Sticky Book Titles

I was listening to a great show on the other day on Fresh Air, where Terry Gross interviewed Bob Sullivan, the author of Gotcha Capitalism. I started getting quite agitated by the interview, as Sullivan talked about all the ways that credit card companies, hotels, and especially, cell phone companies “get us” with hidden charges and related sleazy practices (listen to it here).

It also reminded me of the time that my wife accepted an offer that was being pushed by Verizon salespeople for text messaging that sounded like a great deal. She was assured by the salespeople that this deal was good for as long the contract held. But after accepting the offer, my wife went online and read the terms of the offer on their website, which said it was a short-term deal that would revert to very high texting charges after (as I recall) three months. When she called back to cancel the deal and explain why, they resisted doing so and also kept accusing her of getting the facts wrong (even though she was reading them the contract, they didn’t believe her). So I think that Mr. Sullivan is onto to something (Indeed, one of the things I loved about Tranquilo Bay, the lovely  little eco-resort we went to in Panama, is there were no hidden charges, it was all inclusive, including the drinks).

Mr. Sullivan not only gave a great interview, it got me thinking about how important book titles are to the success of a book. I love the title “Gotcha Capitalism,” as it captures the emotion so well. Perhaps I have a jaded view, but my two most successful books had titles that we decided on at the outset, and that we had to fight for to get past book marketing people. My co-author, Jeff Pfeffer, had a huge battle with the people from Harvard Business School Press about The Knowing-Doing Gap, the title that we used from the first day we started writing the book. They kept insisting that we call it “Louder Than Words.” And we almost rolled over (in fact, I have a framed copy of the Louder Than Words book jacket in my office). Then after Jeff talked to the CEO of another publishing company and he talked to Suzy Wetlaufer (then the deeply talented editor of the Harvard Business Review, now Suzy Welch, Jack’s wife), and both pressed Jeff to fight for the book title. And he fought hard, and won. 

And, as Guy Kawasaki has written, as much as I love working with the people at Harvard Business School Press (despite the occasional disagreement), I decided to walk away and go to another publisher when they didn’t want to call it The No Asshole Rule. At the time, I commented that the title would likely be good for book sales, but I understood completely why they didn’t want to have a book with that title. Indeed, as I told them at the time, if I was them, I wouldn’t want the title either because it would be bad for their very respectable brand. But I couldn’t imagine, and still can’t imagine, that anything else would have grabbed attention so well.

Of course, this is the kind of thing that Chip and Dan Heath write about in their great book Made to Stick.  Picking a “sticky” book title isn’t easy as you want to have one that describes what the book is about, that surprises the reader a little, that provokes vivid images, and that readers will pick-up to look at, and will remember. I thought of a few of my favorites:

Randy Komisar’s The Monk and the Riddle. A great title for this “anti-greed” book that appeared at the height of the dotcom boom.

Timothy Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek. I confess I haven’t read the book, but it sounds good to me!

Gordon MacKenzie’s Orbiting the Giant Hairball.  As I have said many times here, the best corporate creativity book ever written.

Harry Frankfurt’s On Bullshit. A title that clearly attracted attention, and without it, The No Asshole Rule would never have been published. Frankfurt paved the way for books with dirty titles that were written by professors from fancy universities (he is a retired Princeton philosopher).

Arianna Huffington’s  Pigs at the Trough. I never read it, but what a great title!

Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel. Great book and great title.

David McCullough’s The Path Between the Seas. On the building of the Panama Canal. One of the best books I have ever read on anything. An astounding tale of human weakness and strength, and the power of sheer will. Wonderfully researched, and as good a story about the best and the worst features of the American character as you can find. Also, a reminder that some of the greatest innovations in history have been funded and implemented by governments.  The pyramids are another example! And, yes, both entailed exploiting a lot of people.

I would love to hear some of your favorite titles as well.  And some of the stinkers too. One of the worst titles I've seen in recent years is The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Intelligent Design.  Somehow, everything about it seems wrong. It sounds like a parody, but is not.

P.S. As I said, I love the title of Gotcha Capitalism, but I am less enthusiastic about the cover design. Those colors a little bit too much for me, and also something about it undermines the seriousness of the subject.  On the other hand, if the goal was to design a cover that would stand-out, they succeeded.

Comments

[Justin Downey]

I totally agree. What a sticky book title?

What about "Gotcha Marketing"? That would be an equally sticky title and even more descriptive of what's really going on in the marketplace.

See what I mean: http://justindowneymarketing.blogspot.com/2008/01/gotcha-marketing.html

[LivePaola]

Tim Ferriss talks in his book about how he chose his title - by setting up Google AdWords ads in several variations and picking the one that got the most clicks. So, next time you disagree with a publisher, don't discuss - test for three days or so and let the data speak for itself. (To the extent that clicks signal willingness to buy, this would be consistent with the evidence-based method you discuss in Hard Facts, wouldn't it?)

[Henrik Mårtensson]

I just read The Knowing-Doing Gap - finished it on the bus this morning. I'm very glad you stuck with the title - I might have missed it otherwise.

This book will be very useful to me in my work - if I can bridge the gap myself.

[dblwyo]

Actually two good posts in one. The implicit post is self-destructive marketing & sales practices...hmmm a book hiding there. "Down the River: Inauthentic Marketing..." ?

On topic though:
Team of Rivals: Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Most Noble Adventure: Greg Behrman
Moon Goddess & the Son and Courtship Rite: Donald Kingsbury

[Fred]

The Ascent of Man - Jacob Bronowski
The Good News is the Bad News is Wrong - Ben Wattenberg
Dumbth - Steve Allen
Original Blessing - Matthew Fox
How the World Was One - Arthur C. Clarke

[Rob Salkowitz]

Hah! The Complete Idiot's Guide to ID outdoes my previous favorite in the meta-ironic book title category, Astrology for Dummies.

[John]

Great post. I'll have to check out some of these books.