Taglines vs Loglines
The easy way to distinguish the two
The number of times someone has said to me, “Well, my logline is…” and followed that with a tagline… I can’t even count. So I’m going to share the quick and dirty way to distinguish the two.
A tagline would go on the movie poster.
If it’s catchy, pithy, akin to a slogan or motto—that’s a tagline. Examples include, “In space, no one can hear you scream” (Alien) and, “Family is duty. Magic is power. Honor is everything.” (Fonda Lee’s Jade City).
A tagline may also consist of a marketing statement such as, “By the best-selling author of [insert book title here]” or, “From the director of [famous popular movie].”
Taglines should be short and memorable, even quotable.
A logline, however, answers the question: What is it about?
At the risk of showing my age, a logline is similar to the write-ups of programs in TV Guide. An example might be, “A spy has to figure out whether his lover is actually an enemy agent,” (my book The Fall and Rise of Peter Stoller) or, “Greek gods disguised as humans bring chaos to a film set” (my book The K-Pro).
The logline doesn’t go on the advertising. It’s not on the posters or the book cover. It’s the short, boiled-down answer to someone asking, “What’s it about?” No extraneous details. Ideally it’s only one sentence. If the person asking sounds interested, that’s when you can add more information.
Think of it this way: you’re with a friend and you tell them you just saw a great movie. They ask, “What’s it about?” The first thing you answer with will usually be a broad overview of (a) the main character and (b) the situation. Sometimes you might add a third piece: the consequences. For instance: “A Regency-era woman must find a suitor or else be stuck with the boring man her parents have chosen for her” (my book Brynnde). Yes, you could stop after “suitor” and still be accurate, but for some stories adding the stakes helps get potential readers (or viewers) interested.
The logline is a starting point for the blurb that would go on the dust flap or back of the book. But it would not, on its own, ever be printed on any of the marketing materials. Unlike a blurb or summary, a logline is concise but still very general. In some cases, it could apply to several books or movies, and that’s fine. The place for the unique details that set the work apart is in the blurb. If you want to know more about how to write those, let me know in the comments!