It’s a huge and common mistake to fiddle around with possible book titles and expect a bolt of lightning to hit when you finally spot “the one.” Often the one you fall in love with is the title no one else understands – or worse, gives entirely the wrong impression of the book. On the other hand, sometimes a million-dollar title needs to grow on you. For those reasons, … [Read more...]
How to Find an Endless Supply of Best-selling Ideas for Your Nonfiction Book Title
Feel stumped when it’s time to create your book title? There’s no need to stare helplessly at a blank page or blank screen. Instead, jump-start your creation of a title by looking at successful books on today’s best-seller lists and using the patterns you can identify in those titles to spark your own ideas, tailored for your own book’s content and focus. For example, … [Read more...]
Lessons from Napoleon Hill for a Million-Dollar Book Title
Long ago, pioneering self-help author Napoleon Hill was struggling to name his forthcoming book. Neither he nor the publisher were satisfied with their tentative title, The Thirteen Steps to Riches. Although Hill had thought up more than 500 other titles, they simply didn't have a title worthy of the book. Finally the publisher got impatient and called up Hill. "If you can't … [Read more...]
Use Alliteration for Illumination of Your Book Title
Alliteration is a very useful literary tool. Alliteration is simply defined as the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words and also the repetition of an initial consonant sound, as in "a peck of pickled peppers." Incorporating alliteration into your book title can help people remember your work and it will stick out in … [Read more...]
Using Numbers In a Book Title
Recently on LinkedIn, J.D. Gershbein, a global speaker and social branding specialist, raised the question, “Does a numbered step approach to titling a book have a positive effect on sales?” This particular question and subsequent thread made me delve deeper into the use of numbers in book titles and whether or not it makes sense. Book titles are extremely important. As an … [Read more...]
I Got Your Number! Using Numbers In a Book Title
Recently on LinkedIn, J.D. Gershbein, a global speaker and social branding specialist, raised the question, “Does a numbered step approach to titling a book have a positive effect on sales?” This particular question and subsequent thread made me delve deeper into the use of numbers in book titles and whether or not it makes sense. Book titles are extremely important. As an … [Read more...]
Authors: Rename Your Book For a Second Life
Throughout the ages books have been renamed, given a new copyright date as a result, and found new life and success. There are several reasons to rename a book such as adding a subtitle to be friendlier to search engines. Another important reason is to get a new copyright date because many book critics will not review an old book and reviewers often define an “old” book as … [Read more...]
Book Marketing and Book Publicity: Why a Book’s Subtitle is So Important
Authors often agonize when creating the main title for their book. Some high-profile authors pay thousands and thousands of dollars to experts just to come up with a catchy main title. But when it comes to book marketing of nonfiction books, the subtitle is the most important element. A book's main title is designed to make an impact, catch attention, and pique interest. … [Read more...]
Book Titles Sell Books
A book title can make or break a book’s sales and popularity. In essence, the title is the book. It is a summary of the book, an encapsulation of all its content in a few words. It is a two-second advertisement for your book, so creating the best title possible is going to determine how well your book sells. No matter how good a book is, if the title does not appeal to … [Read more...]
Beware of Working Titles
Be careful what you make permanent. Working titles are dangerous. They can become too familiar to us while being misleading or meaningless to potential customers. Choices, a Teen Woman's Journal for Self-awareness and Personal Planning was a hot seller and spawned a publishing company as a subsidiary for the Girls Club of Santa Barbara. The company thrived but soon found … [Read more...]