by Angela Hoy
This article may be redistributed/republished freely as long as the entire article and bio are included below.
Could the title of your book be hurting sales? Perhaps. This week, I’ll discuss the five most common titling mistakes made by authors:
1. Vague title
Creative titles with wordplay work for fiction, because nobody really expects fiction titles to describe a book’s content. However, with non-fiction, this can be fatal to the success of your book. If the title or subtitle of your book does not describe your non-fiction book, nobody will know what your book is about. For example, Florida’s Backyard is the name of a book I found today online. Can you guess what it’s about? The answer is at the end of this article.
2. Misspelled words and odd versions of common names
Some authors purposely misspell words or use uncommon forms of spelling for common names in titles (Jon instead of John, Windy instead of Wendy). This makes it very difficult for the bookstore clerk or the potential reader to find your book in the databases and online if they simply hear the name of your book somewhere or if they forget about the odd spelling before they go shopping.
3. Using odd characters, punctuation, numbers, or a foreign language
Using odd characters, punctuation, or numbers in the middle of a title may also make it difficult for buyers and readers to find your book. In addition, if a title is in a language other than the book’s primary language (and the reader’s primary language), the potential customer may not know how to spell or even pronounce the title.
Examples of two real book titles that may confuse potential readers:
Anthology: Five Stories, One Soliloquy, Two Essays
I’m Moving Two
4. Title not indicative of the book’s true content
Books that have titles that imply the delivery of something the book does not really offer will result in bad customer reviews (even if the book is good and the author did not intentionally mislead readers). If a buyer buys a book based on the title alone, and later learns the book isn’t what they thought it would be, you can bet they’ll be telling their friends (online and off) that they were deceived.
We recently rejected a book with a title that implied it was chock full of stock market tips. However, the book text was actually biblical quotes. We assumed the author was trying to “save” gamblers. Go figure.
5. Book title too long or too short
If your title is too long, it is hard for readers to digest and may be hard for bookstore and distribution systems to handle. Likewise, if your title is too short, and you don’t take advantage of a subtitle to further describe your book’s content, you’re missing out on potential sales, because the title (and subtitle) appear as the biggest and boldest form of advertising in all marketing literature about your book.
People really do judge a book by its cover…but they won’t even bother to look at the cover if they can’t find your book by searching for its title. Be sure your title tells the whole story, while not confusing your potential customer.
On yeah! What is Florida’s Backyard? A travel guide to the Florida Keys? Nope. An anthology by Florida residents? Nope again. It’s a cookbook.
Angela Hoy is the publisher of Booklocker.com, Inc., an author-friendly POD publisher that takes no rights, pays high royalties on a monthly basis, and treats authors like people, not numbers. She also publishes WritersWeekly.com, the free marketing emag for writers, offering paying markets and freelance jobs every Wednesday at no charge. Angela is also an advocate for freelance writer’s rights.
This article may be redistributed/republished freely as long as the entire article and bio are included below.