Baby names are a multi-million dollar business. A quick Amazon search for “baby names” yields over 5,000 products that promise to help you name your newborn. And if you’re really concerned, you can hire a baby-naming consultant for a measly $29,000.

Well, you may not drop that kind of cash on a moniker master. But if you’ve ever been an expectant mother or father, you likely have experienced the stress of naming your child. We all know that names are important.

And so is your book’s name, the working title, the one that goes on your book proposal. Yet writers often skirt right past it. Many treat it as a tangent or afterthought.

It’s no wonder. Books take considerable time and energy to write. Spending time on the title can feel like futzing around the trail head when there’s a whole mountain to climb. But then experienced hikers also know the importance of identifying the right trail head!

If you’re a writer, particularly of nonfiction, I encourage you to take some time to brainstorm a great working title. Here are three reasons why.

1. A Great Concept Will Give You Unmatched Writing Momentum

When you brainstorm a title, you’re doing more than that. You’re developing your book idea. You’re playing with different ways to angle your concept, different ways to position it in the marketplace.

Let me be clear. The goal of this process is to come up with a truly great idea. That may sound daunting. It may sound like something you can’t do on your own (which might be true). But the hard fact is you and the people to whom you’re writing deserve nothing less than a great idea to chase after.

It’s going to require creativity. It may require using your mind in a way you usually don’t.

Some will say I’m putting the cart before the horse. Shouldn’t a person start writing first and see what emerges for a title? Sometimes that’s necessary, and sometimes the writing of a book forces a shift to the title. I fully acknowledge that.

What I’m after is a strong genesis—an animating notion that carries you forward.

Stephen King said in his essay in Light the Dark that if he can get a novel’s first line right, he’s off to the races. What I’ve learned in working with hundreds of nonfiction writers over the past twenty-plus years is that if we can get a really good working title in place, the writing of the book can take on a wonderful momentum.

Don’t get me wrong. Writing a book is a lot of work, but a great concept helps tremendously. And you’re going to need as much help as you can get, believe me!

2. A Great Book Concept Attracts Book Publishers

When pitching your book to publishers, the old adage holds: you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Your title and subtitle all but exclusively create that first impression.

If you’re a writer and you’ve been around me any length of time, you’ve likely heard me say, “The #1 reason publishers turn books down is too small a platform.” I still believe that’s true. What’s also true is that even a big platform cannot always overcome the inertia of a less-than-stellar book concept.

Note, too, the corollary: a great concept can sometimes overcome the inertia of smaller platform. I’ve seen this happen numerous times. Sometimes a concept is so original, so catchy, so perfect for a time or an audience, that a publisher can’t help itself. It will take the risk of a small platform for the potential benefit of publishing a brilliant concept.

3. A Great Book Concept Attracts Readers

Recently I had a conversation with successful author Scott Kedersha as part of our BookCamp community. I asked him, what are the most important things authors can do to market their books? “The first thing,” Scott said, “is get a great title.”

Scott knows that the book itself is its main marketing strategy. Yes, that includes the content, but people will never get to the content if the first impression doesn’t draw them in.

Concept alone isn’t enough to create a bestseller. Often you need a strong platform or rapid word-of-mouth for that to happen. But your concept gives you a fighting chance. Without it, a big platform can only do so much, and rapid word-of-mouth, though still possible, is not likely.

Caution and Encouragement

It is possible to spend so much time in concept development that you end up endlessly spinning your wheels. That’s no good. But many writers I work with suffer from the opposite problem—moving forward too quickly and then regretting it later.

Give your concept its due. Eventually you’ll have to go with your gut and move on. But a little extra time at the beginning could give you the writing momentum you need, to say nothing of deal-making publishers and money-wielding readers!

Question: What book are you working on or dreaming about? I’d love to hear about it! You can leave a comment by clicking here.