The Challenge of Choosing a Book Title

Selecting the perfect title for your book can feel like an overwhelming task, especially when you’re trying to balance creativity with marketability. In both this blog and my next subscriber-only Monday Writing Motivation mailer, I explore my own journey through the title-selection maze, sharing insights from my current experience of naming a series of writing craft books.

Writing Tips

• Consider your genre’s conventions when choosing your title. Genre fiction often signals its category (think ‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’ for thrillers), while literary fiction can be more allusive (‘Cloud Atlas’, ‘Wolf Hall’).
• Test your title’s memorability by sharing it verbally with others. If they struggle to remember it moments later or stumble over pronouncing it, consider simplifying.
• For non-fiction, use the title-subtitle combination strategically. Your title can be intriguing or poetic, whilst your subtitle does the heavy lifting of explaining the book’s specific value to readers.

Writing Exercise

Choose three published books in your genre that you admire. Analyse their titles, considering what makes them effective. Then, generate five potential titles for your own work using similar principles. Share these with a trusted reader and note their immediate reactions to each one.

Titles are like faces, they should be readable from a distance, and give a good first impression.

Remember titles serve as both an artistic choice and a practical marketing tool. The best titles work at multiple levels – they’re easy to grasp yet carry deeper meaning that becomes apparent as readers engage with the work.

Additional Resources

• A book is a machine to think with
• The love affairs we have with books
• The little miracle that enables readers to read what writers have written
•  Sink your hooks into your reader – fast

Want to dive deeper into the realities of choosing a title that works? Sign up for our Monday Writing Motivation email for exclusive content, where I’ll share my personal journey of naming a series of writing craft books, including the unexpected challenges and revelations that emerged along the way.