then from sampling the book — not just the first page, but several pages throughout (and if it’s non-fiction, the index and bibliography too).

Of course authors and publishers want to get the ‘right’ title and cover — not that the author and publisher necessarily agree on those things. I will not bore you all about what I am going through with my own publisher on precisely those issues at the moment. (They want to change the matching title style or formula for the third book of a closely connected series, the silly twerps.) So I know just how much one can agonise about it all, but when it really comes down to it, as Jenny discovered with her ‘title’ poll, the impact of those first-impression aspects may not be as great as one thinks.

In the case of a successful novelist, I can absolutely guarantee that it is the WRITER’S name on the cover, not the title, the art (or counter-art) or the tagline that sells each new book.

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On December 19, 2009 at 12:26 pm JulieB said...

Crazy for You: Sanity comes on little dog feet.

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On December 19, 2009 at 6:53 pm Katie Mack said...

Okay, here are my two cents:

The taglines for Bet Me and Faking It are perfect as is.

The line for WTT always makes me laugh, but I don’t feel it represents the story well. I’m about 50/50 on this one.

I agree with what everyone else said about TML. I don’t like that one.

I think the one for CFY is a good one, and representative of the story, but I also agree that it’s long. On a side note, I remember exactly what made me buy Crazy for You. At the very top of the back cover on the mmp version is this: “On Wednesday, Quinn McKenzie changes her life. On Thursday, she tries to get somebody to notice. On Thursday night, somebody does.” I stopped reading the back cover right there, didn’t flip through the pages, or deliberate. Those three lines completely and totally sold me. But, I digress. Back to the taglines.

I had to re-read the line for Fast Women because the first time I thought it was a typo. Having already read the book I “got it” and think it’s clever, but if I was reading that on the cover of a book I’d never read, I’d be much more likely to think “typo!” and then put the book back on the shelf.

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On December 20, 2009 at 6:01 am stephanie said...

Tell Me Lies: You can go home again. You just can’t leave.
–it doesn’t represent the story well for me
Crazy For You: Sometimes you have to lose your mind to find yourself.
–LOVE, we’re never gunna survive unless we get a little crazy. This one wasn’t JUST about Quinn, we all go a little mad sometimes…(it was like a domino effect)
Welcome to Temptation: Population 2,158. And falling.
– This made me laugh =) PERFECT for the story
Fast Women: They don’t break for anybody.
– I like it. It describes the kick-arse women in the novel.
Faking It: What’s reality ever done for you?
– PERFECTOOOO
Bet Me: Put your money on fate.
— cute

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On December 20, 2009 at 6:04 am LilyC said...

Going back to what Lani was saying, could we be Argh-onauts?

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On December 20, 2009 at 10:47 am Rose said...

I loved the WTT tagline; also FI and, to a lesser extent, FW. The Bet Me tagline seems generically bland, and Tell Me Lies and Crazy for you are not snappy enough, somehow. MOO.

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On December 20, 2009 at 4:10 pm Kira said...

Shoshana, get your grandma a Kindle. You can easily change the font size.

WTT- “going down”, heh, heh, heh.

Bet Me’s isn’t that great for me, because “bet me” is a dare, and the tagline makes it seem like it’s about gambling. Something like “what are the odds” would be more intruguing. That book is as close to perfection as I’ve ever read…

Crazy for You should have something a little more original, to offset what is a somewhat cliched title (until you actually read the book, and then it’s perfect). Maybe something about “changing it up”?

TML – something with “adulterated”?

Jenny, if millions of people haven’t heard of you, that only means that you could have millions of sales. Have you had any translations?

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On December 21, 2009 at 11:39 am kavi said...

I leant my copy of Faking It to a friend the other day (thereby opening her eyes to a whole new world – she is eternally grateful), so I can’t check – but I think the tagline was something like ‘you’d know if it’s the real deal.. wouldn’t you?” something like that.. which I thought really worked.
think something like
‘..don’t just grin and bare it’
would be funny too – kinda in reference to all the teeth.. and other things , although you’d have to be a fan of the play on words for that..

I really like the taglines for WTT and Fast Women. – funny, clever and snappy, like the books. For WTT- the title is very sexy, so its nice to follow it with a something snappier.

I do think the Bet Me one doesn’t capture the spark and snap between Min and Cal.. bit too cute for them. Not sure that I could come up with anything better though . tried brainstorming -
‘high heels. higher stakes’ – although that would still need tweaking.
my other ideas seemed even worse when i actually typed them.

see, this is why i leave the wit to you

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On December 21, 2009 at 4:03 pm Lou said...

Darn, I was hoping that they would continue to reissue your books in those small hardcover editions (I LOVE those).

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On December 22, 2009 at 12:18 pm RLJ said...

So the TML tagline – why I don’t think it works is because to me it seems more about CL’s story then Maddie’s. From the little you’ve shared about your NaNo story, the tagline might work for that book.

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