How to Write a Book Title: 14 Key Points You Should Know
More than the contents of your book, the book title is the most important business decision you’ll ever make when selling your book.It’s the first thing people see and hear about your book before your book contents. A book title is even more important than a book cover, This is because everything in your book starts with your book title.
A good book title won’t make your book do well, but a bad book title will almost certainly turn off people from reading your book.
In fact, there are many books which were initially a flop became successful later after the title of the book was changed. This is how important a book title is to a book.
Here are a few key points you should know when giving your book a title:
Note: These information were based from my own book business experience as well as from authority book writing sites online.
9 Characteristics of a good book title:
1. Attention grabber2. Memorable
3. Searchable
4. Defines your book
5. Easy to say
6. Not embarrassing/controversial
7. Short
8. Has tension
9. Like an ad
5 Steps in writing a good book title:
10. Clarify your goals11. Create a list of titles
12. Check their popularity
13. Check IP rights
14. Just Select
Final Words
The Details:
9 Characteristics of a good book title:
1. Attention grabber
Do a bit of research in your local library, bookstore and even at online book selling platforms, what do you see? It’s rows after rows of books wherein what are only shown are the book titles, and if your lucky, you’ll get a small glimpse of the book cover.
For your book to stand out from the rest of the other books being advertised, your potential customer’s eye must automatically lock in your book. And how is this done? When your potential customer reads and instantly develops an interest in your book title.
If your book title is boring, your potential customer’s eyes would just automatically scan the next book title around until they find something that interests them.
Your book title can be controversial, exciting, promise something, provocative, and so on. Whatever it takes, your book title must make your potential customer want to read your book.
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2. Memorable
Let’s suppose that you attract the attention of a potential customer, but not enough for them to buy your book. Is this the end of your book then as far as the particular potential customer is concerned?
Not at all, there are customers who don’t develop an instant liking for a product (in this case, your book) and only develops a liking for your book much later, perhaps they need to be convinced by additional marketing, word of mouth or other influencing factors.
But when they do at last develop a liking for your book and are now bent on buying it, you should have written the title of your book to become memorable. Otherwise, you might lose them again.
If your potential customer can’t memorize the title of your book, there is a big chance that their mind would be cluttered instead with other thoughts, making them lose interest in buying your book because they can’t recall the title.
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3. Searchable
If your potential customer does finally develop a liking for your book and has actually remembered its title, what’s the next hurdle?
The next hurdle for your potential customer would be in finding your book. Your book title must be designed in such a way that it would be easy for it to be searched in book stores and online book selling platforms.
For example, does your book title contain special characters? Chances are, not all of the catalogs of book stores and online book selling platforms can sort thru books whose book title contain special characters.
If your book title has numeric characters, are they listed in book catalogs as numbers or words? These are just a few things you should consider when making your book searchable.
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4. Defines your book
Let’s assume that your potential customer likes your book, has memorized the title, and has successfully searched and bought it, success right?
Not really, if you want your customer to become a repeat customer, your book title must deliver on the contents of your book.
For example, if your book is titled: “The Easy Ways to Save Money”, your customers would expect that your book would indeed enumerate the easy ways of saving money.
But if your book contains complicated and hard to implement financial strategies on how to save money, your customers would be disappointed with you and your book.
It’s more than likely that these disappointed customers would not buy anymore books written by you.
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5. Easy to say
Perhaps you might want to be thought of as an intellectual and smart that you decide to use fancy and very technical words for your book title.
You might feel good about doing this, but bear in mind that you are not out to please yourself but your potential customers who more than likely would be intimidated by your fancy book title.
People buy books that they can understand and that they can relate to, not books with fancy titles which they may determine as targeted for more fancier customers and not them.
Imagine also how people would talk about your book, if the title of your book is hard to pronounce, interested people who might have an interest in your book might hear the title of your book incorrectly and might buy the wrong book instead or not find it in book stores.
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6. Not embarrassing/controversial
Let say that your book is easy to pronounce and potential customers can clearly know your book title, problem solved right?
Not quite yet, societies have taboos and your potential customers could easily become an outsider if people know the kind of books that they read.
For example, if your book is titled: “How to find pleasure in the misery of others”, your potential customers might disassociate themselves to you and your book.
This is because there is a general rule in all societies that one shouldn’t be pleasured by the misery of other people.
There are authors who intentionally give controversial book titles to their book, hoping that notoriety could make their book popular, though it might work in some instances, the ensuing societal backlash does not usually make it worthwhile.
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7. Short
You must remember that your book title takes up physical space in your book cover and online texts. A long book title can cramp up the space in your book cover and online texts, negatively affecting their aesthetics.
Also, long book titles can irritate potential customers because they want to easily read your book title.
If your intention is to give as much information about your book thru your book title, then you should use a subtitle for such a purpose.
Also, be careful with the length of your book title as it relates to online wording conventions. For example, Google truncates article titles to 110 characters.
This means that if you have an online article about your book and the title is the book title, your book title might get truncated by Google.
