How much does a book title influence you when you are considering buying it?

Keesha said:
Ditto! I read what the books about. Titles don’t always paint a true picture of what the books about
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That's because one often can't give a true picture of what a book is about from the title. Selecting a good title is difficult.
 

Phoenix said:
As an author selecting the best title for a book is difficult for me. Today I was talking to a lady at my drug insurance company. After a fun conversation I mentioned I was a writer and told her about a book I'd written and the title. She said she'd buy a book with that title, not even knowing anything about it. Now, she could have been just being nice, but it did set me to thinking again about my long time problem, how to select a title that catches the eye. With so many books out there now that anyone anywhere can publish a book about anything, it's even more important. Even if you get a large publishing house to publish it, they rarely provide any publicity. Only the big names or ain't it awful stories get a publishing budget. For the most part the author has to do all the work her/himself.

One of the things I did was try different names on a book, one at a time of course, and then offer it for free under each subesquent title. Some title didn't have any takers and some had quite a bunch. So I'd keep the effective title. But that can get cumbersome to implement.

In the next few months my latest book will be uploaded. I have a title I like, but I have no idea if it is a good one, since as an author, my mind thinks differently than a lot of others.

How would you suggest I go about selecting titles?
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Titles rarely lead me to buy books.. sometimes they capture my attention, but then I usually skim the book (in person or the "see inside" option online) before deciding if I want it.

Very few exceptions. One had the name of my hometown in the title- I regretted buying it and won't even say what it was. To say it was awful is an understatement.

Two others were better. First, LBJ: THE MAN WHO KILLED KENNEDY. I rarely buy books as soon as they're published, generally wait for the price to come down, but this was an exception.

Second, this title drew me in and it was definitely worth it: There Goes My Everything: White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights, 1945-1975. As I read it, I could almost picture the individuals whining that old Engelbert Humperdinck song 'There goes my reason for liiiiiiiving...'
 
Phoenix said:
That's because one often can't give a true picture of what a book is about from the title. Selecting a good title is difficult.
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I'm with you on that.
With the most recent book I self-published, I'm hoping the subtitle is present in online distribution channels, as that wasn't the case with the previous book.
 

Phoenix said:
Yes, you have to click on the title. I'm not trying to sell a book here, because the last time I did that I was attacked by a lurker who was mad at someone else. It caused me all kinds of professional hassles and one of the moderators was kind enough to remove the stuff I had about several books. None of them are available on Amazon because they want to own rights to the authors book. So if ever anyone here wants to know about how to find them I will let you know some other way. Here's the cover for this book.View attachment 121868
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Re: Amazon- are you sure?

I know if a person publishes through Amazon (I think it's called Kindle) that's the case, but not if you go through a different company then it's listed for sale on Amazon.
 
JaniceM said:
Re: Amazon- are you sure?

I know if a person publishes through Amazon (I think it's called Kindle) that's the case, but not if you go through a different company then it's listed for sale on Amazon.
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They have been taken to court about this. I buy nothing from them unless I can't get it any other place. The guy is despicable. I don't do business with people of his kind. If you self publish through another company you are still at the mercy of Amazon. I'd rather sell nothing than do business with a company who abuses other people including authors. It's like telling a man it's okay to beat his wife, because she isn't you.
 
Phoenix said:
They have been taken to court about this. I buy nothing from them unless I can't get it any other place. The guy is despicable. I don't do business with people of his kind. If you self publish through another company you are still at the mercy of Amazon. I'd rather sell nothing than do business with a company who abuses other people including authors. It's like telling a man it's okay to beat his wife, because she isn't you.
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What guy?

I've noticed when books sell through Amazon or other retailers the amount I receive (royalties/revenues) is lower than when copies are sold through the company I publish with, but that's all I've noticed.
 
I'm another avid reader. I'm certainly put off by certain titles. The picture on the front should reflect the content of the book, so I'm often drawn to the cover. I can see how difficult it must be to choose just the right title, to attract the type of reader your book is aimed at. However, it should not be misleading.
The last book I read was entitled 'The Soul of Ancient Egypt'. I expected it to be about the ancient religion of Egypt. In fact it was about the history of modern Egypt. I enjoyed it but felt cheated.
If readers enjoy your book, they will remember your name and look for more books written by you. So you must be honest about the genre.
 
If I think about the titles that have grabbed me when I am not specifically looking for something, then I have to reflect on those titles that caused me to pick up a book in an airport bookstore when I am in a hurry to find something to read before the next flight. Again, I know nothing about the Authors. Titles that have gotten my attention include:

The Gift of Rain
The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
A Bartender's Tale

I have no idea why I was attracted to those titles, but they were all excellent books and I went on to read additional books by those writers. I will turn away from anything that looks religious or like a cheesy romance.
 
