Book Cover Coaching: Subtitle Tips

What Makes a Good Subtitle
and How Long Should It Be?


By Susan Kendrick
www.WriteToYourMarket.com


People work long and hard to come up with good book titles. The subtitle, however, is often an afterthought, something quickly thrown together before moving onto book cover design. Please don't
do this to your book. Your subtitle is not just some front-cover
formatting slot to fill. It is a critical piece of marketing real estate for creating your brand and selling your book.


The Role of Your Subtitle

There are many things your subtitle can do for your book. It can:
__ Identify and draw in your target audience
__ Differentiate your book in a crowded market
__ Clarify a key benefit or benefits of your book
__ Add definition to a provocative but possibly obscure title, like those in Malcolm Gladwell's bestselling series, Blink, The Tipping Point, and Outliers.

Long or Short--Is There a Rule?

First, I need to say a few words about length. We get asked this a lot: "How long should my subtitle be?" The answer is--it depends. Really. There are no hard and fast rules, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Say what you need to say. Simply do it in as few words as possible to keep your ideas crisp, authoritative, and memorable. See more under "Subtitle Tips," below.An example of a long subtitle is Rich Like Them: My Door-to-Door Search for the Secrets of Wealth in America's Richest Neighborhoods. That's a lot of words, but they work hard together to say what this book is about. While longer subtitles are the exception rather than the rule, it's helpful to see how they can work when handled skillfully.

Tim Ferriss's highly successful book and brand, The 4-Hour Work Week, was released in an expanded and updated edition in December 2009. His subtitle is a semi-whopping nine words and it consists of three different elements. But, it is still clear, crisp, and strong. It hits a major nerve, and not by chance. Ferriss is known for testing his title/subtitle combos until the results reveal a sure winner.

Also, check out an Amazon Book "Bestsellers" list, like this one for Business & Investing. You'll find a range of subtitle lengths here, and with a few exceptions, they serve their books very well. Again, the "Subtitle Tips," below, will help you think about your subtitle as a way to reel people into what you have to offer without tangling them up in excess words or jargon. There is no guarantee that a certain length subtitle is best. What is important is how the words you choose create and promote your brand.

Subtitle Tips

Here are some tips to help you start thinking about what will work for your book.

__ If your title is long, keep the subtitle short. If your title is short, you have more flexibility with the subtitle. But, do say what needs to be said. A descriptive, yet still concise, subtitle goes a long way toward attracting readers, retailers, partners, and even the media.


__ Do not repeat in the subtitle words that you have already used in the title. A book cover is all about making the most of the very limited real estate on both the front and back covers. Make every word count. If you need to reinforce an idea, use fresh language each time. If your subtitle repeats words in the title, it looks like you have already run out of things to say--not a good signal to send to potential buyers.


__ Practice economy of language. Do this by first deciding what to say, then how to say it. Then, if you can use four-letter words instead of 12-letter words, do it. If you can say something in seven words instead of 14, do it. Be ruthless and be especially hard on adjectives. You'll be surprised how powerful a phrase becomes once it has been stripped clean of excess. Which brings me to the next suggestion:


__ Use parallel construction. These kinds of phrases are memorable and therefore create a strong brand for your book. Chip and Dan Heath, Authors of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, just released a new book this month called, Switch: How to Change when Change is Hard (above). Subtitles like this have what you could call a sing-song quality to them that simplifies the topic and makes it instantly apparent either what the book is about or what you as the reader get from it.


__ Remember that your subtitle is not just read, but heard--another good reason to create sound-bite appeal. For Amy Tiemann's new book, Courageous Parents--Confident Kids (above), I developed this subtitle, "Letting Go So You Both Can Grow." This is the essence of the book boiled down to a highly brandable sound bite. This phrase is also both powerful and memorable because it contains rhyming, alliteration, and the syntactically strong long "O" and hard "G" sounds. This is one more example of how just seven short words can build a strong, memorable brand and marketing presence for your book.


__ Consider your target audience when establishing the tone of your subtitle. This may go without saying, but a book on investing or entrepreneurship, for example, will have a different feel than a book about improving your marriage or taking care of elderly parents.


Need help creating the subtitle and/or title for your book? Contact Graham and me at info@WriteToYourMarket.com.

Happy Publishing,
Susan

© 2010, Susan Kendrick, Write To Your Market. All Rights Reserved.

Even Branding Experts Need Help Expanding Their Brands

How This Branding Expert Created a
Book Series to Reach Out to New Markets

By Susan Kendrick
http://www.writetoyourmarket.com/


Click book cover images at left to see this client's back cover text.

Meet corporate branding expert Brenda Bence. Her new book series and website are outstanding examples of how
to use book publishing to expand an already highly
successful brand, this time into new niche markets. Take a look at these book covers and Brenda's website to see how her new "How YOU™ Are Like Shampoo" series title we developed for her can help you in your own branding or re-branding process.

In the World of Branding -- You Can't get Much Better Than This

With more than 25 years experience within Fortune 100 multinational corporations--from Procter & Gamble and Bristol-Myers Squibb to Mattel and Pizza Hut--Brenda has been responsible for marketing some of the world's biggest-selling brands in almost 50 countries across four continents.

Also a certified career coach, Brenda married her passion for brands and her passion for coaching to develop the first and only personal branding system. This system, based on the same methods successful companies use to create powerhouse name brands, outlines step-by-step how to define, communicate, and master your personal brand for greater success at work and in life.

