Title of the book Ideas that sell

A clever title is great if it’s clear, but a clear title is always preferable. The best? A clear and intelligent title. A shorter title is better than a longer one. Your reader will spend just four seconds on the cover. While some long titles have been successful, generally the shorter the better.

A title is part of the cover of your book. Busy shoppers, including bookstore buyers, wholesalers, distributors, and their audience, shop primarily for the cover. Dan Poynter, author of Writing Nonfiction, says, “The package on the outside sells the product on the inside.” Make your cover sizzle.

Start with a working title before writing your chapters. Include your topic, your topic, and use the benefits of the book in your subtitle if possible. Here are the book title ideas that sell!

1. Make an impact for your headline: Check out the headlines of magazine print ads and radio ads.

Check out other authors’ titles on bookstore shelves. Your headline should compel the reader to buy now. What title grabs you? Elder rage or dad care?

2. Include your solution in your title.

Does your headline sell your solution? Make sure you answer the question instead of asking one. For example, do you have minerals? o Minerals: the essential link to health. Use positive language instead of negative. For example, Without Minerals You’ll Die could be Minerals: The Essential Link to Health.

3. Make it easy for readers to buy.

Readers want a magic pill. They want to follow instructions and enjoy the benefits that the title promises. For example, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books by John Kremer provides at least 1001 ways for authors and publishers to market their books.

4. Expand your title to other books, products, seminars, and services.

Make sure your title works well with the title of your presentations, articles, and press releases that you’ll need to promote the book. Said seminars and teleclasses entitled “How to write and sell your book, fast!” and “Seven Sure Ways to Advertise Your Business” fall under the umbrella of “quick book writing, publishing, and promotion.”

5. Use original expressions, a way of expressing an idea for your book, only yours.

Sam Horn, author of Tongue Fú!, puts her special touch on defusing verbal conflict.

6. Include benefits in your subheading if your headline doesn’t have any.

Specific benefits invite sales. For example, Jump Start Your Book Sales: A Money-Making Guide for Authors, Independent Publishers and Small Press by Marilyn and Tom Ross.

7. Choose the book covers of others in your field as models.

Go to your local bookstore with five colored markers and paper. Browse the section where your book would be filed. Choose five book titles and covers that appeal to you. Photocopy or draw those, noting the colors, layout, fonts, and font sizes. Add other colors you like. Post the cover of the book you love near your workstation for inspiration. For the final copy, use professional cover designers if possible.

8. Be outrageous with the title of your book.

People judge a book by its title. Your reader will spend just four seconds on the front cover and eight seconds on the back cover. It should be so standout and catchy that it compels the reader to buy right away or look past the back cover. Take a risk. Being a little crazy, even extravagant.

9. Be your best salesperson.

Choose the strongest words, benefits, and metaphors to move your audience to buy. Titles sell books.

10. Include your audience in your headline. This gives your book a slant.

When your title is not in the spotlight, the titles of other famous authors win. Always make your title clear and make it easy for your audience to recognize that they need your book. The title and cover are 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 Couldn’t Tell You and What Your Father Didn’t Know.” He shortened it to the now famous “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.”

An outstanding title sells books. Be sure to spend time and effort on this part of your book, the number one essential “popular selling point.”