Book Marketing Success Story: Dan Gookin

Before publishing his book with an independent book publisher, this author took two key steps—two steps that any author can follow to create a better book.

Who was this author? And what were the two key steps he took to make his book a bestseller?

Dan Gookin was the author.

DOS for Dummies was the book.

What two steps did Dan take to make his book a bestseller?

More details: https://bookmarketing.substack.com

Book Titles Must Be Memorable to Sell More Books

Is Your Book Title Memorable?

You need to make your book title memorable. That’s what I look for when I critique book titles.

When John Gray followed up his bestselling Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus with What Your Mother Couldn’t Tell You and Your Father Didn’t Know, Borders returned 50% and Ingram 70%. Why? Because readers had trouble remembering the second title.

As Susie Russenberger of Ingram Book wholesalers noted, “The previous book had a great title, but this one was really hard for people to say.” When Gray began doing more Mars and Venus books, he again leapt to the top of the bestseller lists - with much fewer returns!

John Kremer’s Book Title Critiques. Get yours today:
http://www.BookTitleCritiques.com

Think and Grow Rich: Great Title, Great Story

Great story on how Think and Grow Rich got its name. Originally told by Jordan McAuley at http://www.celebritypr.com/marketing-media-publicity.

In the Success System that Never Fails, W. Clement Stone tells the story of how the best-selling success book of all time got its name:

When Napoleon Hill finished his book, it had the working title: The Thirteen Steps to Riches. The publisher, however, wanted a better selling title; he wanted a million-dollar name for the book. He kept calling every day for the new title, but even though Hill had tried about 600 different possibilities, none of them was any good.

Then one day the published phoned and said: “I’ve got to have the title by tomorrow. If you don’t have one, I have. It’s a humdinger — Use Your Noodle and Get the Boodle.

“You’ll ruin me,” shouted Hill. “That title is ridiculous.”

“Well, that’s it, unless you get me a better one by tomorrow morning,” responded the publisher.

That night Hill had a talk with his subconscious mind. In a loud voice, he said, “You and I have gone a long way together. You’ve done a lot of things for me — and some things to me. But I’ve got to have a million-dollar title, and I’ve got to have it tonight. Do you understand that?” For several hours, Hill thought; then he went to bed.

About two o’clock, he woke up as though someone had shaken him. As he came out of his sleep, a phrase glowed in his mind. He jumped to his typewriter and wrote it down. Then he grabbed the phone and called the publisher. “We’ve got it,” he shouted, “a million-dollar sales title.”

John Kremer's 7 Keys to a Great Book Title

The following is taken from The Copywriting Maven blog by Roberta Rosenberg. I found some misleading statements in the article. As she notes in the comment below, those misleading statements came from the writer of the article and not from her. Nonetheless, they must be corrected. My response is highlighted in dark blue.

In the April issue of Steve Harrison’s Book Marketing Update, there’s an article based on author John Kremer’s (1001 Ways to Market Your Book) thoughts on book titling. With so many of us involved in self-publishing POD and ebooks, I thought I’d synopsize the recommendations.

1. Make your title memorable, since 80% of books are sold by word-of-mouth.

This really is the top consideration when creating a title for any book. I agree with this statement.

2. Short titles are best, most successful titles are around 5 words. Add a subtitle to expand and/or illuminate the information about your book.

While a short title, in most cases is best, I've seen many successful long titles. So the true rule here is this: The title should be the right length to describe what's in the book and yet provide the reader with the right motivation to buy the book.

3. Numbers in titles can be very effective for non-fiction, just as they are when writing headline copy.

Numbers can be effective, but 95% of titles, including the most successful, do not include numbers. Of course, my book does.

4. Include keywords for non-fiction titles. You want to put the main search terms for your subject in your title or subtitle, but don’t use terms that are too generic.

A good title is more important than stuffing keywords, unless you are selling your book primarily online. Then keywords can be important.

5. Try inventing or coining a word for your title, but strive for conceptual clarity rather than showing off how clever you are. (I coined ‘macromize” for a promotion I did for a book about um, Wordstar macros years ago. I still like it. :)

Coining words for a title is an absolute no-no, unless the coined word is a brand or can be made into a brand. Even then, coining words is generally, almost always, not a good idea.

6. Try to think brandable - the Chicken Soup, Idiots and Dummies series represent genius-level book branding at its finest.

When critiquing titles, I always work to see if the title can be made into a brand. 99% of titles cannot be made into brands, but the few that can be are often very successful.

7. Don’t try to do too much with your title. Think brand, then add the specific audience you’re going after.

Don't try to do too much with your title. The purpose of a title, firstmost, is simple: Attract attention. Get the attention of the people who really need or would want the book.

Book Titles Are Important

How important is a title? Critical. Indeed, it is possible to sell a book based on the title alone. That's what Cindy and Alan Garner did with their self-published book, Everything Men Know about Women. The book was written under a pseudonym, Alan Francis, and is now published by Andrews McMeel.

Why do I know that the title alone sold the book? Because the book had nothing in it except 120 blank pages. Yet the book sold well over 2 million copies!

Title Change Makes All the Difference

When Russell Simmons showed Oprah Winfrey a copy of his book manuscript, she said that his title The 12 Laws of Success was corny. She said the book should be titled Do You!.

As Simmons noted later, "I knew she was right, so I went back to the publisher and we changed the name."

If anyone else had told Simmons to change the title, the publisher might not have listened -- but you don't ignore Oprah. She's smart. And she's influential.

Book Titles Matter

In a recent column in the New York Sun, David Blum wondered why Joshua Ferris's wonderful novel Then We Came to the End never made the NYT bestseller list. Here's one of the reasons he came up with:

“In the case of Little Brown and Mr. Ferris, some attention to the novel's cumbersome title might have helped. Was Then We Came to the End really the best title for this wonderful novel? I doubt it. By allowing his impossible-to-remember title to remain on the book, everyone involved willfully ignored the pragmatic truths of the 2007 literary marketplace: Sometimes the catchier title wins. It's no coincidence that the cleverly-titled Heyday sold better, even though it's hard to believe any readers preferred Mr. Andersen's self-conscious artifice over Mr. Ferris's heartfelt tour de force.”

Even the editor of Ferris’s book admitted that “Nobody ever remembers the title exactly right. Usually they call it the office novel or something.”

Blum had a great comment on that: “Try asking for the office novel at Barnes & Noble and see how far you get.”

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In a blog post written about a year ago, blogger Rohit Bhargava had this to say about book titles:

“Why the Irish Saved Civilization was a very average book released with a perfectly crafted title just engaging enough for all Americans who claim some amount of Irish heritage to buy it for other Americans with similar backgrounds. It probably sold well in Ireland too. But my guess is that only 10% of people who bought the book ever actually read it. The title is what sold the book.”

Don't let your book titles ruin your chances of success. Keep working on the title until you come up with something memorable. If you need help, take advantage of my Book Title Critique service. It only costs a $125, and it's worth every penny. Call me at 575-751-3398 to set up an appointment or email me at JohnKremer@BookMarket.com.