How Important is a Title? by Alison Henderson

I don't subscribe to many newsletters, but I am on Joanna Penn's list for The Creative Penn. I've read Joanna's blog for several years--ever since I started toying with the idea of indie publishing--and have always found her advice accessible and useful. She frequently has guest authors, and one of her guests last week, Michael Alvear, wrote a column I found particularly timely. I'll hit the high points, but you can read it for yourself here.

Like me, Michael is a bit of a data geek when in comes to marketing. Unlike me, he has the resources to go above and beyond the norm in his data collection. For his latest book, he actually commissioned a research lab to research lab to conduct an eye tracking study on Amazon's book pages. 

The researchers showed a group of subjects the Amazon book page for a random thriller to which Michael had no connection. They then tracked the eye movements of the test subjects to see which sections of the page caught their attention and where they lingered longest. Some of the results were expected; others surprised me.

As you might expect, the most attention-getting element of the page was the cover. However, the next--by far--was the title. The potential readers spent much more time looking at the title than the blurb. That surprised me. So many books today have generic titles that are not particularly original and say very little about the story, and publishers are at least as guilty of assigning nondescript titles as indie authors, if not more so. 

According to Michael's research and personal experience, uninspiring titles can make a huge difference in sales. He cites one example of author Gerry O'Sullivan's book with the original title of Servants of the Empire. Upon release, it fell flat on its face. When it was re-launched as Gangsters of Shanghai, sales soared, and three months later Sony Television optioned the book! 

This got me thinking about my current manuscript, the third book in the female-bodyguard Phoenix, Ltd. series. Since I first conceived the series, this book has carried the working title Child's Play. To fit with the rest of the series, I needed a short, punchy, two-word title with some reference to the bodyguard's undercover assignment--in this case as a nanny--but I was never in love with it. As I've written more of the story, I've become even less enamored of the title. It suggested something simple, and that doesn't fit my characters or the plot.

However, I still needed a title that fit the established parameters of the series. After reading this article, I put on my thinking cap and came up with something I like much better--Problem Child. Right off the bat, the new title suggests a certain tension, and combined with the cover I think it raises intriguing questions. Who is the problem child? The owner of the legs, who carries a gun? That could be interesting. Or is it someone else? The client's niece? Maybe it refers to the monkey. Inquiring minds want to know!

You might not have the last word on your own titles, but most authors have significant input. I hope this gets you thinking about yours.

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com