A book title is just as important as the actual contents of the book that we spend the most time on in our writing journey. It’s important because, just like the book cover, it is the first thing a potential reader sees before they read the synopsis or the reviews. It needs to catch their eyes, their attention.
How does one come up with a book title? What is it that makes a book title draw attention to the book, and how can an aspiring author (or even an existing author) achieve this?
In this blog, we’re going to zoom in on all of that.
Deciding on a book title may range in difficulty: it may be a piece of cake or extremely difficult. For example: one would think deciding on a non-fiction title should be fairly easy, especially how-to types of non-fiction books. For a novel, fiction, and perhaps non-fiction books like memoirs and autobiographies – maybe not so much. The message of the book may be clear, but concluding on a title that is interesting yet portrays the message of the book perfectly may be a challenge.
Here are some challenges you may come across when deciding on a book title:
- Too long
- Not clearly articulating what the book is about
- Misleading title
- Boring
What you do need is a book title that:
- Is short and sweet or long enough to fit on the book cover perfectly
- Not ambiguous but gives a clear idea/ purpose of the book
- Doesn’t suggest one subject matter while the book actually addresses something else
- Is creative, catchy, intriguing, interesting
How does one achieve this?
What is the purpose of your book?
The most obvious thing to note when deciding on your book title is being clear about what the purpose of your book is. Once that is clear, you’re a step closer to having some ideas of what to include in your book title.
Keywords
Once you’re clear about the mandate of your book, you can start thinking about relevant keywords to incorporate into your book title. For example: if the purpose of your book is to guide people in their finances, keywords to include in your book title can easily be ‘How to…’, ‘A guide to…’, ‘The secret to…’. Another example: if you want to share your pastry recipes in a cookbook, the title can have the keyword ‘pastry’ in it. ‘Pastry tasties’ isn’t too bad for a pastry cookbook title. For a memoir on a specific subject matter, for example your love life and lessons, the keywords ‘love life’, ‘love lessons’ or just ‘love’ certainly have to be there.
The full title
Now that you’re clear about the mandate of your book and have jotted down some keywords, write down book title ideas. Start small and simple. It doesn’t have to be complicated. You can start with short phrases, or full sentences. Write as many book title ideas you can think of and jot them all down. It will at least give you something to work with. In the end, you won’t come out empty-handed.
Deciding on a creative, catchy title
You know the mandate of your book, you have jotted some keywords and have come up with a few book titles. Now, let’s focus on making that book title catchy and attention-grabbing! This is the time for you to tap into your creative side. Consider researching for existing book titles of books in the same genre as you’re currently writing. This can give you an idea of how some of the best catchy book titles sound like. Rewrite the list of book title ideas you had earlier and incorporate this knowledge you have for a creative and attention-grabbing book title.
Check that your book title doesn’t already exist
It would be devastating is to find that the book title you have decided on already exists, or sounds the same as an existing title. Once you’ve jotted down the final catchy book titles, make sure you search them on the internet to confirm that none of them exist already nor are they very similar to an existing title.
The final book title
At this time, you may have scratched out a few book titles, or maybe only have 1 left. Regardless, these are the titles you’re left to choose from. After this, you can rest with assurance that you actually did put in effort to find the best suited book title for your book: a title that is short and sweet or long enough, not ambiguous, suggests exactly what to expect from the book, catchy and attention-grabbing.
Blogger:
Simthandile Mhlambiso – Founder and Managing Director of Mpilo Publishing (Pty) Ltd; Member of Professional Editors ‘ Guild (PEG), Branch Secretary of PEG Committee – Western Cape.
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