Titling Your Fiction Novel: Notes from a Bookseller

I work in a bookstore and I will tell you right now that a compelling title is one of the big keys to getting a book off a shelf. Cover art, author name, reviews, and word of mouth are all important too, but a good title is a selling point for a lot of unheard of authors.

Customers are overwhelmed with titles left and right at stores all vying for their attention, and the books with the best titles will usually be the ones that end up in their hands. However, choosing a title that holds customers at gunpoint to “open me or else” is trickier than just writing “Booze, Blackjack, and Hookers” on your cover and being done.

This is why I’m not a published author yet 😞

Readers’ tastes will of course all be unique and different, but here’s a few basic tips from your friendly neighborhood bookseller to give your book the best chance to sell.

1. Don’t be too Simple

Have you seen that classic comedy skit about baseball with “Who” on first? I have lived this comedy skit.

My manager to the workers downstairs: Hey, can you find “You” downstairs?

Worker: Who? I’m downstairs right now.

Manager: No, can you find the book “You”?

Worker: the what?