The 7 Most Important Words You’ll Write

We’ve often said that your subject line is one of the most important parts of your book promotion. It might even be the seven most critical words you write!

To get attention—whether it’s booking a radio interview, lining up a book event, or securing a pre-order—people need to open your emails. They need to stand out in people’s jam-packed inboxes. And that hinges on a subject line that, for better or worse, is a little click-bait-y.

At Book Publicity School, we spend a significant amount of time helping you find the exact hook that’s going to snag your readers’ attention, but there’s an exercise you can do on your own that will go a long way:

Test your email on future you! 

• Write up a few (4-5) short, specific, and compelling subject lines.

• Schedule those emails to be sent to yourself a few hours or even a day later.

• When you’ve received them, check them out on both your computer and your phone. 

• Pay attention to what works, and what doesn’t: What catches your attention? What gets cut off? Which ones would you click open?

You may have written a brilliant book—but the success of your launch depends on the strength of your subject line.