Remember, most written words are now being digitized and put online. If your book title does not follow conventional lengths online, it might get truncated and/or summarized and might not get found out or become searchable by potential customers.
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8. Has tension
Good book titles should also have a sense of tension or urgency built in them which makes potential customers want to buy them immediately.
For example, you might have a book title: “Why the World Will End”. While your book might be interesting, it really doesn’t give a sense of urgency for your potential customer to buy it.
Your potential customers know that the world would end, but they also knows that it won’t happen until far, far away into the future, certainly not in their lifetime. So they’ll likely to not be interested in buying your book given its book title.
But if your book title is: “Why the World Will End Very Soon!”, potential customers would more than likely feel an urgency to buy your book, given your new book title.
As you can see, even a few changes like the addition of a few words in your book title can make it sound more important to potential customers. Even a book title: ”Why the World Will End!” is much important sounding than just “Why the World Will End”.
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9. Like an ad
Lastly, remember that books are products and just like all products, they greatly benefit from ads.
For example, you may have a book title: “Lose Weight in 90 Days”, which is not only very impactful, but also gives a promise to potential customers that they would lose weight in 90 days.
But what if your competitor brings out a book titled: Lose Weight in 90 Days or Get a Refund!, guess which book your potential customers are likely to buy, it’s the latter book, right?
As you can see, you can use the marketing tactics that professional marketers are using to sell their products.
These tactics might sound devious, but remember, if you won’t use them, there would be competitors of yours who would.
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7 Steps in writing a good book title:
10. Clarify your goals
What are your goals for writing your book? Would it be to sell your book or book series, establish authority, as a media promotion tool, and so on?
For example, if you want to sell your science book, you can title it: “Science as we know it”. But, if you want to establish authority, you can title it: ”[Your name], Science as I know it”. Where “[Your name]” is the name of the author or the science expert.
As you can see, there is a whole lot of difference between the two book title. The first one, is trying to convey a more general view of science, while the other is from the point of view of an author or a science expert.
If for example, you just want a media promotion tool, you can title your book: “Promo: Science as we know it”, the word “promo” would already indicate to potential customers that your book is just a promotional material at best.
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11. Create a list of titles
Start by listing down as many book titles you can come up regarding your book. Don’t worry if you come up with what you consider to be bad book titles, by building a book title list, you are able to compare which ones you think suit your book.
You might even be surprised later on if you realize that what you consider bad book titles before are actually good ones when given a more thorough consideration.
Here are a few techniques you can use to title your book:
11.1 Use words from your book:
It is not unusual to find a word or words in the content of your book that could sum of your entire book.
For example, if you have a book about the sad state of the world and a part of its content actually contains the words: “the sad state of the world” or “sadly, the state of the world”, you could use either of these two words or a similar one as the title of your book.
Another example: there are romance authors who use the dialogs in the content of their book as the book title. There could be a dialogs such as: “My everlasting love…” which are suitable book titles for romance authors.
11.2 Use the short and long version of a phrase:
You could use initially either a long or a short phrase as a book title, then also have a short or long phrase version of it later.
For example, you could have a book title: “fall of common sense”, and then later you can expand the book title to: “fall of common sense and rise of stupidity”, alternatively, you can do the reverse.
11.3 Use relevant keywords:
These days, most book buyers use the internet to search and buy their books. Unless your book is easily searchable online as explained before, there is a high chance it won’t be searched and bought.
Most online content professionals use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques to make their digital products, which includes digitized books, easily searchable online. One important tool of SEO is the use of popular keywords.
For example, if your book is about dieting and the popular online SEO keywords for dieting are: "diet", "how to diet", "what to eat", and so on, you might use one of these keywords as a full or partial book title.
11.4 Use direct book content descriptions: It has been explained that using fancy and/or technical words can irritate and/or intimidate potential customers, so much so that they distance themselves from your book.
In addition to this, using just basic statements about what your book is as your book title might be an effective way to sell your book. It is especially effective in strictly instructional books.
For example, the book title: “Learn Self Defense in One Week” is to the point about what the book is. The book title explains what the book is trying to teach, as well as the time frame of its lessons.
11.5 Explain who the book meant for:
People want books that they can relate to. Books that call out to their target customers usually get a positive response from their target customers.
This explains why the “… for Dummies” books are very popular. Books like “Writing Fiction for Dummies”, “Auto Repair for Dummies”, and so on are well received by their target customers: people who consider themselves “dummies” or have no knowledge of something.
Another good book title would be: “Easy Cooking for Busy Moms”. This book title is clearly calling out to busy mothers who want to cook easily.
11.6 Gives a specific solution to a problem:
People usually want either one of three things from a book: to either find a solution to a problem, to learn, or to be entertained.
Most fiction books satisfy the latter and many non-fiction books satisfy the former. That is why when you write a non-fiction book, you must think about what your target customer’s problem is.
