No one has more fun being dead.

Say what?

So taglines on books are an artform.

Say it once, quick and simple, and a hook goes in. Ya got me!

I’m leaning in farther into the book (phone) I’m holding, flipping it open to the first page to start reading—jump right in. Will I like this? Let’s see!

I’ll give you, book, a couple of sentences.

And then maybe a couple more.

And if at that point I am still counting, then I’m moving on.

But if I’m not…

…and my world has blurred away—the shiny shelves and bright bookstore lights, soft Muzak oozing from the ceiling, blanding past favorites into audio lime Jello—replaced by the thoughts and smells and feelings of someone else. I’m someone else. Somewhere else.

Well, once I come to, or the store announces its closing, I’m up at the register plunking down the moola and bee-lining for my couch to resume my new book adventures!

But what made me start reading?

The tagline.

No one has more fun being dead.

Still, a great big “Really, how does that work?”

I am not a flip-to-the-back-cover type of reader. I might. Sometimes. Maybe.

But I really don’t like to as so many blurbs tell the whole movie, I mean book, in the back cover. Gives too much away.

I like the surprise. Answer my questions at my own speed of reading, the way the author intended.

And if the cover is getting it done, and with a good tagline right up there in my face—boom! Cover cracked, pages turning.

Houston, we have a reader.

No one has more fun being dead.

So how does that work?

Look at me asking questions. Good questions.

That is the key.

Or a key to my reader interest.

And I wish more publishers would do it.

The cover art and typography are where they are (should) be telling me genre and mood, and giving me clues on whether or not this is a me book.

Is this a big plate of reader cookies I want to dive into, BYOM. (Bring Your Own Milk)

Or a bucket of anti-reader cookies that rattle and smell up the place. (Sorry horror, still looking at you.)

But want to seal the deal?

Tagline me, Baby!

Show me the catchy phrase goods.

No One Has More Fun Being Dead

I mean, I’m cracking the cover and starting to read.

Are you?