One of the challenges of selling a book to a publisher and to readers is to give them a quick idea of the type of book it is. When you can compare it to something that has already been successful but also point out how it's different, that job is a lot easier.
In the film world, this has led to an overuse of the "meets" description: "It's 'Matrix' meets 'Groundhog Day'" might be a way to describe a dramatic thriller in which the protagonist gets caught in a parallel universe spiral where every day replays with just one element of difference. Sometimes it makes sense to use the "meets" shorthand but often it's clunky or unintentionally amusing.
One that works pretty well is Wendy Holden's description of her latest novel: "Gallery Girl's a sort of Devil Wears Prada about the art world."
That's how she describes it in an article on bookbrunch.co.uk. The reason it works is that both the art world and the fashion scene are closed worlds and one can imagine that it would be fun to have an outsider's perspective. Also both are pretty comedic, at least if you're on the outside looking in.
She had fun promoting the book by assuming the identity of the novel's protagonist, Zeb Spaw, and putting on a mock exhibition, "Angry With Britain. The works included:
* "Fifteen metres of Fame," a 15-metre rope hung with pictures of celebrities mounted on cardboard (mostly All-Bran Boxes);
* "Flash in the Pan," a gold-sprayed toilet;
* "Hunter Gatherer," shopping lists found abandoned in baskets at the local supermarket
You can see them all in the exhibition catalogue by clicking HERE.
I don't know whether anybody offered her insane sums for any of the works, but it wouldn't surprise me and certainly it got media attention.
There are two ways to use a spin on an existing work. One is to think of it in order to inspire an idea. In this case if The Devil Wears Prada was a story you enjoyed, you might have thought about what other worlds could be explored in a similar way. The other is to write your book or script first, and then find a comparison that makes the story easier for others to understand.
(For more tips and help in writing your book, get my book "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers. And whatever you're writing, be sure to protect it. Get tips and information about my "Stop the Rip-Offs!" report HERE)
