Module 3: A killer title and a companion website

How to choose a killer title
Create a one-page website for your eBook
How to find a Web designer for an author/book website
Interview with Brian Clark of Copyblogger on a minimum viable book
Interview with Tim Grahl on how to “bake marketing” into your book

“If bloggers spend 70% of their time writing a headline for their posts, writers should spend — not 70% of their writing time, of course — but at least a few weeks on the title and title testing.”
– Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Chef

I’m wrapping two things together in this module to jumpstart your thinking and your plan for how you will promote and sell your eBook.

First, I want you to focus on choosing a title. Titles sell books. That is true in traditional publishing. And it is equally true for eBooks.

Second, I want you to think about registering the URL for your title in order to create a one-page website that will be the hub of your marketing for your eBook.

Now, be aware that there are many other steps you can take to promote your book without spending a lot of money. Don’t worry about them yet.

My job is to distill the avalanche of information available on how to publish and promote an eBook. Rather than present you with an endless list of resources and recommendations, I am culling what is most important for you to know. Much has happened since the first time I ran the program one year ago, so I am creating Modules 4 and 5 afresh for you.

How to choose a killer title

There are a number of techniques you can use to choose a killer title for your eBook. Finding the right title takes time and patience. It’s almost guaranteed to be a frustrating process.

The most important thing to remember is that you are searching for a phrase that resonates with your readers. It’s not about being clever. Although a “little clever” never hurts. Resonating with your readers means that the title solves their problem or answers a question for them.

Ideally, the title should contain the exact language your target audience uses when they are searching for information on the Web or on Amazon.com.

If you want to get down and dirty, use a keyword research tool like the Google Keyword Ads Tool to find out how popular a phrase is – i.e. how often it is used in searches. If you can work the more popular phrase into your title, readers are more apt to discover your book.

Guy Kawasaki notes in his new eBook, APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur – How to Publish a Book, that he decided against using the term self-publishing in the title when he learned that 1.5 million people were searching for the term “How to publish” every month, compared with 110,000 searching for “self-publishing.”

Note that your title should generally be three or four words. Your sub-title can be as long and specific as you want. How about this one for Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman. Everyone wants or needs at least one of those results, right? The word “uncommon” puts the reader on alert that the book will be written in Ferriss’s personality-driven style.

Download the handout on choosing a title

Download the handout for instructions on three specific frameworks you can use to find a great title. There are more resource links on how to choose a title at the end of the handout.

Read Tim Ferriss’s blog post (complete with screen shots) on how hard it was to find the title for the 4HWW: Feeling Stuck? Read this…

Create a one-page website for your book

Your eBook needs a home base for all your marketing efforts. It can be a one-page website. The URL for the site should match the title of your book as closely as possible. However, try not to obsess about the availability of the matching URL when you are choosing your title. You can always add the word “book” to the end of the domain name, as in Guy Kawasaki’s apethebook.com.

This Web page or site is where you will send anyone and everyone (reviewers, colleagues, competitors) to learn more about – and ultimately buy – your eBook. Your Amazon Kindle page (where your eBook is for sale) is your other most important page. More about that later.

You will add the URL of your book website to your email signature along with a thumbnail image of your book cover. You might want to add it to your business card. Or get a new card specifically for the book. Try Moo.com for ordering the coolest business cards.

Your book and author site should include:

– Your contact info (email and phone)
– Front and center, the buy button that links to your Amazon Kindle page
– An email signup box so you can capture the email of every visitor
– Ideally, require the email before they can get your free download
– A mouthwatering description of your book
– Your bio
– Your photo(s); easily downloadable
– Images of the book cover; easily downloadable
– Blurbs from early readers
– Reviews of your book (OK to re-use from your Amazon page)
– FAQs about the book (to help reviewers ask you the right questions)
– Companion resources to your book (a downloadable worksheet, for example)
– A video trailer (this can be as short as 60 seconds and does not need to be professionally created)

How to find a web designer for an author/book website

There is no one surefire way to find a talented freelance Web designer.  To hire a freelance designer, try Behance.net or Guru.com. With Guru, you can narrow down your search by geographic location.

Try googling “web designers author websites.” I found a short list of Web designers who specialize in author websites.

Tip: if you find an author website you like, scroll to the bottom of the page to see who the designer is.

Tip: only hire a designer who is fluent with WordPress. They can base your site on a WordPress template like the Templatic theme for eBooks. You want to be able to update your site yourself.

Note: If you’ve already got a website, create a new page dedicated to your ebook.

Examples of compelling and useful book websites

Measuring the Networked Nonprofit  (note the icon links to About the authors, Reviews and Resources at the top)

Appalachian Trials (a self-published book; note the video trailer)

APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur (loads of useful resources on this site for Guy Kawasaki’s new book)

Interview with Brian Clark of Copyblogger

With over 170,000 subscribers, Copyblogger.com is one of the most popular and respected blogs on marketing with content. Content means blog posts, white papers, webinars, podcasts, slide shows, videos – and also includes eBooks. In this interview with founder Brian Clark we talk about his new e-newsletter Entreproducer.com, agile content development, a minimum viable book and listening to your customers, aka readers, early and often – which relates, of course, to choosing a killer title.

Listen to the audio recording.

Download the edited transcript.

Interview with Tim Grahl of Out:Think

Tim Grahl, founder of Out:Think, has worked with business authors like Dan Pink, Charles Duhigg and Dan Ariely to help them promote their books and businesses. He recently helped Dan Pink get his new book, To Sell Is Human, to #1 on the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists and #2 on The New York Times.

In this interview we talk about: “Why are you writing your book? What is your business goal?” Tim has some very specific answers and ways of thinking about this that may surprise you.

Listen

Download edited transcript.