For example, the book title: “How to Hunt Bears in Alaska” is very clear about what the book contains. It tackles the activity of hunting, the specific animal that is being hunted, as well as the hunting location.
This book title would attract bear hunters who have access or interest in hunting in Alaska. It is clear that the book title is not trying to attract for example, bird hunters or deer hunters and people who have no access or interest in hunting in Alaska.
11.7 Use numbers to appear to be the point:
“Listicles” or lists/rankings are very popular especially online because they give out an aura of completeness and briefness which are information characteristics which most time deficient people desire in a world literally flooded with information.
For example the book title: “10 Ways to Cut Down on Stress”, is attractive because it promises potential customers that they do not have to read more than 10 ways in order to find a solution to their stress problems.
11.8 Use seemingly non-sensical contrasts:
There would be potential customers who would be curious with book titles with seemingly non-sensical contrasts.
For example, the book title: “Stay Healthy Even While Fat” would certainly attract fat people with health problems and/or concerns who would be more inclined to become healthy without losing their fat.
A very good real life book title example would be Tim Ferris’ “The 4-Hour Workweek”. Who wouldn’t be attracted by the seemingly impossible concept of having only to work four hours a week when the actual real life work week is usually 40 hours?
11.9 Use positive metaphors:
This is best explained with the real life book title: “Chicken Soup for the Soul”. Chicken soup is known for its healthy warming and delicious benefits. The author could have used the book title: Health for the Soul as this is more on point, but didn’t.
But why? This is because more people could envision the benefits of “chicken soup” more than the word “health”. The same thing is true for the book title: “Orange is the New Black”. Black has always been associated with being fashionable or famous.
By saying: “orange is the new black,” you are saying that the color orange is now fashionable and famous, no one can make a mistake on the meaning of these words.
11.10 Use Alliteration:
Alliteration means using the same letter at the beginning of all or most of the words in your book title. This makes the book sound more catchy and also makes it easier to remember.
Some examples could be: “Mighty Mouse”, “Golden Goose”, ” “Alternative Academic Action”, “Love, Lust and Life”, and so on.
11.11 Use a popular phrase:
Using a popular phrase as a book title has a distinct advantage: Your book title would instantly attract attention from potential customers because they are memorable and are catchy.
Some examples could be: “Guns, God and Glory”, “Goodness Always Wins”, “No Crime Goes Unpunished”, “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” and so on.
11.12 Use the main character’s name
This is especially very helpful if you are creating a book series. Perhaps the best example of this would be the ”Harry Potter” book series by the very popular billionaire author JK Rowling.
By using or including your main character’s name in the title of your book, you instantly develop a brand to your book series which adds to its recognizability for the rest of your book series.
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12. Check their popularity
Research how the other books in your market, niche or genre are doing with respect to their book titles, especially the best selling and most popular book titles.
Knowing which book titles are much liked by the customers would give you an idea of what kind of book titles trigger buying behavior. You can then tailor your book title to fit to what’s selling.
You can also consult your family and friends regarding your book title list and ask for their feedback. Be sure to emphasize that you want honest feedback, even to the point of them being blunt.
If you have the budget, you can even pay professionals to do the market study for you. They can provide statistical sample groups which could be helpful to you in understanding your book market.
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13. Check IP rights
Firstly, there is nothing to fear if you accidentally used a book title that already exists. Copyright does not apply to book titles.
You could literally call your book “Lord Of The Rings”, “The Holy Bible”, and other popular book titles and suffer no legal repercussions.
However, doing so would land you in trouble with customers who want to read and buy the actual book whose book title you are copying.
However, you can trademark a book title if it is part of a larger book brand. For example, the name “Star Wars” is a trademark of Lucas Films.
This means that you cannot use the word “star wars” as a title or a part of the title of your book. You can’t even use it in the contents of your books unless you get legal permission from Lucas Films.
If you want more information regarding this, you should consult with an IP (intellectual property) lawyer/expert who can give you much detailed information regarding the matter.
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14. Just Select
Finally, don’t wait forever to select a book title for your book. Sure, you might end up picking an unpopular book title, but it’s not the end of the world even if you do so.
The title of your book as well as its content are a dynamic thing. This means that if at the onset, your book title and/or book content is a flop, you can alter parts or all of it until it becomes popular.
This is not actually a new thing. This has been going on for ages and is further amplified by the digital age.
Book titles, subtitles, covers, contents, illustrations and so on are being changed consistently to fit market demands. Just look at how many covers and book title revisions the book “Art of War” has had.
Its cover, book title, contents and so on have been changed to market it to Westerners, businesspersons, motivational book buyers and so on.
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Final Words
The title of a book is the most important part of a book, its what initially draws your potential customers to your book.
Your book title is what your prospective customers memorize, remember and search for when they finally decide to buy your book.
As explained, there are certain characteristics that make up a good book title. There are also established steps in how to create a good book title.
But don’t worry if your initial book title is a flop, a book including its book title, subtitle, cover and contents are a dynamic thing which could always be changed for the better.
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