If you're thinking of writing a book
you probably already have a title in mind
and maybe it's even good,
but is it brilliant?
The title is what's gonna sell your book.
So let's run it through our five point checklist
to make sure your title is brilliant.
(dynamic, lively music)
Hey there, I'm Julie Broad with Booklaunchers.com.
A title, a fantastic title,
is essential to sell your book.
It has to capture attention, get people curious,
and be easy for them to remember and tell others about.
So does your title check off all the boxes?
Let's make sure.
If you haven't spent dozens of hours
brainstorming your title
ya might need to spend a little bit of more time.
So what are the five things you're title needs to have
so it is brilliant?
Number one.
Is it short?
Now there are exceptions to this rule, of course.
I am sure just as soon as I say
short and three words or less is ideal,
you're gonna think of, "Well what about
"How to Win Friends and Influence People
"and book titles like that that are really long
"but very famous?"
Yes, there's always exceptions,
but the majority of best selling books
in the non-fiction categories, and even fiction,
tend to be three words or less.
Just check out the top 20
best selling business books right now.
We're talking about books like Outliers, Start with Why,
Option B, Boomerang.
These books are all selling extremely well
and they're super short.
The other thing with short titles is it's easy to remember.
Which is point number two on the checklist.
Now here's how you test
if your book title is easy to remember.
Tell your friends what you're thinking of calling your book
and then a few hours later say,
"Hey listen, do you remember
"what I told you that I was gonna call my book?",
and see if they remember.
Now don't tell them that this is a test
because then they'll make sure to remember.
What you wanna find out is, is your book title memorable?
Because you want people to be able to tell others,
and of course remember which book they wanna look up
when they go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble to buy your book.
Number three.
Is it easy to say?
Now you might be thinking,
"Why does that matter, they're reading?" (laughs)
Well let me tell you,
if you're doin' a great job of selling your book
you're gonna be talking about it all the time.
And if it's a tongue twister it's gonna get messed up.
And here's a little confession/secret,
The New Brand You, which is my second book,
for some reason people get it wrong all the time.
So If I'd had people say it over and over and over again
to test if it's easy to say,
I would have discovered
that there's something about this title
that people just can't seem to get it right.
So what do you do?
With your title, again,
get your friends to say it over and over again.
Talk about it all the time.
Imagine yourself on a podcast or a media interview
trying to drop that title in
three, four, five times in a few minutes.
So say is over and over and over again.
Do you still like it
and is it still easy to say?
Great, check off this box.
Number four.
Is the URL for your book title available?
To me it's not a deal breaker if you can't get it
but it is really ideal to have it
because think about it,
if somebody types the name of your book into Google
and they find four other websites and not yours,
then they're gonna start to wonder
if you really are the leader in this category
that you say you are.
Also, when it comes to branding,
'cause you might be thinking
of having brand extensions off of this book title.
Think about Rich Dad Poor Dad,
they have games, and courses, and conferences
all following that Rich Dad Poor Dad branding.
If you don't own the URL,
that kinda stuff is off the table for you.
So to me, to give this a big check,
you wanna make sure that you can buy the URL for your book.
If you really love your book title though
and you absolutely are insisting on keeping it
even if you can't get the URL,
then hopefully you can at least get Your Title book.com,
that'll fill in a bit of a gap.
Number five.
Does your title pop?
There's a great book on this called Pop by Sam Horn.
And basically he's talkin' about
how to breakout not blend in.
The big thing is you wanna make sure
that your book title stands out
and doesn't sound like every other book in it's category.
So to do that, read the book,
it'll give you lots of great tips,
but again, think about brand extensions.
Think about what will create curiosity?
What will have people grabbin' that book sayin',
"I gotta know what's inside?"
So, can you check off all five things?
Even if you can, you probably wanna run a few tests
just to be sure
that your title is gonna have people runnin' to the store
and buyin' your book.
So how can you test it?
If you've got an email newsletter
you might wanna split it in half
and send out one title to half of the list
and the other title to the other half.
See which one people click on more.
Ask people, "Would you wanna buy this book or this book?",
and just see which titles
are making people wanna pull out their credit card
and buy your book.
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(dynamic, lively music)
(beeping)
So you might already have a good title.
Okay. (tongue wagging)
Just rewind that part.
(beeping)
Outliers, Start with Why, Plan B, or Option B,
something like that.
(laughs) Oops!
(beeping) Repeat. (laughs)
(beeping) Number four is the URL, U-R-L. (laughs)
- [Cameraperson] You're in Southern Alabama now baby.
Okay. (beeping)
And, I've forgotten what else.
Darn it!
(beeping)
Do not sound like other books in your category, 'kay.
(beeping)
Break out or blend in, 'cause you don't want blend in.
Why can't I get this one good?
Okay.