Launching your own book comes with a slew of challenging decisions, but having a catchy title is one of the most important to get right. Here are some clever and effective tips on crafting a book title that will entice readers and increase your sales.
This process will be hyperspecific to your genre and content, we will try to provide valuable advice that can work in any circumstance. We will cover this range of general techniques and tactics, and specify where some of these suggestions might work best for you.
It is also important to note that there will be plenty of exceptions to these rules, with the likes of academic books requiring strict formatting in certain cases. If you treat these as more guidelines than hard rules, you will probably come up with the best title.
Keys to writing a great title for your book
Explain the core message
When you’re brainstorming potential book titles, it’s important to consider the central message or idea that your book conveys. This core message should include the main theme or concept of your book and be relevant to your target audience.
To explain your book’s core message, ask yourself what problem or need your book addresses, and the unique perspective it offers readers. In some cases, your book will be providing a solution to the audience. By capturing the core message in the book’s title, you can pique the interest of potential readers and entice them to learn more about what’s inside.
Look at others in your genre
When creating a title for your book, it can be helpful to look at other books in your genre to see what types of titles are standard or successful. Identify the tone, style, and format of other titles in your genre and workshop how your title can stand out, while still fitting within the norms of your genre.
It helps to look at titles that have been successful in your genre. Study these and consider what elements made them successful. This could include keywords or phrases that resonate with your target audience or the creative use of puns or metaphors. By analyzing other titles in your genre, you can gain valuable insights into what types of titles are effective and how you can craft a title that will capture the attention of potential readers.
Keep it simple
This tip works for many unique elements of writing, whether you have a complex narrative or instructional non-fiction, sometimes keeping things simple is just the best approach you can take when crafting the perfect title
Attempting to sound too poetic or adding unnecessary context in your title can turn potential readers away. You should want to have a title that suggests that you are careful and considerate in your word choice, hinting that your book will also be easy to invest in.
Don’t forget about SEO
For those who plan on self-publishing, or even just having your book sold digitally, search engine optimization or ‘SEO’ is often overlooked with book titles. The best SEO practice is to include relevant terms that a reader might type when searching on the topic or genre in mind.
When considering SEO, it is wise to do an analysis of how saturated these terms are in your competitor’s book titles. If your book is written on a topic that has been covered before, find a way to stand out by using clever synonyms or by taking a completely unique angle that will draw interest.
Consider your target audience
This ties in with the SEO tip but, ultimately, this book will sell depending on how attractive it is for someone to pick it up. Considering the mindset of those in your target audience is a strong approach when settling on a title.
For the likes of political books gauging the public sentiment on certain actors will play a major role in how you choose to title it. For fiction novels and other creative writing-based books, try to evoke emotion or intrigue from others reading your title.
Bonus tips for a perfect book release
Of course, forming the perfect title is still just one element of publishing narrative writing. You will also need to craft a strong synopsis, choose a great cover, and fill your content with great characters and a meaningful plot arc before you plan to launch.
But, once you’ve come up with some potential book titles, test them out on others to see how they feel. If you don’t have a mentor, share any titles with friends, family, or members of your target audience, and ask for their feedback and suggestions.
Try to ignore the feeling of sharing too much on the book too early. In fact, when target audience members are asked for opinions and see how transparent you are, they could become more invested in the process. With the rise of TikTok and other social media, this open approach has actually become one of the better ways to market any books you plan on publishing.