You don’t need to think extensively about your book title when writing it. No, that’s usually a problem for future you. But once the edits are done and is now time to publish and market, a book title is one of the most important market decisions.
If you are going to publish it with a publisher, you still have room to make mistakes. Book publishers know how to title books. Stephenie Meyer wanted to name her books “Forks”. Luckily, someone warned her it wasn’t the best of titles.
A title is the first thing readers see or know about your book. If you want to generate sales, it is critical that it hooks them or at least piques their curiosity.
How to come up with a book title?
1 – Think about your ideal reader
Like everything in marketing, you need to think about who would love to read your story. What genre does your book fall under? What books do they usually read and how are those titled?
If you write romance, your ideal reader will not be drawn to a novel with the word “vampire” in the title. Even if that book becomes a tremendous romantic success. We can say the same for the opposite. If you name your book “How to train your dragon”, the reader will at some point expect a dragon in the book.
2 – Keep your title short and attention-grabbing
Is there anything particularly intriguing in your story that you can mention in your title without giving away any spoilers? The “Hunger Games” was something we hadn’t heard before and was enough to spike curiosity. An attention-grabbing title with work wonders and make readers glance a second time over your book.
Which leads to the second point: in order to make them easy to remember, try to make them short. I loved reading “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” and “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” but these long titles always make it hard for me to remember the names. Luckily, they are popular enough now that I can type Miss Pilgrims home on Google and be redirected to the correct title. But if you are starting now, it won’t be the case for you.
3 – Use your own book as inspiration
Do you have characters with attention grabbing names? Does your protagonist name capture essence of the book? Is your book going to be part of a series? You could potentially name your book after your character.
If this doesn’t work for you, consider one liners you’re proud of or a single word that sums your story. I am a big fan of one word titles, as you can see with “Shadows”, “Flames”, “Ashes”, “Tides”… They are all linked to a thought the main character had at some point. Shadows represents the inner demons she faces, Flames connects to the anger that consumes her, and Ashes is about rebirth and acceptance. That’s why, when the publisher asked me if I would reconsider naming the book “Demon Hunters”, I said no.
Lastly,
4 – Brainstorm
During the first stage, don’t worry about how the title sounds and the meaning. List all of your ideas on a piece of paper. Then pick your favourites and check if there are similar titles or if it is already taken.
It’s not wrong to title your book the same as other book already published, but it can create confusion, it can make your book harder to find, and people will still judge!
Try to make your title as unique as possible!
Your turn: what steps do you take to come up with a book title?
