We get more questions about book titles than almost any other subject.
It makes sense - Your book title is the thing that stops someone doing whatever they were doing long enough to think, 'I want that...'
Today on the podcast I want to share the video I recorded for Mindset 2 of our Book Blueprint Scorecard: Choosing a Title That Resonates, where I run through 5 book title formulas that help you create something that compels people to get a copy.
Being in conversation with those pre-disposed to work with you is the secret to a valuable email list, and offering a copy of your book is the perfect start to this journey.
LINKS
Show notes: 90minutebooks.com/podcast/117
Titles & Outline Workshops: 90MinuteBooks.com/Workshops
Ready to get started: 90MinuteBooks.com
Questions/Feedback: Send us an email
Extra Credit Listening: MoreCheeseLessWhiskers.com
TRANSCRIPT
(AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors)
Stuart: Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Book More Show. It's Stuart Bell here, and today I want to share something a little different. I want to share with you the video that we recorded for the second mindset in our Book Blueprint School Cards, and that's picking a, or choosing a title that resonates. So you know, we get questions about titles probably more than any other individual subject, and it stands to reason, because that's the thing that stops people in their track and really gets them to have that I want that thought in order for them to get a copy of the book or join their email list. So it's the most important part of the whole project because it's that first kind of gatekeeper stage. So in this video we're going to run through the five booktile formulas that really help you create something that compels people to stop and take a moment to request a copy. It's the option to build the list that really makes a difference in whether this whole book project is valuable or as valuable as it can be, because, after all, what we're trying to do is not sell copies of books. What we're trying to do is build your list, establish you as an expert in the field and really get you into conversations with people who are predisposed to work with you in the future. So this is a great episode. If you're listening just on audio, recommend going across to the website to see the video, because there's some slides that are supporting this and that's at 90minutebookscom. Forward slash podcast forward slash 117. So head over there and I will see you on the other side. Hello everyone, welcome back.
We are going to dive into Mindset 2, picking a title that resonates. Now, mindset 1 was all about picking that target audience and the first element of that was the job to work, understanding what we want the book to do. So that helps inform the title, because what we want to do is get people to stop when they see the title and it triggers within them and I want that response. So you can think of the title as the headline of an ad or the headline of an article. It's the thing that stops them in the track. It's results and outcomes focused so that people, when they're thinking about a challenge that they've got, when they're searching for it, when they're in an environment where your message can resonate with them. So we've matched up the message that we're trying to put out there with the problem that they've got. Then the title of your book is the thing that stops people in their tracks and says, ah, I want that. So let's dive into this exercise, this overview the idea of the title being a headline is a much better way of thinking about your book title than perhaps a traditional book.
We've been doing this now for a number of years. We've, as I said, the welcome video. We've found over 800 books get created. So, as you can imagine, we've seen a lot of title options and people coming with various ideas about what they want their title to be. There was a spate a couple of years ago of people wanting to ensure obscure one word titles that I can best describe as people trying to be clever. It kind of mirrored something that was happening in the traditional publishing world. So I think that's where people will get in the idea from. But the problem is that it doesn't do what it says in the tin. If someone sees that book title going past, it doesn't make people stop in their tracks and say I want that because they don't understand what it is. The problem, I think, comes down to people not thinking about a 90-minute book, a book for a specific purpose, in the same way as they would a traditional book.
A traditional book is usually there for entertainment. People are in bookshops. They're browsing shelves. They're looking on Amazon and browsing the shelves there they're seeing celebrity names or names that they recognize and a clever short title. That my kind of engenderer. I wonder what that is. Response is very different from I want that.
For us, we're talking about creating a book that moves people towards an outcome, that has a specific job of work. What we want is the. I want that response, not necessarily the. I wonder what that is. Because that's to. We're not looking to entertain people With the best one in the world. We're looking for it to be informative and move people forward and help people to take the next step, not to entertain them. If we're looking to create a traditional book, a storybook, then this framework isn't necessarily the best fit, or obviously you can use elements of it to inform it. Our focus is a job of work, moving people forward.
What we want is the title to be more like the banner headline in and out Google ads, facebook ads, blog posts headlines, newspaper headlines. We want it to be short and obvious. We want it to be clear. As I said before, we want it to do what it says on the tin, which is a throwback to an old commercial in the UK. We want it to be based on that job of work that we've defined in Mindset One and resonate with the audience that we defined in Mindset One. Thinking about it in that way makes much more sense. It's much easier to think about it as a headline than as something that's clever and will get people talking, because people aren't going to be talking about your book because you're not a New York Times bestseller. That's not what we're trying to do here. What you want is them say I want that outcome. That response that we're trying to trigger in people is the recognition. We're trying to match the language that they've got, the promise that they're having the thing that they're trying to resolve, with the thing that you're offering.
