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Titles Sell Books

A clever title is great if it is clear, but a clear title is always preferable. The best? A clear & clever title. A shorter title is better than a longer one. Your reader will spend only four seconds on the cover. While some long titles have succeeded, usually the shorter, the better.

A title is part of your book's front cover. Busy buyers including bookstore buyers, wholesalers, distributors & your audiences buy mainly because of the cover. Dan Poynter, author of Writing Nonfiction, says, "The package outside sells the product inside." Make your cover sizzle.

Start with a working title before you write your chapters. Include your topic, your subject & use the book's benefits in your sub title if possible. Here's your ten tips for titles that sell:

Create impact for your title-check out print & radio ad headlines. Check out other authors' titles on the bookstore shelves. Your title must compel the reader to buy now.

Which title grabs you? Elder Rage or Caregiving for Dad?

Include your solution in your title. Does your title sell your solution? Make sure it answers the question rather than asks one. For instance, Got Minerals?, or Minerals: The Essential Link to Health.

Use positive language instead of negative. For instance, Without Minerals You'll Die can be Minerals: The Essential Link to Health.

Make it easy for readers to buy. Readers want a magic pill. They want to follow directions & enjoy the benefits the title promises.

For example, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books by John Kremer gives at least 1001 ways for authors & publishers to market their books.

Exp& your title to other books, products, seminars, & services. Make sure that your title will work well with the title of your presentations, articles & press releases you'll need to promote the book. Such seminars & teleclasses titled "How to Write & Sell Your Book- Fast!" & "Seven Sure-fire Ways to Sell Your Book" come under the umbrella "fast book writing, publishing & promoting."

Use original expressions — a way of expressing one idea for your book — yours alone. Sam Horn, author of Tongue Fú!, puts her special twist on defusing verbal conflict.

Include benefits in your subtitle if your title doesn't have any. Specific benefits invite sales. For instance, Marilyn & Tom Ross' Jump Start Your Book Sales: A Money-Making Guide for Authors, Independent Publishers & Small Presses.

Choose others' book covers in your field as models. Go to your local bookstore with five-colored felt tips pens & paper. Browse the section your book would be shelved on. Choose five book titles & covers that attract you. Sketch those, noting the colors, design, fonts, & sizes of fonts. Add other colors you like. Place the one you love near your workstation to inspire you. For the final copy, use professional cover designers if possible.

Be outrageous with your book title. People do judge a book by its title. Your reader will spend only four seconds on the front cover & eight seconds on the back cover. It must be so outst&ing & catchy it compels the reader to either buy on the spot or look further to the back cover. Take a risk. Be a bit crazy, even outl&ish.

Be your strongest salesperson self. Choose the strongest words, benefits, & metaphors to move your audience to buy.

Titles do sell books.

Include your audience in your title. When your title isn't targeted other famous authors' general titles get the buyer. Always make your title clear & make it easy for your audience to recognize they need your book.

Your title & front cover is your book's number one sales tool. Short titles are best, say three to six words. John Gray didn't get much attention with his book What Your Mother Knew & Your Father Didn't Tell You. He shortened it to the now famous, Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus.

Make your cover clear, current, specific, & colorful. Take a risk. Be a bit crazy, even outl&ish!