Creating a Great Title for Your Book

Why it’s important and tips on how to create one

Publishing a book is a lot like having a baby: you create something you’re proud of in a labour of love and you want to give it its best shot in the world. Just like you would with an actual baby, you must put thought into what to call your book. The title should reflect its personality and the essence of its content. It should be captivating and evergreen — just like a baby name.

Why is a good book title important?

Your book title is the very first impression. It is a critical chance for you to grab attention and set expectations for what comes next. When a book is on a shelf, all people have to base their split-second judgement on is the title. A great title can help sell your book and make it stand out from the others, a bad one can doom it to obscurity.

How do you come up with a book title?

Do your research

How did other authors in your genre title their books? Compile a list of titles within your genre and learn from them — what works, what doesn’t, and why. Let other titles inspire you.

Think about your character

If your book is character-driven, you could consider coming up with a title that has something to do with your main character. What are their defining personality traits? What phase in life are they going through? Are there any defining moments that could work as a title? Is there a word they use all the time? Do they have an interesting name? A fun example of this is Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, which tells you that Bernadette is an important character in the story and that something is going to happen to her.

Have an uninterrupted brainstorm session

Schedule some time for an uninterrupted brainstorm session. Clear the table, make yourself some coffee, and grab a pile of paper, pens, sticky notes and crayons. When you’re in position, start free-writing. Write down every word, location, synonym, theme, feeling, emotion, term, description that is in some way connected to your story. Make mind maps, think about your favorite song lyrics and flip through a dictionary to get inspired. Write everything down, even if it sounds silly. Things that seem strange at first might spark new ideas later. After a while, start combining some of the words you came up with and make a list with possible titles. Put them in a drawer and come back to them after a day to see how you feel about them.

Make it memorable

Having a title that sticks can be beneficial in different stages of the process. Imagine people talking about your book. You don’t want them to say, “There’s this book I heard about, but I can’t remember what it’s called.” Of course, coming up with something memorable is easier said than done, but there are two tips to make this happen: 1. Keep it short (like Very Nice) or 2. Make it poetic (think Where the Crawdads Sing).

Talk to people

Present your ideas to people you trust and get feedback from them. Sometimes, things that make perfect sense to you may not be clear to others. Saying things out loud and getting other perspectives can give you clarity or new ideas. Some Publishizer authors in the past have even engaged their readers by asking them to vote on different book title ideas!

Now, let’s look at some real examples to show you the importance of a great book title

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid. This title immediately invokes an eerie vibe. It also makes you wonder what the title is referring to. Is the protagonist thinking this? And what are the “things” he’s referring to? A relationship? A job? A life…? Something strange is going to happen. Reading this creepy, mysterious title, you can immediately sense that this book is a thriller, or at least a book with a dark undertone.

The Backpacker Chef: Pocket-Friendly Recipes For Backpackers by Jacqui Treagus. It’s catchy, clever and you can tell that this is a cookbook. You know that the tone of the book is going to be casual. And even without the subtitle, you know exactly what you’ll learn. Before launching a pre-order campaign, Treagus called her book The Art of Roaming Cooking: Easy Recipes Designed for Travelers. This title doesn’t invoke as strong an image as the one she eventually went with and doesn’t roll off the tongue.

Love at First Like by Hannah Orenstein. The title encapsulates the genre (rom-com), it gives the reader a glimpse of what to expect of the story (something with social media and love) and, because of its play on a well-known phrase, it feels cheeky and light-hearted.

Compassionate Counterterrorism: The Power of Inclusion In Fighting Fundamentalism by Leena Al Olaimy. The original title for this book was Fundamentalists, which gave the reader a suggestion of the topic Al Olaimy would cover, but it said nothing about the angle. The new title tells you something about the argument that Al Olaimy is going to make and from which point of view she’s going to look at the topic. She also manages to make a heavy topic sound poetic, which makes it feel less intimidating.

Finally, keep these tips in mind

Just like books, titles come in all shapes and sizes. Deciding on yours can feel daunting, especially when you have too many options. If it all starts feeling like a bit too much, just keep these in mind while brainstorming:

• Your title should be relevant to its content and should give people an idea of what it is about.
• The title should hint at the genre, so that people know whether it is something for them or not.
• Create a vibe or tone similar to the one in your book.
• Wordplay works. When people recognize something in a title, it gives them an aha-moment (and we all love having those).

In the end, have fun coming up with a great title for your book, but don’t get too attached to it! Your publisher will most likely change the title to make it more marketable. Still, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t put thought and care into it. There are a lot of steps — such as getting people to pre-order your book for your Publishizer campaign — before you even start talking to a publisher.