Book Titles That Sell

You hired a ghostwriter to help you write your life story. It’s gone through all of the editing phases, and now all that’s left is coming up with an amazing title.

But do titles really matter when it comes to the sale of your book?

According to this great article from Kindlepreneur, they do. In fact, names matter so much that marketing master, E. Haldeman-Julius, had a strict policy of sending any book that didn’t sell at least 10,000 copies a year to his “book hospital.” There, he would come up with alternative names for the book until he found one that sold.   

It turned out that even a simple tweak to a book’s name could significantly improve its sales.

Take The Mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask, for example. With its original name, Mystery of the Iron Mask it only sold11,000 titles a year. But when the name was updated, sales went up to a whopping 30,000 a year.

So, what makes some titles better than others?

Kindlepreneur says that it all boils down to these four elements:

• Intrigue factor: Books with titles that capture the audience’s attention and leave them intrigued are more likely to sell. Think: The Perks of Being a Wallflower or The Orphan Collector.
• Title discoverability: For new authors, this is especially important. If your book can’t be easily found, it won’t be read. Kindlepreneur suggests using Kindle’s Keyword Generator to come up with some searchable keywords to include in your title.  
• Genre pairing: Matching your book’s title to its genre is a must. After all, who wants to read a romance novel called The Bloody Footprint?!?
• Relevance & specificity: Given the fact that readers may only read the title of your book before deciding whether or not to buy it, it should be both relevant and specific. A book titled Vampires in Manhattan, but has no vampires in it, is sure to disappoint.

In addition, Kindepreneur recommends that you follow these 13 steps when crafting your book’s title:

• Use parts of your story
• Look up famous phrases
• Consider a one-word title
• Keep it simple
• Obey your genre
• Put a hook in your title
• Use relevant keywords
• Speak in benefits
• Consult book title generators
• Add emotional trigger words
• Check discoverability (including international)
• Test your title for success
• Add a subtitle

For more great tips on finding the perfect title for your book, check out Kindlepreneur’s entertaining Podcast, The Book Marketing Show.

Or, for those of you just getting started in the writing process, contact us about our ghostwriting services to see how we can help you turn your book dreams into reality.