Now that I have three mysteries on the market, it's high time to evaluate the marketing. Let's start with choosing a title. Of my three books, none has an original title. When Pigs Fly sounds like a children's book, and in fact it's several children's books. Search for the title in Amazon and 12 titles pop up. On the other hand, people tell me it's a clever title, so go figure. Although it fits the story well, it doesn't stand out in the crowd.
The worst title is Getting Lucky, which sounds like a steamy romance and doesn't even show up on the first page of an Amazon search. It's on the second page, languishing as item #15 out of about 50. Lots of covers showing passionate love scenes and cleavage show up before mine--even one with a picture of an 80-year-old lady! Like many middle children, my Getting Lucky hasn't gotten much attention, and the Amazon rankings prove it out. I published it through iUniverse and am thinking of reissuing it with a distinctive title using CreateSpace.
Little Mountain works out best, displaying prominently at #2. It's not unique, but it is a bit different.
The lesson is to choose your title carefully. At least search Amazon for any title you are thinking of using., and do it before you commit yourself.
Tip: If your book doesn't come up quickly on an Amazon search, find the link to it and create a shortened URL with either the title or your name in it. There are lots of tools you can use, but I like Tiny URL at http://tinyurl.com. It gives you two choices: either a random and meaningless (but short) URL, or the option to customize it. That way you ask everyone to visit tinyurl.com/titleofmybook.
How do you choose your titles? Do you consider only the content of the story, or do you consider the market?
Sunday 4 September 2011
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