People ask me pretty regularly what I'm working on. You've heard the term elevator pitch? It means being able to describe your project in less than the duration of an elevator ride in a way that piques your audience's interest.
Well, I cannot seem to do a proper elevator pitch about the writing I'm working on.
I do my best to give a concise explanation. I say something like, "Jerry and I are writing a couple of books about how we learn sports, with the operating hypothesis that the way sports are taught now doesn't work for most people, and that we have a better way."
I can probably count on one hand the number of people who've heard that explanation and showed any further interest in the work.
The problem is not the topic. I am dead certain the topic is interesting. It's also not the people I'm speaking to. Enough of them are athletes that the subject should interest at least some of them. So there's something about either what I'm saying or the way I'm saying it that is failing to connect with my audience. Am I expressing some core diffidence or discomfort? Am I in some way communicating that I want this conversation to end?
I need to figure this out. I don't want the conversation to end. I want to generate interest. So what do I need to change?