How did Tim Ferriss come upon the title for his recent bestselling book, The 4-Hour Body? Not at all by chance of creativity. He began in reverse, by asking. He ended up surveying online some 4,000 readers through three separate waves in the effort to discover what combination of words readers found compelling. And then he tested the title through online search engine performance – what we call SEO.
You may also be familiar with his epic bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek. With this book he tested a number of titles directly through Google Adwords, playing with the performance of various keywords related to the book (such as “world travel” and “401K”). The ads displayed the title of the book as the headline and the subtitle as the ad text. Then he checked the clickthroughs to see which combination generated the most interest based on what Google users provided in actual searches.
In today’s book marketing environment, the importance of your book title goes a beyond simple abstract creativity. Not an internet or SEO expert? No sweat, that is what full-service self-publishing is here to help with.
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