How to Choose a Great Title for Your Book: A Brief Guide for Indie Authors
Book titles should be informative, memorable, and compelling. Keep reading for tips on how to select the right title for your book, and don't miss our latest interview on the GSL Talk Show!
Beyond Aesthetics: What Makes a Book Cover Truly Great?
Your book’s title is more than a label—it’s your promise to the reader. The title should work hand-in-hand with your cover design’s visual branding to hook your ideal audience, giving them invaluable insight into the book’s genre, tone, and themes. Titles should also be memorable, clear, and catchy.
Here are some tips to help you choose the right title for your book.
Know Your Audience
To choose a great title, you need to know who your target audience is and what they want. You should also identify the keywords they are likely to use to find books like yours. What terms would they put into Amazon, Google, or other search engines? What needs are they trying to fulfill?
Strategically using keywords in your title can improve your book’s discoverability and help ensure your book is displayed in the right search results. However, you shouldn’t stuff your keywords. It’s important keywords are incorporated naturally into the title (and subtitle, if you include one).
Familiarize Yourself With Your Genre
Browse titles of other books similar to your own to get a feel for the conventions of your genre. A title that works well for one genre often will not work well for another, and you don’t want to confuse potential customers by using a title that is not suited for your genre.
Pro Tip: Before you finalize your title, do a quick search on Amazon and Google to ensure it’s not overused and doesn’t compete with high-profile books in unrelated genres.
Great fiction titles are compelling, evocative, and relevant to the story, hinting at the book’s tone and content without giving too much away. Nonfiction titles should speak directly to the reader’s needs. They should be concise and informative, immediately telling customers what the book is about and what they can gain from buying it.
Pro tip: Nonfiction books often employ subtitles to help drive the point home, aid searchability, and provide another opportunity to incorporate targeted keywords.
Keep Your Overall Cover Design in Mind
Your title is part of your book’s visual identity. A weak title that doesn’t suit the genre or deliver the right message can undermine the entire cover design.
For greatest efficiency, official cover design should not begin until a title is chosen, as the designer must select elements that support the title and core message. All elements need to work together to entice and inform.
When weighing your title options, also try to keep in mind that the title needs to fit the cover—literally. Having a title that is too long can cause the overall cover design to appear cramped. (Aside from that, the longer the title, the harder it will be for readers to remember it. Shorter titles are usually catchier.)
Whatever title you choose, make sure the designer will be able to work with it to bring the cover to life.
Pro tip: Determine your trim size first so you have a rough idea of how much space your designer will have to work with.
Ask for Feedback
If you have multiple strong options and aren’t sure which to choose, test them. You can use reader polls via your social media, website, and/or newsletter to see which receives the most positive responses.
Just keep in mind that some people may not be book professionals or avid readers of your genre, which means their feedback could be less practical.
You can also gather ideas from your own private focus group.
Final Thought
A great title does the heavy lifting—it attracts, informs, and intrigues. When aligned with a professional cover design, it becomes the cornerstone of your book’s marketing.
If you’re struggling to put together a solid title, don’t hesitate to ask for help. Your cover designer can provide insight into genre conventions and offer feedback on the strength of your title options. If you already have a marketer, he or she could be an even stronger source of title inspiration and consultation.
At 1106 Design, we offer end-to-end book publishing assistance, from manuscript to market. In addition to cover design, we offer book title consultation for any author who needs a little help crafting the perfect title.
Contact us today to learn more.
In case you missed it…
Beyond Aesthetics: What Makes a Book Cover Truly Great?
Book covers are more than just pretty pictures. They’re a vital part of your marketing strategy. Click here to learn what makes or breaks a cover.
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Miracle Sims: GSL Talk Show
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