How to Create the Best Title for Your Book
Now is the time for an author to either refine or discard the book’s working title and create a new one. Choosing the perfect title for your book will not be an easy task. If you have properly researched your book’s audience, then you should already be familiar with what kind of people will be reading your book and the key words these readers might use to search for a book like yours. As you begin the title selection process, there are several important factors to keep in mind for your title:
- Keep it between 5-10 words (your subtitle can be longer)
- Include at least one critical key word that your readers might type into a search engine web site
- Make the reader curious enough to open the book to see what's inside
An author should begin by compiling a list of at least five possible titles. Once the list is complete, it is time to conduct more research. Type each potential title into Google and check the results. Are there any other books with the same title? If so, cross that title off your list and move on to the next one. If you must remove a title, create a new one in its place until you have five titles that are original.
Why is it Important to Use a Focus Group?
Marketing gurus consistently use focus groups to help gather feedback regarding new products or branding strategies. As an author who will be eventually developing a detailed marketing plan, you should begin relying on a focus group not only to help you choose your title, but also to provide input on cover design, web site pages, and your hook.
How I Used Focus Groups to Select the Titles for My Books
After I completed the manuscript for my books The Wacky World of Womanhood and Husbands, Hot Flashes, and All That Hullabaloo!, I gathered a list of about twenty business partners, other writers, friends, family, and casual acquaintances and composed an email asking them if they would be interested in providing input to me on several aspects of the publication of my book. My focus group was diverse, each with very different opinions and ideas. No one turned me down.
A few days later, I emailed the list of five potential titles to everyone and asked them to vote for their favorite title within three days. I encouraged honesty and welcomed their comments. A few minutes later, the emails started coming back with terrific suggestions for improvement. I implemented their ideas, refined my list down to three titles, and sent out another email asking for another vote. The focus group and I went back and forth three to four times before I had a majority vote on the winning titles you see above.
As the result of relying on my focus group for constructive criticism and acceptance within a very competitive market, I felt confident about each of my titles as well as my cover design when each book was published.
Plain and simple - carefully chosen titles will help sell books.
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