Attention is short and, depending on where you're advertising, it's quite possible that you're going to be running Facebook ads or ads in places that aren't based on intention search. So let's look at that for a second. Intentional search are things like Google, where people are looking, searching for a specific thing. That's not necessarily the same, or not at all the same, as ads that pass by in social streams, so like Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter or forums or chat areas, chat spaces, communities that you're in. What you need to do is interrupt their pattern and match with the thought that they're having, rather than answer a specific question that they're searching for. Now, obviously, depending on where you're running ads, both of them are served by the idea of a headline title as opposed to a I wonder what that is title, but you're really trying to trigger that response and match it with the language, capture the attention of people who are passing by enough for it to be a feed stopper that we sometimes refer to as that idea of it being a feed stopper is served by using the language that we identified in mindset number one.
The other thing that we want to do is focus on benefits and our features. This is a marketing terminology or a frame of mind that you'll probably heard of. Before describing the outcome and what people will get from something, the kind of experiential language as opposed to just numbers or features or a list of a list of inside mechanisms rather than outside mechanisms, it's going to resonate with people more so. One obvious example these days is Apple's marketing. Many people are aware of Apple's marketing campaigns and how it's very much emotional and feelings-based and experiential, as opposed to an old PC manufacturer where they're just listing the features of the graphics card or the size of the memory or the number of ports that it's got. That type of emotional engagement is what we're looking to do, because we're looking for that feed stopper response.
The other way of thinking about it is solutions are better than problems. So what we're trying to do is lead people to the outcome. We're trying to remind people that there is a solution to their problem. So focusing the title on the end result, the positive, beneficial outcome, the benefits that they get, rather than the features, is much better than focusing on the pain and the problems. Now there is an element of marketing that says that fear of missing out or fear of losing something is more of a driver than a potential outcome. But I don't necessarily believe that. For a start, and depending on what your marketing, what your market is, that definitely could be more of the case. So it's worth thinking about. But generally speaking, from a experiential and positivity and outcome and moving forward perspective, people much more likely to engage with that light at the end of the tunnel rather than a fear-based approach of you'll have a very bad outcome unless you read this. So obviously it's not one-times-fits-all answer. There is some elements of it, that's true but as a general approach, much better to focus on that positive outcome and the success that they'll get, the end result of the thing that they're looking for, rather than the nuts and bolts of the detail of the pain that they're trying to avoid, because we're trying to help people move forward at the end of the day.
The feed stopper test I've touched on already. But it really is this idea of a lot of the advertising, a lot of the places that you're going to put your book, when you think about all of the opportunities you've got to share the message. It's not necessarily in the intentional search Google space where someone's searching for an answer. It's much more likely to be in the soft reference type area of someone's Facebook feed, something, an article, something, in LinkedIn referral campaigns, of passing this information to someone else, all of these things. It's not that the person, the recipient, is looking for the answer, necessarily, but the language that they use when they're in an area where they are talking about their problem or they know that they've got a problem to fix. We're really trying to interrupt that, which then, also by virtue of the fact that we're using positive language and we're describing it. It does what it says on the tin. If they are intentionally searching for something and they do find the book that we've written, then it answers that question as well. So coming to it from a Interrupt perspective rather than a search perspective is the more beneficial way of doing it.
Okay, so we're going to dive now into the five book title types that we're typically talking about. So again, over all of our experience, we've identified five types that really resonate with people, and it's a great way of thinking about categorizing your book into one of these five types. The first one is the kind of name it and claim it idea. Now, this is very much defined as a kind of a manifesto book. It's introducing the idea and it's allowing you to own the category. So some of the examples, some of the popular examples We've picked some here that you've probably heard of before. So Dave Ramsey's financial piece financial piece sits, names it and claims it in that term, like before our work week, those terms and claim that bit of the industry, claim that, that framework for themselves. The same with the 90-minute book. That's the terminology that didn't exist before. It's something that we've claimed and own for this particular Approach that we've got. So you might have the same. You might want to have a framework and methodology that you can build a lot of the rest of the funnel around that names it and claims it.
