How to write a title

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book about how to write a title

Not everyone takes time to consider how a title for a book, article, magazine, picture, website, or even a blog is decided upon. The title is often the make or break it point of any kind of writing. When at a book store, many people will pick up a book and look at it simply based on the title, for a newspaper, if their headline is not catchy, with all the choices available for news, people will just move on to the paper that does catch their eye. Articles, websites, photos, and blogs have to have the right title or people will never click on the link to reach them. It is all about the title, and the title had better be good.

Read on to find out everything you need to know about how to write a title...

How to Write a Book Title

Many new authors feel that they cannot start a book until they have decided on the title. In truth, the book title is generally the last thing decided upon. It often requires a full understanding of the book to decide what title will best describe the book and still get the attention of the readers.

  • Finish writing the book first – it is not vital to the books development to know what the title is, you have plenty of time to make the decision.
  • Find the common theme in the book – if you write a book about demons, but the real theme of the book is demon hunters, then “Demon Hunters” would be the more appropriate name.
  • Keep the title succinct – you have about three seconds to capture a reader’s attention, if your title is something like “The Demon Hunters from the Planet Zernof Saves the Earth” you may have missed a potential sale. Let the title grab the attention of the reader and the synopsis make the sale.
  • Keep the title relevant – there is nothing worse than picking up a book entitled “Demon Hunters” and finding out it is a book about knitting demon themed hunting paraphernalia. Do not trick your potential readers; you will lose not only the current sale, but any potential future sales to that reader as well. Also, if you are writing a comedy, try to write a title that reflects it is a comedy. For example, “Demon Hunters” implies that the book will be a horror or a thriller in the Sci-Fi genera.

How to Write a Newspaper Headline

A good headline will be the deciding factor when someone goes to purchase a newspaper. There are literally hundreds of choices at bookstores and news stands and everyone is vying for the reader’s attention, your headline needs to be better than everyone else’s.

  • Make it current – there are always trends in the news, today’s interests may be politics and tomorrow readers may care about the war, make sure your headline (and of course the article) are about the current trends.
  • Give an idea of content – if you are writing an article about cheating in the Olympics your headline might read “Suspected Cheating in the Olympics!” If you want someone to purchase the paper, they want to know what they are getting.
  • Do not mislead the reader – many news stories use headlines that are irrelevant to the story. For example, the headline “CSI in Danger as Actors Quit Show” was actually the story about the transition of new actors taking the place of old ones. While technically the title was true, some actors quit the show, the headline was misleading by suggesting that there was animosity involved and the show was scrambling. While this tactic sells one newspaper to a reader, in the future they are apt to purchase a different one simply out of disgust.

How to Write a Title for an Article, Picture, Website, or Blog

There are there are literally hundreds of thousands of articles, pictures, websites and blogs on the internet. Getting someone to look at yours requires getting the attention of the browsers and to do that you have to write a title that is informative and riddled with keywords.

  • Use common key words – key words are vital to driving people to your website, without them your information will sit unlooked at. If your article is about dolphins, then you need to consider the words that people think of when they think of dolphins. The easiest way is to make a list of commonly associate words with dolphins, (i.e. ocean, mammals, intelligent, tricks, etc.) or you can use many of the free keyword finder software found on the internet (search words are free keyword help)
  • Keep it relevant – nothing makes readers more frustrated than looking for something specific and being taken to an irrelevant site or article when they click on the link. Do not write a title about dolphins if you are writing an article about whales, you might get a person to your article, but they will be just as quick to click the back button.
  • Use superlatives – using words that suggest the easiest or the fastest way to do something is the likeliest way to catch a reader’s attention. (i.e. The Fastest Way to Learn About Dolphins)
  • Use a list – giving the reader an idea of how many pointers are in the article will grab their attention as well (i.e. Ten Things You Never Knew About Dolphins)

Writing a good title, especially on the Internet is a driving factor for an author’s readership. Eight out of every ten people make the decision about what to read based simply on the title. That is a lot of people, and a great motivator for choosing the right title for your work.