What makes a good book title?

I was recently agonising over the book title for my next book. I had a working title, but as I did my final edits, I found it didn’t fit anymore, and I was starting to call it ‘The Book With No Name‘.

Although I had many ideas, none of them were giving me the wow factor and making me feel excited. And if I felt that way, how could I make an impact with it? What’s more, as I talk about choosing the right book title in the book, I really do need to lead by example!

With a book title, it needs to grab the attention of your ideal reader. In this instance you’re appealing to two very distinct groups of people – those who are already in your community (where the book title may not be so important), and those who don’t know you yet, who need to be able to find your lorazepam book, and will be influenced by the book title and what people say about it.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to defining a book title. You can be ‘ronseal’ in your approach, i.e. it does what it says on the tin, or you can be more abstract. I believe it’s important not to be too clever with your title. Although it may be meaningful to you, it probably won’t help you to sell it.

For non-fiction books, your book title needs to clearly define:

• What your book is about.
• Who your book is for.
• What problem it solves or new information it provides.
• How it will help your reader.

And all in about 8 words or less!

Yes you do have the subtitle or tagline to help you to get your message across, but it’s still a tough thing to do. And one I find it easier to do for my clients rather than for my own books!

How to nail your book title 

Tip 1 

Think about the keywords and what people may be searching for to find your book title. I’ve recently started using a tool called FreshKey, which I’ll also be using to help my clients. Not only does it look at the types of words and phrases that your ideal client may type into the Internet search engines, it also looks at Amazon traffic. This will help you to pick the right words for your book title and subtitle.

Tip 2

I was recently part of a discussion on #theauthorhour on Twitter (every Wednesday 8-9pm). My friends at Bookollective asked for tips on creating the perfect book title. Here are some tips from women’s fiction author, Rachael Featherstone.

1. List the words that describe your book. Use them to create 10-20 titles, then ask people what they like.
2. Read The Bookseller. They list upcoming titles so you can see what style of titles are trending.
3. Your title needs to be unique, specific, and catchy – maybe a song title or famous saying.

These tips apply to both fiction and non-fiction books.

Tip 3 

I recently had a conversation with Nicky Kriel, author of How To Twitter For Business Success and Converting Conversations to Customers, as Nicky contributed to my latest book. With her first book about Twitter, one of the things she did was to focus on the keywords. She found that ‘how to twitter’ was a key popular phrase and this impacted on the final title of her book, even though you may had expected it to say ‘tweet’ rather than ‘twitter’.

It’s not just your book title that’s important

Your book title isn’t so important if you’re solely selling it your existing community or giving it away, but if you want people you don’t know to find and buy your book, then consider your book title wisely. It’s also important to do your keyword research to find out what other search terms that people might use. Then use these on your book’s Amazon profile and ensure that your book is in the right category.

It’s not just the book title that will make or break the success of the book, it’s equally important to have a great cover, to focus on your back cover blurb, reviews, endorsements and testimonials, a strong bio, and great content that has been professionally edited and designed well! But nailing a good title is a great starting point.

My new book title is… Book Marketing Made Simple

Oh and if you’re wondering what title I finally decided for my latest book, it was Book Marketing Made Simple!

What do you think?

I hope you found this blog useful and please do share with your friends. If you have any tips on what makes a good book title that you’d like to add, please do pop them in the comments box.