Being Concise

Do you ever start to tell someone a story and realize that your giving way too much back information? I have a tendency to do exactly that. When promoting yourself…

Do you ever start to tell someone a story and realize that your giving way too much back information? I have a tendency to do exactly that.

When promoting yourself its important to be concise. In today's world people are impatient (especially the media), so it's a good idea to get your point across quickly. You may want to try writing down your pitch or your description of your work and editing it down and then rehearsing it a bit. Of course, you don't want to sound like a robot so don't over polish it, but instead practice getting your main point across. Your goal is to be quick, clear and interesting.

Jane Friedman is a full-time entrepreneur (since 2014) and has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. She is the co-founder of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, and is the former publisher of Writer’s Digest. In addition to being a columnist with Publishers Weekly and a professor with The Great Courses, Jane maintains an award-winning blog for writers at JaneFriedman.com. Jane’s newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press, 2018).