An outstanding title helps books scale buyers’ mental barriers, inducing a shopping frenzy that they do not regret even years after they have read the book. Your book title is a valid marketing strategy by itself, able to bring in sales from the promise, hope, interest, and curiosity it plants in the reader’s head. According to research by Thomas Nelson, consumers first look at a book’s:
- Title
- Cover
- Back cover
- Flaps (hardcover books or trade paperbacks with “French flaps”)
- Table of contents
- First few paragraphs of the book’s content
- Price
Book titles are so important that it is standard publishing practice to hold a pre-publication “title meeting” with the author. Yes, titles are supposed to indicate the premise of the book but they don’t have to come out bland or regular. Titles can inflate your sales figure because if people did not judge a book by its cover, there would not be any need for the admonition for them not to judge a book by its cover.
Your book cover is your billboard advert. Is it doing its job well?
So, even if it takes you a while to get it right, patiently strive for an ingenious title that hints at the plot or premise of your book but make it clear, spunky and if possible, clever.
Michael Hyatt recommends these four considerations for great titles that sell books:
- Titles that make a promise
- Titles that create intrigue
- Titles that identify a need
- Titles that simply state the content
Creating intrigue seems to be the best aim in title crafting but I would recommend that authors aim for a book title that would mix two or more of these elements. At the same time, simplicity is crucial since you do want easy memory recall as much as possible.
Reach for that outrageous but clever title that is dancing right at the edge of your consciousness. There are a couple of options to help you choose your book title, like book title generators, themes, proverbs, irony, puns and, yes, focus group discussions.