If you're writing a book and you want that book to sell you have to come up with original and salable titles.
Go to Amazon.com or to your local bookstore or local library and study the titles of the bestselling books.
Write down these titles. These should be the bestsellers in the genre that you're interested in writing in.
Certainly you cannot judge a book by its cover or by its title nevertheless, titles help to sell books.
What is it about these titles that help to sell the book?
Most titles are short titles, for example. Very few titles are long. Sometimes titles have a short title, then an explanatory sentence.
Like Water for Chocolate, for example, the book and the movie.
Why is the title interesting? Salable? First it's an intriguing title. What does this mean? Like Water for Chocolate? What's this? Sometimes the title is interesting because of our curiosity as readers?
If you're writing a how to book, what is it that you want the reader to know that makes them want to read this type of book. What does this book do for them?
Let's say the title of this article becomes a how to book:
How to Write Titles That Sell
Or another how to book
How to Sell
Many writers are interested in selling their books. A book on writing salable titles that help them to sell their books certainly might find many readers. There are many professional and amateurs writers that might purchase this book.
How to Sell in general might have more customers, because there are many business people who want to learn how to sell, many students of books, many sales reps. This is a general titles that would probably have many more buyers.
What is it your reader wants, needs, desires? These are factors in selling, including in selling books.
Non-fiction books are generally more salable than fiction because non-fiction books general answer better the needs of more people.
Fiction that sells generally also answers the needs of more people for knowledge, for information. What types of fiction title sell? What types of fiction works sell better? Mystery? Romance? Detective Fiction? Science Fiction?
And among these types of fiction, what titles are salable? What makes them salable?
Sometimes the works of authors sell because the authors are excellent and selling themselves. Their publishers and publicity people sell the author along with the work. Many people read the books and the books are reasonably well-written. Sometimes they are better than the works of other authors, sometimes they are just as good, but we like the author, admire the author and we buy the book.
Many celebrity authors are best-sellers not so much because they are greater writers, along many celebrities are excellent writers. Many of us buy their works because they have already sold themselves as celebrities. We like them. Many people know them. If they write a book, they already have an audience. Celebrity writers usually sell more books also. Some sell because they are truly great writers. Some sell because they are good are selling themselves. Some sell because their titles are salable titles.
There are many non-fiction books we buy even if we don't know the author because the books have information for us that we want to know and we read and find this is excellent information for us. Many online writers we read for information, decide its excellent information, we keep reading these writers even though we don't personally know. Many we easily recognize as experts. Some have credentials that we recognize. Some we just determine their credentials from their writing, and the type of expert or non-expert advice they provide.
Salable titles help to sell books just like the quality of the texts and the salable authors.
Publishers and professional writers know that all of these factors help to sell books.
American Idol for example continues to be a TV phenomenon. We find when deciding upon talent, these judges are looking for all of the qualities of salability that we have mentioned.
We hear a lot of they like the people. They like certain people. Truthfully talent should be enough, but in the entertainment world, these people have to sell themselves as well as their talent, so of course, they want likable therefore salable talent. Their singing must be great, their personality salable, and the whole package of an American Idol.
This is true of books that often become bestsellers--the title and the cover, the quality of the writing itself, and if possible, the salability of the author.
Most authors, of course, prefer the work rather than the personality of the writer interfering with the readers perception of the work. Certainly, nevertheless everything is a factor in marketability, and especially as literature becomes more and more "commercial" that other elements of this society. We continue to have intellectual, noncommercial writings, and we should continue to have these, along with the salable writings. But when considering sales and writings, then think salable titles along with the other contributions to market value, including a marketable and salable text.
