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Meet Luna. The newest member of the team at PublishingPush. She's already more popular than the rest of us combined.
Okay, puppy spam over and back to books.
First Lines
The first line of your book is SUPER important. We created this thread on Twitter (& we put it up on LinkedIn and Instagram) with some of our favourite first lines. Steal some inspo from these and if you reply with your own first line I will give you my feedback.
6 Bestselling Books that have amazing first lines. Steal some inspo from the books below if you want more book sales 📈
— Patrick | Publishing Push (@PublishingPush)
3:00 PM • Mar 16, 2022
We got a BIG response on Instagram with authors submitting their first lines. I've made a YouTube video with more of these examples and how I edited them but here is an example below.
Standing behind the sycamore tree 50 yards from the freshly covered grave, I watch him, hands stuffed in his pockets, head hung toward the ground, not ready to let go.
So I made a few tweaks
He stood 50 yards from the freshly covered grave.
The first line is shorter and sharper. It creates questions in the reader's mind. Did he dig the grave? Why is it fresh? Has a murder just happened? Does he know this person? Who is this person at the grave? I believe a great way to tell if you have a great first line is by how many questions this generates for the reader. I'd love to hear your first lines and also any favourites that you have.
This is a great quote for writers:
“Good fiction’s job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
— David Foster Wallace— Writerly (@WriterlyTweets)
6:01 PM • Mar 15, 2022
Snaps for Bryony Best (holla if you got that reference). She scored an interview on BBC Radio Solent. You can hear the interview below.
Bryony is crushing it with her book marketing. She has over 41 reviews on Amazon all from plugging away and focusing on Instagram and getting local press. I will be dissecting the process she has used in our book marketing course.
That's all from me today. The sun is shining here in Sussex and I hope you have a wonderful week.