If the title is powerful enough, it doesn’t matter what’s in the book. Maybe you’ve heard this said. Everything Men Know About Women proves this theory because that book has sold more than 750,000 copies and its 120 pages are … blank.
Coming up with a strong title for your prescriptive nonfiction book may look easy from the outside… until you try it. If you’re like most authors, you can wind up staring at a brainstormed list for a good long time, then throw your hands up in frustration. After investing all that blood, sweat, and tears, you really don’t want to pick wrong.
To help you do this thing right, we first need to focus on your ideal reader.
In a nutshell, the ideal reader represents the type of person who would pick up your book, enjoy reading it, and recommend it to his or her friends.
Every twist and turn of a prescriptive nonfiction book should be designed to connect to what this ideal reader wants and why they may not be able to get it. This includes the book’s title and subtitle.
Prescriptive nonfiction books are typically written for people who share the same goal—to achieve something, to fix something, to learn something. In most cases, what binds them together is that goal and the obstacles—real or imagined—that stand in their way. While gender, role, and/or occupation are often relevant, that shared desired goal takes precedence.
This means that your title is not for you, or your pals, or your family, or your peers, or your competitors. It doesn’t matter if your spouse hates it, or if your hairdresser thinks you should change it, unless you’ve written your book for that demographic. Your title is for your target reader and that’s the only person to prioritize when you’re creating that title.
When your ideal reader sees your title, they should be able to instantly recognize that your book is meant for them and that it provides the solution to the problem that they need solved.
Think about it: How would you describe your ideal reader in terms of what they want?
To get you thinking, here are some examples:
• Someone living with chronic pain, both emotional and physical. With inexplicable symptoms that can’t seem to be resolved with traditional medicine.
• Teachers and other leaders of kids who want to empower kids and create a sense of community through outdoor activities.
• Business owners who want to accumulate wealth without working themselves into the ground or waiting indefinitely for that one big payoff to put them right.
• Psychotherapy practice owners who want to get great outcomes for their client without burning out.
• Trial lawyers who want to ensure they win over juries and get good outcomes for their clients.
• Businesspeople who want to negotiate better outcomes for themselves instead of feeling helpless and taken advantage of.
I’ll get to the other factors you need to take into account when crafting your title, but for now, make sure you’re crystal clear on who your ideal reader is and what it is that they want. If you can’t describe this person with a concise statement, you’re probably going to need to shore that up in your manuscript before you go any further.
