By Marcia Yudkin<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether someone is browsing for something to read online or in a bricks-and-mortar bookstore, they usually notice three things about a book: the cover design<\/strong>, the title<\/strong> and the description<\/strong> of the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clearly all three are vital marketing tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to the book title, I have run across a whole lot of wrong-headed and harmful advice. <\/strong>Some of it is nonsense imported from other areas of marketing, and much of it makes universal recommendations with only one type of book in mind. If you\u2019re trying to come up with an effective title for a book, start by clearing your head of these four common misconceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No, not exactly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the importance of social media and online reviews today, you want to sell as many books as possible to the right readers<\/em><\/strong> for your book. A title that oversells or misleads people about what\u2019s in the book leads to complaints and negativity that can hurt your success.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Start your brainstorming for a title with a clear idea of your intended readers,<\/strong> and finish your title selection by checking to make sure you\u2019re giving the right impression to those who will most appreciate what you\u2019ve written.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First-time authors often forget—or didn\u2019t know to begin with—that a title can have three components:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n However, most books should have a subtitle<\/strong> as well as a title, taking advantage of an opportunity to zero in on the focus,<\/strong> purpose<\/strong> or intended reader<\/strong>s for the work. Even for fiction, the subtitle \u201cA Novel\u201d after the main title usefully clarifies what kind of a book it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many marketing gurus advise racking your brains to define something that is true<\/strong> about your product and not true about competing products. This often helps, but it\u2019s not necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I look for a beginner\u2019s book on backyard grilling and find three candidates, I don\u2019t care in the slightest<\/strong> whether these three are unique or meaningfully distinct from one another. I\u2019ll simply choose one (or buy all three).<\/p>\n\n\n\n With fiction, the notion of a unique selling proposition is even less applicable. Jane Austen\u2019s Pride and Prejudice<\/em>, for instance, doesn\u2019t promise anything unique in its title. It\u2019s always better if a title is unique, but that too isn\u2019t necessary.<\/strong> There are at least four novels titled Suspicion<\/em>, including one out just this year by Joseph Finder, and no one considers this a form of marketing malpractice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes we see this in nonfiction books, as in Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food<\/em>. However, it\u2019s equally effective and much more common<\/strong> to use the subtitle to explain the book\u2019s topic more fully, as in Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t, <\/em>a classic business book, or Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail<\/em>, a bestselling adventure memoir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An effective book title helps draw attention to your book, motivate people to open it, investigate further and buy it.<\/strong> It also helps keep inappropriate readers from thinking yours is the book they\u2019re looking for. Make sure your title contains enough signals<\/strong> for the right people<\/strong> to become interested and have an idea of what your book offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Where to Learn More<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Through Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015,<\/strong> receive $10 off Marcia’s online course (normally $37) on better book titles by using this link.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Marcia Yudkin Whether someone is browsing for something to read online or in a bricks-and-mortar bookstore, they usually notice three things about a book: the cover design, the title and the description of the book. Clearly all three are vital marketing tools. When it comes to the book title, I have run across a\u2026 Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":3,"wds_primary_category":603,"footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[608,43,742,214],"class_list":{"0":"post-28262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-content-creation","7":"tag-authors-publishers","8":"tag-book-marketing","9":"tag-nonfiction","10":"tag-target-market","11":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"contributor","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/contributor\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28262"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42941,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28262\/revisions\/42941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. A book title should help sell as many books as possible.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. A book title consists of only a title.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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3. A title should offer a unique selling proposition.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. A nonfiction book should include the book’s benefits in the subtitle.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n