How Do I Choose Book Titles?

If you’re like me, you might feel as though there are some titles that just “come” to you, and others you might painstakingly mull over for months before finally conceding to one that will just do. That is certainly how my brain has worked in this process!

“Wouldn’t a book title generator make this all easier?” you ask? NO. I mean, no. Perhaps book title generators could get you started with finding good keywords, but there is a lot more thought that should go into book titles. The book title, besides the cover, is going to be the first thing a reader sees. Readers do judge a book by its cover, and titles generated by an AI will likely not appeal as much as one carefully crafted by the author.

There are a few ways to at least get you started. These are important factors for helping you when looking for book title ideas:

1. Genre

What kind of genre does The Warriors of Bhrea make you think of? “Warrior” might invoke images of epic battles or swords or armor, and “Bhrea” is an entirely made up word that might ignite the imagination, making the reader wonder “What is that? I want to find out more!” All put together, it is meant to invoke an epic fantasy feel.

Your title should be in line with other books of the genre. Lair of Terror would not be a good title for a light-hearted romance novel. …On second thought, that actually sounds pretty awesome. 😎 I’d read it at least.

2. Length

There is a happy medium between one-worded, generic titles and what seems like an entire novel being on the title page.

Think of it like your desired reader. What will they remember? That is the most important factor. It may be longer or shorter, but as long as it is memorable, your reader will be able to find it or find themselves drawn to it.

Adding a subtitle creates a little lee-way as well—for instance, my overall series is named The Warriors of Bhrea, but each separate book has its own unique subtitle that sets the tone for that individual book.

3. Complexity

Keep it simple. You are drawing readers in—the more complex details can be in the description. You don’t need a thesaurus to come up with a good title.

When deciding my title, my goal was that the key words, “warriors” and “Bhrea” would make the potential reader wonder: “What is Bhrea? What does it mean to be a warrior of Bhrea?” While “Bhrea” is an unusual word, it is also not a complex word. It doesn’t overwhelm the reader with crazy symbols and accent marks to turn off their interest.

Now that we’ve got the basics, how do you actually choose a title?

My personal favorite way to go about deciding a title is to choose something from your book that is not necessarily in the forefront of the action, but is still central to the story. What is driving your story? What will introduce a little mystery as to what your book is about, and as readers go through it, they say “Aha! That’s what this is really about!”

If you’ve read The Lost King, you might have noticed that the titular character was not the main character and did not have a huge role, but he in a way drove the story. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, well you better get yourself over to Amazon and find out!

The same is the case for The Master of Night. This character is not the main role, but she drives the plot.

Now, you don’t have to do it this way. This is just my personal favorite. By all means, make your main character the titular character. The title could also refer to a place, an event, an object, anything that somehow drives the story! All in all, I say find something that drives the story but doesn’t spell out the plot for your reader.

I hope this helps you get started on deciding a title. The title is important—so give it some thought! But also, don’t fret about it too much. When it doubt, test some titles with your friends, colleagues, and other potential readers. Their input will give you a lot of good information on what could work and what wouldn’t.