Whether you're going to submit to a publisher, editor or agent, or even if you're going to self publish your book or novel, you're going to want to give it a title that is catchy, unique, and will pique the interest of your target audience. There are a couple of very important things to consider when you are learning how to create good book titles. Let's look at a few of them.
Tips
Short & sweet titles are easy to remember.
Pique the reader's interest and make them want to know more.
Make your book's title unique.
Introduction
The title of your book is likely the only thing some readers will know before they buy it. The title is very important to capture the readers' attention, and make them want to know more about what the book is about. The title is also how the book will be described in catologues where customers and retail bookstores can purchase the book. Besides a quality cover, the titles might just be the most important part of the promotional aspect of your book.
How to Write Book Titles
- This video talks about how to get published, and in particular, it talks about how to write good, quality book titles that can help increase your chances of getting published and selling books well. In the video, the commentator reads some titles of books, asking the watcher to think about the titles he presents in a critical manner. It will help you understand emotively how to write a good title for your book.
Step 1: Search Online for Similar Titles
When you have a book idea in mind, you don't want your book to have to compete with many other titles or other websites that have similar names as yours. Giving your book a unique title that no one else has will help make it easier to find both online and in bookstores. Search in the major search engines and Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble online for similarly titled books to yours.
If you don't find any, you have a great title. If you do, consider tweaking the title to something more unique.
Step 2: Make Readers Curious
Titles that pique a reader's interest and make them curious will work well, especially for fiction genres. You want to ask an unasked question with your title, and that will make readers say, "I wonder what that book is about."
Scan through a list of books on an online bookstore's website and notice the titles that really stand out to you, that pique your curiosity. Ask yourself why those titles drew your attention and then pay attention to the reasons.
Make your book's title do the same, in the same way, and then you'll know you have a good book title.
Step 3: Short & Simple
Sometimes the best title for your book is one simple, attention-grabbing word. other times, you might need a few words or a phrase to title your book. What you don't want are excessively long titles for print books. This is true for several reasons, including marketing, cover art and creation, and also for memory. People are more likely to remember a short, simple, excellent title than they are to remember a longer one.
Keep it short and sweet, but make the words you choose have impact.
Step 4: Ask Friends
If you have a beta reader or a critique group or friends who have read your story, offer several titles for your book to them and ask them to help you decide. Remember, you're the writer, so you have a different emotional connection to your book than your friends do. Your friends or critique circle are the target audience--readers--and they can be more unbiased in their critiques of the titles for your book.
