Titles are important. At Baker Books, where I work, every publishing season (spring, summer, and fall) we schedule multiple titling meetings. First titling team members brainstorm individually. Then we come together and refine our options. We’re trying to come with the best possible title and subtitle combination—the one that will give a book its best shot in the marketplace.
Your Titling Team
But as an individual writer you don’t have the luxury of a titling team, right? What do you have? Quite a bit actually. You have:
- Yourself. Glorious you!
- Your creative friends. People who love and support you, want to see you succeed, and also have a least a little bit of discernment about what makes for a good title and, er, what doesn’t.
- Your tribe. People who read your stuff and look to you for advice and insights.
That’s enough! That’s all you need to develop a really strong working title and subtitle.
Titling in 5 Steps
When I work with writers, I encourage this five-step process:
- Do the work. Spend at least 30 minutes brainstorming possible titles and subtitles. Ideally you would do this multiple times and ask your creative friends to brainstorm with you.
- Once you’ve done number 1, whittle your list to your top 3 to 5 and number them.
- Take this numbered list of title possibilities to your tribe and ask for votes. This part is really fun!
- Pick one, being sure to capture your other leading contenders.
- Move on! If you’ve done the above, you can move forward in confidence that your title is good enough as a working title to keep working on your proposal or project.
I stress 5 above because we can easily get obsessed with the right title and this can be self-sabotaging. The goal is to pick one that’s good enough for now and move.
Question: Want to workshop your title in the comments? Go ahead. Throw one out there (with maybe a brief description about your book) and ask for some feedback. Then be sure to offer feedback to others. You can leave a comment by clicking here.
My book proposal guidelines have helped countless authors write contract-winning book proposals. I’d be happy to send you a copy. Just click the thumbnail image below:
Not sure if I’m too late to comment or get feedback!
Title: Don’t Just Survive
Subtitle: Tools for Thriving (and not just surviving) when life is hard
Concept: Don’t Just Survive is a set of practical tools to encounter the fullness of life Jesus came to give, right in the middle of tough, painful seasons. Each tool includes example stories from my own cancer journey, reflect and respond section to bring the tool alive, and quotes from other “thrivers” who know what it’s like to live a life they didn’t sign up for.
Great list Chad. Thank you for this. I have shared it on Twitter and with a few of my clients. I appreciate your blog!
You’re welcome, Diana! Thanks for sharing it.
Hi Chad, I recently connected with you. Thank you for offering great tips and practical information for writing. I am working on a book title and subtitle in the proposal writing stage. The title I keep clinging to, “When Pigs Fly” needs a strong subtitle. The theme is hope in tragedy, dark moments, hurts, unrealized dreams, loss- with working subs; “Finding Hope in an Uncertain World”; “Hope for Life’s Hurts”; “Hope Beyond Life’s Heartaches & Faith That Remains”; “How to Find Hope After Life Turns Against You”
Title: Out of a Secrete Darkness
Subtitle: A True Story of Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, and God’s Saving Grace and Transforming Love
Concept: Out of a Secrete Darkness is an autobiography that depicts the effects of child abuse, and domestic violence and testifies how God’s saving grace and transforming love has made healing and forgiveness possible.
Shirley, I like the subtitle you have chosen for a title it’s more descriptive.
Not bad, but why the extra e on “Secret”?
That was a typo.
This was my original idea.
Title: Psycho Tree
Subtitle: Praise God! I’m not Nuts
Concept: A True Story of Child Abuse, Domestic Violence and God’s Saving Grace
What do you think?
Title: I HAVE CALLED YOU FRIENDS
Subtitle: Devotions for Jesus’ Special Friends
My book, perhaps 96 pages, has short devotional readings for adult special needs readers. Each devotional is culturally-relevant to this population and mostly written at 3rd grade reading level. Each devotional will have a colored picture insert at its beginning to help draw attention to the story and briefly-expressed Biblical truth.
What do you all think? Do you like the title?
Shirley, that’s a good one! Thanks for sharing it.
Alrighty, well, let’s give this a try!
Here’s my current working title:
Help! I’m a Christian… Can I? Should I?
Discovering Answers Locked in the Bible to Questions Like Those
Concept:
This book leads people through a process of learning how to read the Bible to answer the cultural questions for themselves. Rather than telling people what is right or wrong, this book teaches people to answer these questions for themselves. It arms them for a lifetime of following God through reading and understanding the Bible.
What does everyone think?
Brad, great topic. I like your sub, or something like “How the Bible Can Help You Answer Some of Life’s Most Vexing Questions.” But I think I would try to simplify your main title to something like “Can I? Should I?” or “Is It Okay for Me to…?”
Thanks for the feedback Chad!
Title: Raggedy Threadbare Words
Concept: Poems illustrating/commenting usage of phrases and words i.e., like, just, actually, to be perfectly honest, omg, as a matter of fact, etc. “Raggedy threadbare words/are tales told by an idiom/signifying sound adnauseum/irrelevant to the nth degree./These homely vernaculars…….”
I took your suggestion from our meeting together and changed the title of my book to JesusHacks. It’s proven itself with my tribe, and to others who stumble upon it. I’m hoping it’ll do the same on bookshelves!
That’s a great title, Neal!