25 for 25: Hook
If someone asks you what your book is about, you should be ready to answer them.
This essay is part of my 25 for 25 book writing series. The lessons in this series are meant to simplify the book writing and production journey. You can find a guide with links to the entire series here.
What is your book about? And how can it help someone?
The hook tackles the why of your book—the message, the takeaway, and how the book is going to impact the reader’s life. How they’re going to move forward with this new knowledge.
It represents the solution to the reader’s problem.
As you figure out what your book is about, you should be able to lock in the hook and explain it in a sentence.
The book helps readers ________________________________, so they ________________________________.
Once you figure out the best approach for book hooks, you can put this process into practice by uncovering the hooks for popular books.
“The 4-Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss helps readers reconsider their relationship with work so they can live the life of their dreams.
James Clear’s “Atomic Habits” helps readers build better habits so they can unlock their best life.
Henry Winkler’s “Being Henry: The Fonz... and Beyond” details the actor’s struggle with stardom and efforts to become whole so others may find fulfillment in their own lives.
Unlocking your book’s hook will help you burrow down on your ideal audience, ensure that the book maintains focus, and gets people excited to read it.
If someone asks you what your book is about, you should be ready to answer them. Hemming and hawing, or going on a disjointed two-minute rant, will only reveal that you don’t really know what your book is about, after all.
Knowing your hook inside and out will exponentially increase your book’s chances of success. So before you proceed: in one or two sentences, What is your book about? And how can it help someone?
Watch this!
I cover book hooks in this video.