In fact, she was already using "YOU™ -- The Trademarked You" as a central component of her identity and marketing message to mean "your personal brand."

"We actually DID go out and register this trademark," says Brenda. "No one we talked to thought it would be possible to trademark this, because “YOU” is such a common phrase, but we did it! it took three years of legal battles, and we now own “YOU™” as a registered trademark--another important element of this brand or any brand."

To expand her YOU™ brand to new markets and further increase her visibility, credibility, and revenue by doing so, she created first a book and then a book series. This time, she brings her expertise not to big business, but to individuals. Each book in her series fluently translates the strategies she uses to help corporations build successful consumer brands into ready-to-use techniques for professionals, job seekers, and college grads.

How Brenda's Book Cover Expands Her Brand

My partner, Graham Van Dixhorn, created Brenda's new "How You Are Like Shampoo" brand for her book title and series name. He then developed the positioning that would both establish her expertise in the personal branding market and elevate her expert status in the corporate market. Here is an excerpt from Brenda's back cover:

"This groundbreaking book provides you with a start-to-finish system for defining, communicating, and taking control of your personal brand at work. Modeled after the world’s most successful big-brand marketing methods, How YOU™ Are Like Shampoo guides you step-by-step through proven corporate branding techniques never before adapted for personal use."

This positioning and "elevator speech" create the transition from Brenda as business branding expert to go-to corporate and personal branding strategist.

The Back Cover Also Includes Other Essential Elements:

- The headline
- At-a-glance bullet points
- An expert/author endorsement, which Graham created for source approval,
a great endorsement technique
- High-profile bio and lead generator
- A technique that drives traffic to Brenda's website, which includes a
name-capture device once they get there, in the form of a newsletter sign-up

Getting Bigger Shouldn't Dilute Your Brand--It Should Make It Stronger

Notice that expanding Brenda's trademarked YOU™ branding into "How YOU™ Are Like Shampoo" does not detract from her status as corporate branding expert--it reinforces it. The allure for professionals, job seekers, and college grads is that they now have access to the same branding strategies Brenda uses to help the likes of Kraft and KFC, through a series of books created just for them.

"Extending the franchise to college students," says Brenda, "provides me additional speaking opportunities. Whenever I’m working with corporate clients in various locations, there are inevitably colleges nearby where I can speak. This allows me to connect with and help students with their job-searches, and Career Services are happy to have me speak, so they pay me a fee and offer to sell my books in the back of the room.

"But even more importantly," she says, "those smart college students will be managers in a few years’ time, looking to hire a speaker, trainer, and coach. So, I collect students’ e-mail addresses for my data base in order to build up a relationship with them that hopefully will last for years to come. I already have a number of university bookings set up for this year."

This Book Cover IS Your Brand

Creating your book's front and back cover positioning language is intended to be a once-and-done function. You are not just creating a "back cover blurb," you are choosing how to identify and communicate your brand. With her first three "How YOU™ Are Like Shampoo" books in place, Brenda can continue to extend her expertise to other niche markets through additional books that will continue to add value to her series and overall brand.

Use It Across ALL Marketing Platforms

The positioning you develop as the your core marketing message for your book cover now functions as the key branding message you use across all your marketing platforms--your website content, book website content, media kit, press releases, social media profiles, public speaker materials, and any other sales collateral. Again, see Brenda Bence's website for good examples.

3 Goals for Creating a Book Title with Branding Power

Here is what to strive for on not just your books, but also your ebooks, information products, speaking topics, and any other parts of the your brand marketing:

- Create a book title that makes people see their world differently
If you can tie your brand to some tangible part of people's lives, you can trigger thoughts of you when people see it. In Brenda's case, the image of "How YOU™ Are Like Shampoo" triggers a connection any time you are faced with a sea of shampoos, competing for your attention on your grocery store shelf. It may even make you stop to think about why you choose one brand over another and what your personal brand says about you.

- Establish a book title that is flexible enough to function for a book series
This way, you can accommodate your growth into known and not-yet-identified markets. With the right title, simply inserting the word "For" after the title can link your message to any audience you decide to reach out to.

- Develop positioning that attracts more of your ideal client
Just as the individuals in Brenda's new niche markets are attracted to her international reputation as the brand expert to the corporate stars, she also elevates her expert status in the eyes of her corporate market as a now published author. As a published author, she gains exponential credibility in the eyes of all her markets. That is exactly why that back cover sales copy--the foundation for Brenda's marketing--intentionally makes that corporate expertise a high-visibility part of her marketing message.

What Will Your Next Book Do for You and Your Brand?

What do you want your book to do for you and your expertise? Make you more visible to your target market? Be a lead generator to your ideal client? Help you stand out in a crowded market or create a new niche and dominate it right from the start? Whether you need to re-fresh your brand to make it more current and relevant or accommodate new growth and directions, your book cover is the place to start. Master your branding message on this one piece of marketing real estate, and you have everything you need to market with power and precision across all marketing platforms.

We Write Book Covers, and Create Bestselling Brands in the Process
Contact us if you are thinking about writing a book or if you are already in the manuscript or book cover process. We will answer your book cover questions about when to get started and more. And, we will create a bestselling cover for you that builds, refreshes, or expands a profitable brand for you and your business. We can also refer you to a book cover designer to handle the visual part of your brand.

Email us at info@WriteToYourMarket.com or call us 1-888-634-4120.

Susan Kendrick and Graham Van Dixhorn, Write To Your Market, Inc. All Rights Reserved.