Wednesday

Three Crucial things to remember when choosing a Book Title

 At the end of last year I finally finished my first book. It was called The Year of the Yellow Motorbike.
Never heard of it?
That is because I never published it under that name. I surveyed some people, published extracts under other names, and finally published it as Housesitting in Australia.
What happened and what did I learn. I learned three important things that I would like to share.
1. It’s about the reader. Who is your book written for? How will it attract them?
As much as I was convinced that all middle aged women who yearned for adventure would love my book, the reality is that there had to be a reason for people to pick up my book.
Yes, it is about my journeys and adventures, but what sets it apart is that it contains some valuable information about an incredible way to travel and stay in lovely homes for free.
During my research on the current title, one woman wrote “For an American reader, I can guarantee that you will definitely have an audience for this type of book based on the title alone!”
The name was changed that day.
2. You have to do your homework.
A friend has written a book, so I looked it up on Amazon. Ten minutes later I was still searching for it.
He had chosen a popular title and there were three other books, and a popular song with the same name. His book was way down the page, even when I used the full title.
It is important that your book is easy to find. The title should be unique, and if possible, include words that people are looking for. Even a fiction book would do well to have something in the title that makes it possible for readers to find it in the crowd.
Look up your chosen title on Google and Amazon and see what comes up. Test a few options. Have an editor look over your manuscript and comment on the title. Ask some friends.
3. Be true to you.
Paul Carter has a book called Don't Tell Mom I Work on the Rigs: She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse. It tells me immediately it will be a bit tongue in cheek.
Some of the art of choosing a book title is just gut instinct. Considering the tone of the book, what words create the emotions you want your reader to feel when they pick up your book.
A romance novel will use words like Passion, and Devotion. An adventure novel is more likely to use words like conquest, and expedition.
A subtitle is a great way to add extra information. I used the word adventure in my subtitle to portray that this is more than just a dry book of information. I used the words tiny budget to appeal to people who want to save money. (And who doesn’t want to save money)  
I plan to use the word Adventure again in the subtitle of my next book.
So now a request.
I have received the proof of my next book. It is about my second eventful year house sitting and I have called it A Middle-Aged Princess in Tramping Boots and subtitled Adventures in Love, Life, and House Sitting.

What do you think?

To learn more about house sitting, along with fun house sitting stories and tales of my adventures around Australia, go to https://www.createspace.com/3750764 or Amazon.com to buy my book.

16 comments:

  1. An impressive share! I've just forwarded this onto a co-worker who had been doing a little homework on this. And he actually bought me breakfast because I stumbled upon it for him... lol. So allow me to reword this.... Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending the time to discuss this matter here on your internet site.

    Feel free to surf to my webpage :: business ideas for entrepreneurs

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello! Someone in my Facebook group shared this site with us so I came to check
    it out. I'm definitely loving the information. I'm bookmarking
    and will be tweeting this to my followers! Fantastic blog and brilliant design.



    Feel free to surf to my website :: krankenversicherung gesetzliche vergleich

    ReplyDelete
  3. I visit every day a few blogs and sites to read content, however this blog offers quality
    based posts.

    Feel free to visit my site - ideas of starting a business
    Also see my page: business ideas and opportunities

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi there, I enjoy reading all of your post. I wanted to write
    a little comment to support you.

    Also visit my blog post - beitragszuschuss private krankenversicherung 2011

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is an extremely
    well written article. I'll make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I will definitely comeback.

    my webpage ... where can i get a home loan with bad credit

    ReplyDelete
  6. Saved as a favorite, I really like your site!

    Also visit my homepage: best consolidation loans

    ReplyDelete
  7. Fabulous, what a web site it is! This webpage provides helpful facts to
    us, keep it up.

    Here is my web blog; kredite schufa

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Heya i'm for the primary time here. I found this board and I to find It truly helpful & it helped me out much. I'm hoping to provide something again and help others like you aided me.


    Also visit my page; affordable search engine optimization company

    ReplyDelete
  11. whoah this blog is wonderful i love reading
    your articles. Keep up the good work! You understand, a lot of individuals are searching round for this information, you can
    aid them greatly.

    Also visit my blog home based business opportunity

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello, just wanted to say, I loved this blog post.
    It was inspiring. Keep on posting!

    Also visit my web blog - privat versicherung

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hey there, I think your website might be having browser compatibility issues.
    When I look at your blog site in Firefox, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.
    I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, awesome blog!



    Feel free to surf to my web page - wechsel zu einer privaten krankenversicherung

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  16. My brother recommended I might like this web site.
    He was entirely right. This post actually made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info!

    Thanks!

    My web page :: studenten krankenversicherung

    ReplyDelete

Comments welcome. I would love to hear from you.and I read everything..