We all know the power of words right? Words are what we work with, they make up our DNA as writers. We spend so long writing and editing but how long do we spend as long getting the right title for our books?

Sell or Repel– I set this as my headline as I wanted you to be intrigued.I also wanted it to convey a bit about the content. No it’s not about dating!

The title you choose will either help to sell your novel to the reader or it will repel them, no pressure!

Deciding on a title for your precious work can be hard. Everyone you ask will have their own version of the truth which may/may not be helpful.

I do not posses any great secret about how to find that blockbuster title. All I offer are pointers to help you travel along the road. Which turning you take is up to you.So here are some tips that have helped me:

• Your title should not be boring or dull. I know I am stating the obvious but, the title you choose will dictate whether it falls into the sell or repel category. Try to imagine the title you’ve chosen sitting alongside other titles in a book store. Can you see it holding its own?Will readers want to pick it up? Will a publisher put it with a pile of similarly titled novels or will its title sing for itself and grab their attention? As with every first impression people make up their minds in the twinkling of an eye, its worth spending some time pondering.
• Make it memorable – you want aunty Jean to tell her friend about it, you want her friend to buy it. She will only buy it if she remembers its name.
• Your title needs to be a good fit for your work. Why confuse the reader? If you call your book ’50 ways to make bread’ and it’s about shipbuilding you may very well be in trouble.
• As with everything research and ponder. What else in a similar genre is out there?, what titles have been successful?
• Set a working title. This has stood me in good stead. I’ve started writing books with a title I consider to be ‘the one’ but once completed I realised the title just wasn’t right. Don’t be afraid to play around a bit.

Hopefully when you have found that perfect title you will have lots and lots of these….I really wanted to get this picture in somehow. I took it last week and love it. As a bit of fun please leave a title that describes this photo in the comments section below..

I’ll go first …  ‘Looking for Baa Lee’…. your turn…….