Are you one of those people who stares at a blank page forever because you can’t come up with the title?

Let me start by telling you that this is no way to finish writing a book.

The title is NOT the first thing you have to write. In fact, sometimes, it should be the last.

When you want something to encompass the depth and significance of your entire work, you need to have at least part of the work written to begin with. It helps you know the feel of the book, the direction, and the language that you are using.

So this is my no-nonsense naming method for your book.

1. Don’t write your title first. Start with something else: the hook. What is the book actually about? If you’re writing about how the Law of Attraction can be used to get your kids to cooperate and do chores, then that’s what you write: “How the Law of Attraction can get Your Kids to do their Chores.” It doesn’t matter that it’s really long. What matters is that every time you see that, you’ll know what you’re writing about.
2. Work on your book. As you’re writing, you will inevitably write some phrases that perfectly capture what you want to say, especially when you are explaining the overall process. In our example, maybe you comment that using the Law of Attraction in this way feels like you’re turning dust bunnies into dust busters. There’s your title. Or maybe you say that the method you’ve developed starts with frazzle and ends with flow. That’s your title. Go through sections of your text where you are describing the book as a whole and look for phrasing like this. You may not catch it as you’re writing it, but when you are actively searching for this language, you’ll spot it.
3. If you DON’T spot such lucky language, write down a few phrases that you see that sum up the book but may not sound as attractive. Then start looking at ways to shorten the phrase or change it slightly to sound appealing.
4. Make a list of these phrases and poll your audience. See what they like. Remember that you are essentially selling this book to them, so they are the best people to critique what you’ve got. BONUS: Ask them what they like about the title. They may give you some important insight and actually make you NOT want to use the title they select. For example, they may tell you that they think the book will be about something that it absolutely is not. That’s when you can go back to your titles and tweak them so they are more tuned to what the book actually IS about.
5. Don’t forget the base title that you started with. You can actually use that as the subtitle of the book. It’s great for providing the clarity you need. Plus, it allows you to give a punchy, exciting, sexy title as the main title and leave the dryer, more straight-forward topic in there as well.

Here’s the main thing, though: don’t let the title stress you out. Your audience can give you guidance, and a professional writer or editor is always a good source for critique. Most importantly, you want that title to be attractive to the audience while being true to the contents of the book.