Blog by Toby Welch

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How to Pick a Book Title That Works

Your book needs to have a catchy, relevant, and clear title that will grab readers and pull them in. But how do you pick one?

The best titles satisfy as many of the following criteria as possible:

- The title grabs the reader’s attention.

- The title sums up the book’s concept so it will be clear what the book is about.

- The title is unique and doesn’t match another one exactly; this will increase the chances that your book won’t be confused with similar ones.

- The title piques a potential buyer’s interest and creates excitement and anticipation.

- The title hints at how the reader will benefit if they read the book.

- The title matches the tone of the book.

- The title does not mislead the reader.

- The title should have keywords in it that a reader will search for when looking online for a book that covers your topic.

- You should love the title as it’ll stick with you longer than memories of watching Jaws as a kid.

For nonfiction books, the title must be very clear as to what the book is about. Clever or cute titles sound witty but they may not explain the truth scope of the book. The four seconds you have to catch someone’s attention before they move on will be wasted.