The second one that we talk about is the just do it. So this is more Instructional. It gives people an idea of the benefit, of the outcome of a solution which is just very specific do this, so think and grow rich, stop your divorce, w dating. These are all very much just do it titles, because you're instructing someone in the outcome that they'll get if they read the book and take the advice that's in it. So the third is then how to? So this is Super obvious, both in terms of the definition and the words that are on the title. So these are very much Solutions focused ones. It's how to do a certain thing.
So this is for the mindset of people who their problem, their challenge, is a name, a named thing, something that they would recognize. So how to win friends and influence people, how to get listings, how to be the best barefoot skill on your lake, all of those things resonate with those people who already understand that language. So the book that you're thinking of my well-fitting to that category. If it's very specific language that you're trying to fix, this example is probably more of a narrow outcome than than some of the broader. Certainly, the name and claimant manifesto book is pretty broad, but whereas this is trying to much more narrowly fix narrowly fix their problem.
So number four this is a great one if you have access to the data that allows you to do this, because it's very Timely and specific, is very mutually charged. You're presenting data to people. It's not opinion. Obviously, you might add opinion to it, but it's very much when people are in an information gathering stage, this seems like independent information. It will help them move forward. So some of the examples here the 2021 Social Security Guide, 2021 guides, us hockey scholarships. 2021 guide to wind tavern, lakefront house practices All of these books are these, these particular ones.
So these are all ones that we've worked with people on to dial in that particular access to information that they've got, presenting it in a way that the audience is gonna Resonate because they understand what is and they'll get value from it, because it's seen as presenting kind of charge, neutral, independent information, with then a close and a call to action of the next step to take. So, people, if you have got access to this information and you can package it in a certain way, then people resonate with this because it really moves their journey forward. This is much more of a. This very obviously works, sits in as a slightly more on a conversion tool, if you think back to mindset one we were talking about, where the types of books, the job of work, this type of book can work for work very well as a conversion tool because you're not introducing a new idea. They're aware of it already, but you're moving them forward, presenting data to them, which Is kind of self evidently moving them towards your call to action.
So the fifth is question magnets. Now, these are a great opportunity to write something if you don't necessarily have your own framework, so you're not trying to name it and claim it. If you don't have a lot of access to proprietary data, if the industry that you're working on isn't really a data driven Area, so you're not providing a guide to people, you're not correlating and bringing together a lot of information in an easy to consume way, but this is answering questions that they might have, things that are pressing on their mind In the area that you're trying to help them. So what to expect when you're expecting hugely successful book for anyone in the maternity space? That question is on everyone's mind. How much is enough? Another fantastic question that's on the mind of everyone that's thinking about retirement, whether they're approaching retirement or whether they're in the early stages of planning. That question is something that's going to be. It's going to be a very early question in people's minds as they're thinking about doing something, not necessarily early in the overall process, but early in thinking about doing something.
What to do after dental school another fantastic example of something that is very specifically on people's minds. It's not data driven, particularly you're not trying to dominate a whole category, but as someone who's trying to engage with people who are coming out of dental school, this title perfectly resonates with that entire audience. So those are five question. So those are five title types that we talk about. And as you think about your own title, just if it fits into one of those categories, because if you can tweak it slightly so that it Better serves our audience, knowing again what the job of work is, who the people is that you're trying to engage with and what the next step is. These are much. This gives you a great opportunity to dial it in and not run the risk of going down.
The traditional publishing group of trying to put a clever title up there might stop someone on a bookshelf in order for them to pick up and read the back of the book, because that's not the framework that we're working in here. So we're going to wrap up there. There are more resources that you can head over to dive into this particular mindset a little bit more. So if you want more reading on the subject, then head over to the five book titles formula dot com the URL at the top there because we've got a whole book, a field guide that we wrote about these five book title types, which goes into a little bit more detailed and we've got time to do here. And then also we did Dean did a book titles workshop, which is up on the resources section of the website. So head over to 90 minute books dot com and follow the workshops link when we've got a book titles workshop where Dean goes into some of these book title types in a little bit more. And then there's a whole Q&A session that followed where he was answering questions from people on the call.
So, again, if this is something you're struggling with or you want to kind of get more, think about it a little bit more than definitely follow along with those two resources and there's lots of opportunity then to dial in your idea within the framework of the five titles, as always. If you want to ask us some questions, then head over to now minute books dot com. We've got some additional resources there. There's our contact details on there as well. You can start on me an email, always happy to answer questions as much as I can, and if you want to jump on a strategy, call, again happy to do that as much as time allows. So give a call to the office or drop me an email and we can schedule time. Okay, so with that, I will see you in the next video. Okay, so with that, I will see you in mindset.