If I Walked in the Room Naked – Would You Notice Me Then?

If I Walked In the Room Naked – Would You Notice Me Then?
That made you take notice, as well it should.
The same goes for book titles which must also grab the attention, arouse curiosity, sometimes shock, and ultimately sell! How else could you know what lurks behind great titles like Screw the Bitch (Divorce Tactics for Men) and $25,000 for a Few Hours Work Doesn’t Seem Fair?
With the ‘right’ title, the most nondescript book, even one that’s empty, can be an instant hit. And vice versa for great books with boring names.
Title was undoubtedly a contributory factor in the success of:
The Lazy Man’s Way to Riches
Paint Your Rainbow
Getting Started in the Underground Economy
Live Well on Practically Nothing
The Magic of Thinking Big
The Sensuous Dieter’s Guide to Weight Loss During Sex!
Don’t Judge a Book By the Cover
A great title can sell itself without the reader knowing anything of the usefulness, or otherwise, of its contents, as did Everything Men Know About Women! Do the contents live up to readers’ expectations? No-one really knows, because the pages, all 122 of them, are completely blank!
These few tips will help you develop order-pulling titles:
1) Study newspaper advertisements and headlines for new book ideas and titles. What The Butler Saw for example, a headline reporting the farcicle trial of Diana, Princess of Wales’ butler Paul Burrell, could be turned into a book exposing all manner of royal indiscretions in years gone by. What the Butler Saw (Secrets Of Royal Butlers in Years Gone By) comes readily to mind.
2) Competition slogans and tie-breakers are a goldmine of useful words, gimmicks and sometimes fully-fledged titles, like competition winner $tudy The $ecrets of $logans That $ell which inspired my own book $tudy The $ecrets of $ites That $ell.
3) Song titles are also a great starting point for award winning book titles. Witness the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, the starter for a book I will one day write about folk remedies called Magical Mystery Cures.
4) Be careful, for while ‘blind, curiosity-grabbing’ titles might attract increased orders, they’re also likely to generate a higher return rate when readers find the book isn’t quite what they guessed it to be. And you’ll get to give more money back in refunds to disgruntled, soon to be ex-customers. So use subtitles if necessary. For example, Callanetics on its own is confusing, not so with its subtitle (10 Years Younger in 10 Hours).
5) Choose familiar leads to help brand your product and attract back end sales of related titles. Examples: ‘Ten Minute’ series, ‘How to …’ and ‘The Joy of ….’.
6) Have a domain name for each book and make it the same as your book’s title. For example, my book Magical Mystery Cures has its own domain name – www.magicalmysterycures.com.
Because title and domain name match I might achieve a higher ranking in some search engines. People are also more likely to remember a book title than domain name, so keying the title into search engines should bring up the site. Having its own domain name increases the perceived value of your book and lets people know they’re almost certainly buying from the owner, maybe the author himself and could instill confidence in potential buyers.
7) Retitling is particularly beneficial for repackaged items comprising items obtained with resell rights available from many different sources. Give a new title, like Instant eBook Business and FreeToSell, add a great web site, and voila, your own unique product is ready to go in days, not months and certainly not years!
So consider it time well spent choosing titles to suit your products, whether they’re your own or repacked from other people’s work, and give yourself the best possible chance of success.
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Article reprinted from “The Ultimate Resell Rights Challenge” by Avril Harper www.resell-rights.net