Tanner illustrated himself on one of his book covers.

Writer, teacher, and comedian Tanner Parsons spoke about story beginnings, using many examples from books, old and new. Some general principles developed from the examples as ways to hook not only your audience, but the editors who must wade through piles of manuscripts. Novelists are no longer needed due to media competition. We need to kick some doors down to get noticed. Some suggested openings to consider are:
Bravado – tell how hard you worked and how good you are.
Love – Draw us into a love story.
Truth – There is not enough told today so this catches our attention. But, they must be interesting truths.
Break the rules – Don’t always follow this or any advice if you feel you have a great opening.
Start with a question – Make us want to keep reading to find the answer.
Use a framing device – Harry Potter uses the school year. See if your work has one.
Conflict – This is the basis for all fiction. Rev it up right at the beginning. Movies do this.

Other ideas discussed were:
Name everyone who helped in the acknowledgements. They may buy the book to see their names in print.
Use every aspect of the book to sell your reader – acknowledgements, blurbs, covers, dedications. Make these all work for you.
Don’t forget a writer needs two sides, the writer plus the business side. Ask - who is going to read this book? If you can’t answer, you can’t sell it.
When you use print on demand, there is no editing so you have to do this yourself. Once it is “locked” you can’t continue to edit without paying new fees. The fees to publish this way may be cost effective when you consider the costs of mailings to editors.