How to Craft a Nonfiction Book Title That Sells and Builds Your Brand

Your book title is more than just a name — it’s readers’ first interaction with the work and possibly your content brand. And yes, people really do judge books by their covers. 

A good title grabs attention, explains what your book is about, and convinces the reader to buy that book. The actual cover design plays a role, too, but that’s a topic for another day.

Your title should intrigue but also be accurate and informative.

Easy, right? 

Well, as a content entrepreneur, you know content is never easy.

Generate book title ideas

Creating the right title for your book (or any content product) is not simple. But you can follow these practices to make the process easier. 

Remember, you can and should iterate on your title. For example, start with 20 ideas, then ask your email subscribers or social followers to vote on their top five. Now you’re creating engaging content for your audience and writing a book title – win-win!

Anyway, here are the five things to keep top of mind when drafting your title ideas:

1. Keep It clear and simple: Prospective readers must instantly understand what they’ll get from your nonfiction book. Use simple language and avoid unnecessary jargon. 
2. Evoke curiosity and emotion: Prompting wonder or eliciting a feeling can be a terrific hook. Pose a question or promise a transformation using emotional language so long as it’s accurate to your content. 
3. Use power words: Speaking of powerful language, certain words evoke strong reactions. For example, action-oriented words like “win,” “achieve,” “transform,” and “master” convey accomplishment but are simple and direct, so your title isn’t too long. 
4. Balance your title and subtitle: For nonfiction books, subtitles play a crucial role. While the title captures attention, the subtitle provides context about the book’s focus or benefits. I’ll go a little deeper into effectively pairing your title and subtitle in the next section.
5. Match your brand tone: The tone should align with your brand and target audience. If your audience responds positively to bold, edgy language, lean into that style as Tilt Publishing author Louis Grenier did with Stand the F*ck Out. If your brand is more formal or aspirational, your title should reflect that, as Tilt Publishing author Brian Piper did with Epic Content Marketing for Higher Education. 

Title vs. subtitle: Understanding the differences

Your title and subtitle play distinct roles. Your title is the big, bold hook. It makes that maybe-new reader stop and say, “Hey, what’s this all about?”

Then your subtitle comes in and explains what it’s all about. It expands on your theme or the content covered in the book while providing more clarity or detail to round out the title. A good subtitle is key to the most powerful titles: When your subtitle provides the details, your title can be more impactful (though it should still be descriptive and related to your content, of course).

Why the title matters to your business

Your book isn’t just a product—it’s also a key component of your brand. A strong title positions you as a thought leader and can help build authority, attract clients, and generate speaking and coaching opportunities. 

Let’s look at a few nonfiction books to break down why their titles (and subtitles) work so well.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

This title is a masterclass in efficient, concise writing. Here’s the subtitle (which also does a LOT of work): Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results. I love this example because James clearly and directly outlines what his book is about using only six words. 

On top of that, his title does everything a good title should. “Atomic” is a powerful word. It has loads of meaning and gravity behind it. Then, you pair it with “habits” – something prospective readers know is important but difficult. The combo indicates this book will be about powerful, important habit-building (and it is.) 

The subtitle reinforces that by expanding on the transformative nature of the book. “Tiny changes” make the hard work of building better habits seem less daunting. And come on, we all want “remarkable results,” don’t we?

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

A classic that most content creators, entrepreneurs, and marketers have probably read, the title is a perfect example of being direct. It says, “If you read this book, you will learn how to win friends and influence people.” You might not know why you want to win friends and influence people, but both are common goals in many people’s day-to-day lives.

The subtitle, The Only Book You Need to Lead You to Success, goes further to explain that winning friends and influencing people is a pathway to success. 

The seminal work takes one key risk in the title and subtitle; it doesn’t define success. This can be seen as a mistake since you want to be clear about what the reader will get from the book. But leaving it open-ended also gives each reader the chance to fill in that blank for themselves.

Stand The F*ck Out by Louis Grenier

If you want someone to notice your book, add profanity to the title. For better or worse, it’s attention-grabbing.

Grenier’s mouthful of a subtitle, The No-Nonsense Guide to Positioning Your Business, Finding Your People, and Building a Durable Brand, does a lot of work to soften the impact of the title. 

While I might have tightened the subtitle a little, the highly impactful title kind of makes it work. What I love about this combo is just how it pairs the in-your-face title with a detailed subtitle. Atomic Habits and How To Win Friends seek to balance concision and detail between the title and subtitle. But Louis goes in another direction, giving prospective readers a title that will make them stop and take notice, alongside a subtitle that gives them a wealth of information about the book’s contents.

Set your book up for success 

Your title is the gateway to your book’s success. 

At least, that’s what ChatGPT said after I prompted and prodded it for a book title about writing effective book titles. I won’t bore you with the subtitle attempts, the AI went crazy writing paragraphs.  

You probably won’t need or want to use AI for your title, but you might use it to create iterations based on some ideas. That is one of the best uses for AI that I’ve found. 

I encourage you to think carefully about why someone should read your book, what they’ll get out of it, and what kinds of words might capture that ideal reader’s attention. Then, write a couple dozen versions, ask friends, followers, and peers for input, have an AI make more iterations, get more input, and hone in on the most effective title you can. 

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