Is the title of your book provocative? Do you reach out and catch the eyes of your potential readers and force them to read? To create a provocative book title, one must aim to elicit action, thought, or feeling. In other words, should your title engage, engage, or shock your reader’s senses?

The cover of the book, including the title, is considered one of the most important elements of the book. Seventy-five percent of the 300 booksellers surveyed (half from independent bookstores and half from chains) identified the look and design of the book cover as the most important component. They agreed that the jacket is a prime place to promote a book.

Here are some tips for creating a provocative book title that will captivate your readers like a fish on a hook.

1. Spark interest in your message with a provocative book title. Ignite interest with the reader benefits included in the title. Let your potential reader know exactly what you are offering to solve within your book. For example, “7 easy steps to lose weight and keep it off!” Your readers are always interested in knowing what is in your book for them. Ignite the interest by putting the WIIFM profit in the title.
2. Offer specific information in a provocative book title. General information does not attract attention as well as specific information. The writer has to work on this. A good way to be specific is to add the numbers. You know how many or what percentage. For example, “How to write articles that are read a lot more” will not attract as much interest as “How to write articles that are read more 300%”.
3. Increase interest with alternative effect words. Have you noticed how some words with the same meaning have a different effect than other words? For example, 72 hours sounds like a shorter or faster period of time than 3 days. Or 300% more sounds like a profit greater than 3 times more. A marketer friend used “How to sell 300% more of your product in 72 hours than you sold for the entire month” instead of its less effective counterpart title, “How to sell 3 times more products in 3 days than in the whole month”. “Create a provocative book title that sounds bigger, faster, better, etc. using alternative words that mean the same thing.
4. Use the shock effect to create a provocative book title. Has a shocking title caught your eye recently? One of the most popular shows Oprah has ever done was a show that said “Experts now estimate that as many as 40 million women suffer from loss of sex drive; their partners are likely to suffer too.” He even called it “A Secret Epidemic”. The title that helped attract viewers was “Wives Who Don’t Want Sex.” Create a powerful title for your book backed by a powerful statistic to grab the most attention from your audience.
5. Engage your readers with a negative slant. “5 Website Mistakes To Avoid That Drive Visitors Away From Your Site In Less Than 2 Minutes “was one of the most popular headlines from a writer friend.Could your site be driving visitors away so fast? I have worked hard to get site visitors; I want to know what would drive them away so fast. Provocative statements attract our attention like an electric shock. They make us curious. Sometimes they make us angry. They make us feel many different things but above all they make us read.

Don’t wait to develop this important skill. Add the magnetic pull of provocation to your book cover. Provok your readers to action by capturing their interest, sparking their emotions, or adding specific benefits. Then keep them reading the attention-grabbing chapter titles and even bullets throughout your book. Create your best provocative title and attract 300% more readers than you ever dreamed of. Title well and prosper!