Several years ago I wrote a book titled; Stick This! Using Promotional Stickers To Build Identity, Create Word of Mouth and Grow Sales. 
The problem with this title is that while Stick This! (plus a long subtitle), may identify the book as being about promoting with stickers… no one knows they need a book about promoting with stickers. In fact this was the first book dedicated to the subject. So, not a lot of demand or traffic in the promotional sticker genre at Amazon. I should have followed my own advise when book naming.
A better way to go would have been to start with a more encompassing marketing title that could draw people in to the subtitle and book jacket, and hopefully sell the unique content there. Perhaps “Sticky Marketing That Sticks” or “Guerrilla Marketing Weapon Of Mass Impressions” could have reached out with more universally recognized marketing terms before piquing reader interest in the power of custom stickers.
A “marketing” title like that would not have been deceiving in any way as the book itself is about sticky marketing and guerrilla marketing. It’s also about word of mouth, design, branding, advertising, viral marketing, social media, endorsements, and examining basic marketing concepts from a new and unique perspective.
How can you design a successful book and do better book naming? Easy… well, not really as I found out. Borrowing from my simple 3-stage description of effective marketing (expanded on in the book) we can apply it to any book and its cover;
- Invite people in (with the title and cover)
- Make them comfortable (with the subject matter and promise of learning something new, interesting or valuable)
- Send them on their way happy (deliver more than they expected or at a minimum, deliver on your promises)
Need help with book naming, or naming a company, a product… anything? It’s one of my favorite things in the world to work on with people. Give me a shout.
Jeff Nicholson is the founder and Creative Director at 
