Everyone knows that the title of a book is essential; it’s the first thing people see, and if it doesn’t create interest, they won’t take a closer look. However, not everyone knows that the subtitle is almost as important. Both, in fact, play an important role, and their roles are quite different. The main purpose of the title is attract. You want people to take a second look at it and, if they’re in a bookstore, pick it up and take a closer look. This is where the subtitle comes in; its main purpose is explain. It should give the reader more information about the book. In particular, you need to state what the benefits of reading the book are and convince readers that it will be useful to them.
Let us first consider the title. To capture a person’s interest, a title has to be different and unique, and assuming it’s a nonfiction book, it should hold promise. This means that the purpose or objective of the title has to be clear, so be careful if you decide on a “pretty” title. If people don’t know what it means, even if it makes them laugh, in most cases it won’t arouse their curiosity. Finally, it should be “catchy,” something that is easy to remember and sticks in your mind. This means that it should not be too long; five words or less is usually best.
With so many books on the market, this may seem like a big ask. First of all, almost any title that immediately comes to mind (after having decided to write the book) has been used. So it’s always a good idea to check out your creation on Amazon.com. It is not illegal to use a title that has already been used, but it can cause some confusion. So don’t settle for a title too quickly; take a good look at it and reflect a lot. Let your unconscious brain work on it for a while; you may be surprised at what comes to mind.
Some other things that are useful for getting great titles are:
- Humor in a title is always good.
- Make sure it answers a question. Do not use questions as titles.
- A twist on a well-known phrase is often a good headline.
- Use alliteration if possible (for example, “Point to Amazon”).
- Use metaphors (a word representing another word), but be careful that your meaning is clear.
- Let yourself go. Be a little daring and outrageous. You never know what can happen to you.
- Think in terms of power phrases like: “Amazing new discovery:…”, “You can…”, “A surefire way to…”, “Better than…”, “The minute… “.
When you’ve finally settled on a title, sit down and ask yourself if it meets all of the above criteria. If it isn’t, try again until you find something that is.
Now for the subtitle. As I said before, its main function is to explain. It should give more information about the book and explain its benefits, and if it has to do this, it obviously has to be much longer than the title. One sentence is the norm, but it can be multiple sentences, and this is what I recommend. The important thing is that it does the job.
One of the main things to think about when writing subheadings is keywords They are words or phrases that people type into a computer when they search for something. Keywords are picked up by search engines like Google and Yahoo. They are particularly important when people are looking for a nonfiction book on a particular topic on Amazon. They write some words related to the topic and review the first books that appear on the screen. So you have to ask yourself what someone is likely to write about when searching for a book on your book topic. It turns out that there are places where you can search for good or frequently used keywords. Some of them are:
www.buenaspalabrasclave.com
www.wordtracker.com
In practice, search engines look first exact keywords, that is, the same words in the same order that the person typed. Therefore, it is a good idea to include some of them in your subheading.
Earlier we saw that powerful action words and phrases are useful in headlines. It turns out that they are even more important in subheadings and should be used whenever possible. Typical of these words are: Benefit, Achieve, Improve, Think, Avoid, Change.