Can We Learn Anything From Book Titles?
As I glance over my book shelf I notice a number of
titles. There sits, Comedy Writing
Secrets, Leadership from Within, Elements of Style, and the Delphi 5
Developer’s Guide.
Now I feel like starting to sing the preschool song, “One of
these shapes, doesn’t belong…” Why; because
one of these titles is not like the others.
The first three titles are designed to capture the interest
of a general audience. After all, who
wouldn’t want to know some secrets about comedy, and who isn’t interested in
leadership and style. These titles were
not an accident. They were composed with
great care so that they would spark interest and desire – especially among
those browsing book stores.
It’s only the last title, “Delphi 5 Developer’s Guide” that does
not appeal to a general audience. And
yet, its title is also carefully composed. The publishers are very well aware of who would be interested in such a
book. They have created a simple yet
effective title to communicate to that particular audience that this book is
for them.
Publishers understand that the cover design and the title of
a book are the two biggest factors involved in selling a book. They will go through countless focus groups
and generations of design in order to make sure that it is just right. After all, once the book is out on the
shelves it is too late to make a change (at least until the next edition).
Consider treating your next speech much like these book
covers. Take the time to create a title
that will draw your audience in. For
instance, consider the title, “A Role Based Security Model”. That was the title for the presentation that
got me interested in public speaking. I
have to admit, it wasn’t all that interesting. Now compare it to something like, “How to Increase Your Organization's
Security While Reducing Service Time.” That might catch a few more people. If I were a book publisher I might have tried something like, “Bam…
We’re Not Guarding Nuclear Weapons – But We Still Want it to be Just as
Secure”. How many more people would that
have enticed?
You may have the most inspiring speech ever – but if you
can’t get people into the room or if the people who are there are convinced that
it’s going to be boring, your presentation will have limited
effectiveness.
The next time you need to inspire your audience, make sure
that you put the same care into creating a title that you used in creating the
rest of the speech.
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