Writing Book Titles That Sell
I am often astounded at how much time writers will take writing a book or ebook and then slap a title on the book after a few hours of thought.
I’ve also coached many freelance writers, entrepreneurs and information publishers who were close to finishing their book and are still searching for that killer title.
How can that be?
That is completely backwards – your title is at once your single statement of unique value, compelling outcome expected by your reader, attraction factor and BIG promise of delivery – at least for non-fiction books, ebooks and courses.
As we learn inside The Ultimate Information Publisher’s Success Package, a successful non-fiction book or ebook begins with identifying a highly desired outcome.
Think about the mother who is struggling with her guilt not being able to deal with her teenage son’s behavior or the middle age man’s struggle with Belly Fat or Love Handles (yes, I can relate to that one!)
Not only are these book topics that hold huge potential driven by passionate desire for an outcome, but these topics must serve as the ultimate roadmap for your book treatment and ultimately must be a strong part of your book’s title and sub-title.
Writing Book Titles That Sell – 3 Tips
1. Catch attention and stimulate interest. Before you have a chance to sell your book or ebook to a prospect, your title must capture their attention and at the same time tap into an immediate, front-of-mind interest they have. So, prior to even writing your book, as is taught in detail inside The Ultimate InfoProduct Publishing Success Package, market research is critical to uncovering the top desires and benefits that are front-of-mind for your niche market. Great copywriters are taught to understand and then tap into the conversation going on inside of a prospect’s mind when they arrive at your product or website – the same thing holds for writing book titles that sell.
Here’s a top selling book title that does a very good job of taking a common statement we all hear when we try to lose weight “Eat this, Not That!…”
Eat This Not That! 2010: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution
By tapping into a common phrase his niche market can well relate to, David Zinczenko does a terrific job of capturing the attention of their market – the statement “No-Diet” of course keeps the interest peaked.
2. Write a big promise into your book headline. Remember, your prospect searches for non-fiction largely to find answers to deeply held, highly emotional desires – how well you are able to forsee their desire and deliver a BIG promise to help them achieve their desire will dictate how well your book will sell. This is true of both offline (bookstore or retail book sales, but is especially true of internet ebook or book sales where your title is a stronger element in the consideration to buy)
3. What’s Different? Not only must you catch your prospect’s attention and commit to delivering a big promise, but you also want to clearly communicate what is new, unique, novel or different about your treatment of the topic. The #1 comment we get back from those who follow the Information Publishing Blueprint is how beneficial the techniques were in terms of entering competitive markets with a unique and fresh treatment leading to huge sales.
Here’s a good example from one of the top selling books on Amazon this week:
The Belly Fat Cure: Discover the New Carb Swap System and Lose 4 to 9 lbs. Every Week
Let’s quickly run through and see how well this book title meets the requirements outlined above for writing effective book titles that sell…
1. Does this book title catch the attention and interest of those who seek a solution to belly fat? Yes, not only is the keyword term “belly fat” in the title, but right next to it is “cure” – not lose weight or reduce, etc…but the word “Cure” is front and center. Also helpful to catching attention and maintaining interest is using specifics such as 4, 9 pounds and every week – much better than just a general lose weight promise.
2. How about a BIG promise? Well, the term “cure” combined with telling us exactly what we can lose in a short period of time is part of the BIG promise. People buy infoproducts – non-fiction, information and educational books to make things easier, faster and better – by promising results in a specific way either easier, faster or better – you will win with your book titles
3. Now, does the title clearly articulate the “difference” in this book versus other books in the market? Common ways to mark difference include using the word “new”, “breakthrough”, “finally”, or “underground” – when combined with a reason why it is unique, the difference becomes a highly effective part of your title. In the headline above, the word “New” combined with “Carb Swap System” does a good job of telling us why this method of losing belly fat is different.
Taken together – the Attention/Interest, Big Promise and Uniqueness principles make a highly effective, hot selling book titles making you a far more successful writer, marketer or information publisher.
