The people who read, books are their babies, their love, and their flat-trans to the magical land of fiction. But what to do when the door of entry looks so boring…

Book titles are that doors through which readers are deported into another universe. You want your book to be a literal masterpiece. And let’s say, it is. But the one who haven’t read doesn’t know. What gives the creative superiority is the book title. And you want people to look at your book title and say “Oh darling of mine, where have you been?”

It should give an idea of what the reading experience is going to be like. It should be specified according to the genre. It should be catchy enough that the people who are just there to make a virtual list of TBR and were not intending to buy actually goes on buying and say “you made me do it”, “you better be worth it”.

And it will be. Trust me, with the ideas I’m going to discuss below, your book title will be worth it. Worth all the penny and time. Just come along.

Secrets of playing with words to sell your product.

Book titles are just combination of words and catchy vocabulary that will hook the reader from the cover alone.

It’s all basically a game of words.

Words you sell, words they buy. Words that hit to knock you up. Words, a soothing lullaby.

Play that game. Be a player. That too, a good one.

Use of genre-specific vocabulary

There is a reason E-book sites have products aligned in their specific category. So the readers apply filters and land directly into their preferred field. You don’t want an outsider to enter your territory and give a wrong idea. As in, under the category of historical fiction that is based on the time of World War II, by adding “Love” and other vocabulary of romantic fiction, you might be misleading the audience.

There is a book by Ray Bradbury of the category Occult fiction, it has the title “Something Wicked This Way Comes”. This is an appropriate title to exemplify the point of genre specific vocabulary as the contents and characters of the book successfully sat upon the chair of wickedness upon choosing a specific direction. And also the title is a famous quote of Shakespeare, which for the readers, is an indication and a promise of the book to be literary and poetry treat. So, sellers, take notes please.

Formulate an intriguing subtext

The readers who, for some reason, didn’t get much of an idea of the book content, looks for an additional description. The subtext is that very brief description of what the book has inside. State a sentence that appears to be telling what the book will cover and then add an element of mystery and intrigue. Like, some book that caters the aftermaths of a specific situation, state “the xyz has been finished” and then add “or, has it?” It will make the readers think again and become curious to read further.

The subtext could also be an intriguing dialogue from inside the book that catch the readers’ attention. For example “if you ain’t scared, you ain’t human” from the novel “The Maze Runner”. Now, as I go, I know the ones who have read maze runner are jumping in delight and agreement upon the mention of this and the ones who haven’t read are going to add it in their TBR pile. This is the level of excitement you should aim to achieve while formulating your subtext.

Distinguishing features displayed on the cover

If the story told in the book is somewhat similar to other books of the same category. Try incorporating a distinguishing word or phrase to make the book unique and pickable. To exemplify that, all the books under the genre fantasy fiction have more or less similar plotline like, “The hunger games” series and “Divergent” series are both strikingly similar in their plot and progression of events. But the title doesn’t give it away. If your plot doesn’t have something unique, then your characters might, if not that too then the setting and premise would be unique. So identify the unique and distinguishing feature and display that on the cover.

The feeling of shared experience- Relatability

The title that when we read it, it talks back to us. Sounds creepy? No, it actually sounds interactive to me! And believe it or not, interactive vocabulary has a mysterious way of gripping attention of the reader. The relatability aspect can be generated through hinting upon a specific situation that most people- readers/buyers, might have experienced, or through the portrayal of a relatable character.  The most appropriate example in this regard would be a book title “Am I normal yet?” by Holly Bourne. Here, you got to agree with me, that we read it with an undertone of our own feelings and confusions written by someone else. As a reader, who is going through a mental trauma or relapse or recovery often asks themselves similar questions, and they will find this book title instantly relatable.

Give them what they want

If a reader, upon scrolling through the list of genres, has landed on this specific category, then you might have gotten an idea what the reader wants. Why yes, give them. Per se, the genre under investigation is “horror fiction” then you might want to use spooky, bone-chilling and mysterious vocabulary. Stephen King knows the trick as we see the titles like “the dead zone” and “misery” are literal goals. So to say, the use of filters determines exactly what the reader is looking for, and only such books that relate exactly according to their title will show up in the results. So if your book has got all that it takes, then it better be in the title as well.

That been said, with these frugal tips down your pocket, go make some money. Good luck!