A great book title is essential if you want to sell more a course in miracles. It’s what will help persuade potential readers of your book give your book a second glance and want to know more about its content. It will capture your potential readers imagination and convey the benefits of reading your book.
And authors are generally passionate about their books and the book titles that they come up with but the secret to choosing a great book title is not to choose the title yourself.
Naturally, as the author you need to come up with candidates for your book title. Rick Frishman of Morgan James Publishing recommends brainstorming at least 20 book titles. As you can imagine, this can be quite a challenge. It can be difficult to come up with one title let alone 20 and we tend to get attached to a particular title which can stem our creativity in thinking of more book titles. However, it’s well worth persisting with this exercise as often the gems make their appearance last.
But remember that you, the author, should not make the final decision regarding your book title. This decision should be left to your target audience. As much we try to step into the skin of the typical individual who will benefit from reading your book our opinion is nonetheless shaded by what we personally think.
The following example will illustrate this point and there are countless more examples like this from the book publishing industry.
Harvey Mackay is a multiple New York Times bestselling author. His books have great titles that make you not only want to read his books but alos wish that you’d come up with such riveting titles yourself. Here are a few examples:
~ “Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt: Do What You Love, Love What You Do, and Deliver More Than You Promise”;
~ “Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty: The Only Networking Book You’ll Ever Need”; and
~ “Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive: Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate, and Outnegotiate Your Competition”.
His lastest bestseller is “Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door: Job Search Secrets No One Else Will Tell You”. Now this book began its life as “Getting a Job is a Job: Use Your Head”. And anyone who has been job-hunting knows this to be true. However, sometimes we have to sugar-coat the truth especially if we want people to read our books.
Harvey Mackay’s publisher wasn’t hooked by the latter title. So what they did is that they convened a group of individuals in their 30s, i.e. his primary target audience and asked them for their opinion.
They vetoed the title saying that young people wouldn’t be inclined to buy a book with such a title because it sounded like too much hard work. Where have you heard that before? But they were spot-on.
The new title is fantastic. It conveys the same message but is more playful and definitely lets you know what the benefits of reading this book will be. Your interest is aroused without even seeing the book or knowing its author. Then when you see the playfully designed book cover and discover that this book is written by a bestselling author you’re definitely inclined to add it to your wishlist even if you don’t immediately buy it.
