Compel Your Readers to Pick up Your Book with these Book Title Ideas

Writing a highly-praised novel, or any proudly-written novel for that matter, is not success without its main pulling point: the book title. Have you ever grabbed a book from a pile without being plucked by the title first? By just reading the first magnetic words displayed on the book cover, were you not curious enough to grab the book? Exactly.

Good book titles, no, great titles, could be the make or break of a book purchase. Believe it or not, not everyone takes as much time reading the short synopsis as a bookworm does. Sometimes, all it takes is an imaginative title. Here are a few elements to keep to mind in drawing in prospective readers:

With credit to charm and meaning

No matter the genre of book, be it science fiction or romance, one must come up with a charming and creative title. Charm and creativity will add spice to your book’s significant theme. It should provide a nice peek to the meaning of your story all while using enrapturing words that linger in the reader’s mind, even after the last word is read quietly or aloud.

Let’s compare a good book title to a bland one. The titles below are of published books:

• Under the Never Sky
• Where the Deer Dwell
• The Mayonnaise Affair

What if the book Under the Never Sky was entitled Under the Sky? Or Where the Deer Dwell was entitled Where the Deer Live? Or The Mayonnaise Affair was simply The Affair? Surely you can already tell which one exudes a pleasant and fascinating tone. Aside from being charming and creative, a good book label should be to the point, with just enough words to trigger a snap of eagerness in the reader’s mind, leaving them to utter “ooh” quietly.

Unafraid to be sharp and imaginative

Knowing how to think of a good book title is critical to your readership triumph. However simple the setting of your story or out-of-this-world its realm is, every good story has to ignite the reader’s imagination.

Try drawing out the most powerful moments of your story. Are there any poignant words that you’ve written? Maybe you’d want to clip out two words from a sentence in one of your chapters.

Let’s have this as an example:

Belle accepted the fact that her only companion would never return. How can he? The different play outs of his death replayed in her head like white noise—frequent, intense. Life would never return to normal. And the first day of this awful chapter would begin as soon she stepped off the ghost ship with only two strangers beside her. That day is now.

White Noise would sound like a good book title idea, wouldn’t it? It only has two words, but it clearly depicts what the novel might be like—chilling and dreary. Straightforward enough, these two words can stimulate a reader’s imagination. Stand out from the bookcase with a bold representation of your life’s work. These words should be what will separate you from other talented competitions.

Brevity or longevity, whichever works better

The originality and inventiveness applied to your title should also take into account how short or long the book title is. You can’t be creative by placing a string of dull words together just for the sake of a long title. The same goes for writing a short title. Below are some more examples of creative book titles:

• Hawkfasts
• 21 Erased
• Drink, Slay, Love
• Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
• You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You’re Deluding Yourself

So go ahead. If you feel like being to the point or if you’ve just thought of a flurry of creative words to make a great book title, as long as the richness, the efficacy of one word or a string of words leaves one to go pick up your work piqued, then know that you and your book is secure and wanted.

Take these good tips and remember that knowing how to title a book is not limited to one eureka moment. It is not giving too much away either. Rereading, researching, refining, and reinventing are all parts of the whole process of creating a manuscript, as well as a creative book title. Your editor can help of course, but understand that this creative initiative is first brewed by you.