what to call it
Authors stress about titles. So do agents and editors—it's a never-ending challenge for everyone involved in the publishing process. This is particularly true with advice books, where you need to tell readers how your book will address a perennial problem (weight loss, anxiety, lagging sales, etc.) without using one of ten thousand pre-existing titles.
In contrast to, say, rock bands. I envy the freedom enjoyed by any group of musicians looking to name their group: Toad the Wet Sprocket. Hoobastank. Do you remember ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead? That was a band! And they had some decent songs—I'm listening to them as I write this. Good luck throwing ellipses in front of your book title...
Dale Carnegie had it easy: How to Win Friends and Influence People does what it says on the tin. What happens if I have other advice about winning friends and influencing people? What if there's more to say on the subject than "interested is interesting" and all that great Carnegie stuff? Break out the Red Bull. Time to get creative.
If you find yourself in this predicament, first things first: relax. Don't let the title get ahead of the entitled. Often, a great one will emerge during the writing process. Start with a simple, descriptive phrase—"Investing Advice for Seniors"—and get to writing. If nothing sparks along the way, at least you'll have a much stronger grasp of the material you need to package than you did at the outline stage. At that point, a few pointers:
- Creative title, boring subtitle. Wordplay, alliteration, rhyme—grab the reader's attention however you can. You want your title to POP. Once you have that title, however, you've got to tell the prospective reader exactly what the book will do for them in the subtitle. You can't pair wacky title with zany subtitle. As with the mullet, party in the front, business in the back.
- Zag when they zig. Search Amazon for keywords and make a list of all the books you can find that promise to solve the same essential problem. Establishing the tone and direction of the existing titles gives you the opportunity to carve out fresh territory. If they're serious, go silly. If they're long, try short. Etc.
- Err toward clarity. There's no real A/B testing in book publishing. An author can point to their clever title as the reason the book succeeded or the reason it failed, but there's no knowing for certain. What I do know is this: if you go bananas with your title and the book fails to find its readers, you'll always wonder whether a clear, descriptive title might have saved you. This is especially true when you're a first-time author. Established authors can afford to take greater creative risks with their titles because they've established a brand. For a first book, safest to tell the reader exactly what they'll get for their money.
If it's any consolation, publishers enjoy nothing more than slapping a new title on a book, so all the sweat and tears may come to nothing.
Hm. All the Sweat and Tears. Not a bad title for a book...