Give Your Non-Fiction Book (OR Novel) the Competitive Edge It Needs to Succeed
By Peter Bowerman

Book titles can make or break a book. A good one can dramatically boost a book’s odds of success, while a weak (or lame, boring, confusing or overly long) one can hobble the same book right out of the gate. After all the blood, sweat and tears you’ve invested in your masterpiece, make sure you give it every advantage possible. By keeping the following guidelines in mind, you’ll do just that, while avoiding the most common titling mistakes…

The “Title Tailor’s” Top Ten Titling Tips (say that 10 times fast…)

(NOTE: My experience is largely in non-fiction, so, while these tips reflect that background, many—according to my fiction clients!—apply just as much to fiction.)

1) Make It a Promise – Writing a non-fiction “how-to”? Make your title a promise. Tell the reader why they should buy the book – what they’ll get out of reading it. Examples? The One-Minute Manager. Chicken Soup for the Soul. The Well-Fed Writer. Any doubt about how you, the reader, will benefit from reading those books? Put another way…

2) Make It About THEM – Many titles make the mistake of being all about the book. But readers don’t care about you and your book. Being normal human beings, they care about one thing: themselves. I didn’t call my first book, “A Guide to Freelance Writing” (i.e., exquisitely dull AND all about the book), but rather, “The Well-Fed Writer” – all about my target reader and what they wanted – to make a good living as a writer. Put yourself in the position of the buyer, not the seller.

3) Seek Professional Help – No, that’s not a suggestion to hire a shrink. Nor a hint to hire someone like me to do your title (though I do offer that…). Rather, it’s a “process” suggestion for when you’re ready to start the title-creation process. Resources like http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com, www.rhymezone.com, and most importantly, a killer thesaurus like Rodale’s Synonym Finder (THE most often-used reference on my bookshelf, bar none) can be a titler’s best friends.

4) Build Your Word Pool – Begin the actual process by making a list of all words related to the book’s subject (plus synonyms). Just having them all in front of you can start you percolating, noodling, combining, etc. Also, think “30,000-foot view” and “nuggetizing” – taking many ideas and boiling them down to an essence.

5) Think in Word Pictures – Some books lend themselves to “word-picture” titles: The Fix-It-and-Forget-It Cookbook. What Color Is Your Parachute? Or some of my clients’ titles (www.titletailor.com to follow along): Art Sparks. Mind-Wiping. Blog Blazers. Try to graphically picture the big idea behind your book. What do you see? What’s happening? How could you describe the process in a few words?

6) Subtitles Are Crucial – (non-fiction and non-fiction how-to). Many people don’t realize they should have a subtitle, but including one will add descriptive detail. Keep in mind: YOU know your book and what it’s about; your audience doesn’t. Make sure prospects can quickly scan your front cover and learn enough to pique their curiosity. If they’re confused by a mysterious title with no subtitle, they’ll lose interest. Fast.

7) Punchy Title, Explanatory Subtitle – Your title should be 4-5 words, max (less is even better). If it’s more than that, and has an explanatory tone, chances are, it’d be better as a subtitle. Sure, I could have used The Well-Fed Writer’s subtitle (Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Commercial Freelancer in Six Months or Less) as my title. While it would’ve been a decent promise, it’s way too long to have any punch and pizzazz.

8) Intriguing Title, Clear Subtitle – Not all non-fiction titles have to be “promises.” Straight non-fiction can have an intriguing but unclear title, as long as the subtitle delivers more clarity and detail. Good examples are books like Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, and Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Prospective buyers may still not be 100% sure what the books are about, but they’ll know enough to go “Hmmmm….” And that’s a good thing.

That said, it’s never a bad idea to make a title clear as to the book’s subject. Since self-publishing authors don’t have the luxury household name authors and celebrities have, of being vague with their title (confident their name alone will make potential buyers dig deeper), it’s not a bad idea to spell out your book’s objective in the title. Just know that a prominent and deeply descriptive subtitle can allow for a bit more creativity in your title, and creativity – backed up with clarity – can sell more books than clarity alone.

9) Beware the “Friend”-ly Focus Group – Be careful about running all your title ideas past an informal focus group of friends and letting their yay or nay decide your title. Big difference between judging a title of a book you’ve heard all about for months, for which you might not even be in the market, on a subject with which you may be unfamiliar vs. a real prospect with real interest and “fresh eyes.” Listen to all input, but be discerning.

10) Stop Thinking About Your Book – While similar to some earlier tips, this is the umbrella version. Throughout the whole titling/subtitling and back cover copywriting process (not to mention as you execute your book marketing and publicity campaigns), always put yourself in your reader’s shoes. What’s important to them? What’s their goal? What language or “word pictures” will speak most effectively to them and get them nodding? And most importantly, what will get them reaching for their wallet?

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Peter Bowerman, a veteran commercial freelancer, speaker and business coach, is the successful self-published author of the multiple-award-winning Well-Fed Writer and Well-Fed Self-Publisher series. His five books have yielded well over 100,000 copies of his books/ebooks in circulation and a full-time living for over a decade. After years of doing book titling as part of his self-publishing coaching, he broke it out as a specialty. The Title Tailor was born.