The title may draw my attention. I would then read the back of the book for a basic outline of the story and I would skim read the first page of the book and that will determine whether I would buy it or borrow it from the library. I always feel that the opening page is the key to whether I will be interested in the book. I have always done this. Perhaps it is the first page that determines the style of writing and that is a key factor for me.
 
JaniceM said:
What guy?

I've noticed when books sell through Amazon or other retailers the amount I receive (royalties/revenues) is lower than when copies are sold through the company I publish with, but that's all I've noticed.
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Bezos the owner of Amazon.
 
Rosemarie said:
I'm another avid reader. I'm certainly put off by certain titles. The picture on the front should reflect the content of the book, so I'm often drawn to the cover. I can see how difficult it must be to choose just the right title, to attract the type of reader your book is aimed at. However, it should not be misleading.
The last book I read was entitled 'The Soul of Ancient Egypt'. I expected it to be about the ancient religion of Egypt. In fact it was about the history of modern Egypt. I enjoyed it but felt cheated.
If readers enjoy your book, they will remember your name and look for more books written by you. So you must be honest about the genre.
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Mine fit in multiple genres. But they are not general fiction either. A lot of the experience represented here is relative to books in hard copy. Mine are digital. While you can download the first 10 -15 percent of the book for free to see if it is to your liking before you decide to buy, it is not the same as picking it up in the bookstore and paging through it. They will stay digital for economic reasons on my part. If that means no one buys them, so be it.
 
Phoenix said:
Mine fit in multiple genres. But they are not general fiction either. A lot of the experience represented here is relative to books in hard copy. Mine are digital. While you can download the first 10 -15 percent of the book for free to see if it is to your liking before you decide to buy, it is not the same as picking it up in the bookstore and paging through it. They will stay digital for economic reasons on my part. If that means no one buys them, so be it.
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I think being able to read the first few pages, along with table of contents if there is one, should be enough for a person to decide about buying the book.
 
I cannot buy any more books, I have way too many, & I don't seem to part with them. I use the library only, for ebooks & paper books.
 
This is a little off topic. I just looked at a list of top/bestselling novels from 1959. Then I looked at a list from 2019.

I was really struck by the fact that a) I hadn't heard of most of the books from 2019; b) all or almost all were by women; and c) the books from 1959 included many well-known titles such as Hawaii, Advise and Consent, Doctor Zhivago, Goodbye Columbus, and Henderson the Rain King. Even the pulpy stuff (like Goldfinger and Agatha Christie's Cat Among the Pigeons) had some literary merit.

My conclusion: Books, like movies, are in a steady downhill slide.
 
JimBob1952 said:
This is a little off topic. I just looked at a list of top/bestselling novels from 1959. Then I looked at a list from 2019.

I was really struck by the fact that a) I hadn't heard of most of the books from 2019; b) all or almost all were by women; and c) the books from 1959 included many well-known titles such as Hawaii, Advise and Consent, Doctor Zhivago, Goodbye Columbus, and Henderson the Rain King. Even the pulpy stuff (like Goldfinger and Agatha Christie's Cat Among the Pigeons) had some literary merit.

My conclusion: Books, like movies, are in a steady downhill slide.
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Is the fact that most were by women somehow relevant?
 
JimBob1952 said:
My conclusion: Books, like movies, are in a steady downhill slide.
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There are a lot of good writers out there. I know some of them. The big publishing houses are no longer publishing their work. They want ain't it awful books, ones that are guaranteed to make them a lot of money. There's a lot of things a person can learn about the process by attending writers conferences and listening to those who have been in the business for a long time.
 
No, I don't think so, except that it might indicate that more novels are read by and written by women today than 60 years ago. I don't know why that would be.

Novel writing is something that women have been doing extremely well for hundreds of years, so no knock on their skills.
 
Phoenix said:
There are a lot of good writers out there. I know some of them. The big publishing houses are no longer publishing their work. They want ain't it awful books, ones that are guaranteed to make them a lot of money. There's a lot of things a person can learn about the process by attending writers conferences and listening to those who have been in the business for a long time.
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It's always been difficult for an "unknown" to break in with traditional publishing. You can check famous writers from previous generations and see how many times their work was rejected.
My reason for taking the self-publishing route: I didn't want any changes made to my material.
 
jujube said:
I'm reading a really enjoyable book right now: "Good Dogs Don't Make it to the South Pole" by Hans-Olav Thyvold. If you like books told from the view of a dog, this will delight you. The author knows how to turn a phrase.
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I was going to say something about that giving me paws but I decided not to.
 

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