If you are reading this blog, I am guessing that you might want to write a book. (Great!) If so, here is a simple step that will get you a long way towards successfully publishing it.
That step is to simply go to your favorite bookstore and purchase a book. Preferably a book in the field you yourself want to write in. Then answer the following question: Why did this book's title make me want to take it off the shelf?
New authors think that people buy their books because of the great content that hides within the 60,000 words or so of turgid prose that they write. That is only kinda sorta true. In reality, that one line on the spine (or the Amazon search) is what really hooks readers to explore further. If you can write truly great titles, you are more than halfway down the football field to making your book happen. And with the very best of titles, the book practically writes itself.
Look at the titles on your bookshelf. If they are nonfiction books, chances are that they sell a benefit, credential the book, or tell you everything you need to know about what's between the covers. For fiction books, they probably create a mental image that hooks you, or spill the beans on the book setting and its genre. If they are truly great titles, they probably make you smile or make you think.
When Tim Ferriss decided to title his book "The Four-Hour Work Week," I believe he had a bestseller on his hands even before he wrote a word. Conversely, there are some great books out there buried under bland, generic titles. So what's your title?
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