Picking A Children’s Book Title

Picking A Children’s Book Title

Picking A Children’s Book Title

If you’re planning on or already have written a children’s book but are struggling with picking a children’s book title, you’ve come to the right place!

 

Picking a children’s book title, or any book title for that matter, seems like the easiest part of the process of producing a professional, high-quality children’s book, but it’s not as easy as you think.

Ask any author how long they spend picking titles for their books, and you may be surprised at how long the process took and also how many alternate names they picked through before settling on the final book title.

Sure, sometimes you nail it first go, but typically, a lot of thought goes into picking a children’s book title. Probably more than you thought would before you started writing your children’s book!

In the following article, we’ll examine the main factors you need to consider when picking a children’s book title.

 

Why Picking A Children’s Book Title Is So Important

The title of your children’s book sets up the first impression that a reader will have when they’re looking at your book. It also needs to be marketable. After all, it doesn’t matter how good your children’s book title is if no one buys it or reads it.

Firstly, if you haven’t finished writing your children’s book yet, don’t get hung up on the title. I’ll often start writing the book with one title, then change it multiple times before the first draft is even finished.

Ultimately, we typically look at a list of potential titles and even go as far as looking at how they fit on the cover and how they look on the cover.

None of our titles are safe until the very end! If you’re still in the planning stage, then be sure to check out our article on Self-Publishing A Children’s Book. You can also check out our article, where we broke down the process of Creating A Children’s Book.

 

Top Tips for Picking A Children’s Book Title

Start with these three strategies for picking a children’s book title:

      1. Your Main Character – Who are they, what do they look like, what’s their name?
      2. The Theme of Your Book – What’s the central message of your theme, or the most important message you’re trying to send to readers?
      3. The Catch Phrase or Line from Your Book Is there a funny catchphrase or line from the book?

 

Your Main Character

It might sound obvious, and you’ve probably already considered it, but using your main character’s name in your title is a tried and tested method for picking a children’s book title.

I’ll use my latest book as an example here, Trevor Takes Flight.

Trevor Takes Flight was the final title we settled on, but not before considering about twenty other potential titles. The working title for most of the book was Trevor the Canadian Goose Afraid of Flying and Trevor the Goose Too Scared to Fly! Plus, there are about another dozen or more variations on these.Trevor Takes Flight

Now, Trevor is the main character’s name, and we wanted that in there. However, we also wanted Canada because Trevor is a Canada Goose, plus the problem which was that he was scared of flying or couldn’t fly. Unfortunately, below are some of the ideas that went back and forth between me, my wife, and our editor, Mary.

•   My Ideas: The Goose Afraid of Flying, The Bird Afraid of Flying, The Goose Too Scared to Fly, The Day Trevor Took Flight, Flying Never Looked So Easy – But Was It? One Birds Incredible Journey, I Wish I Could Fly, My First Flight, Why Can’t I Fly? and Up, Up, and Away!

•   Mary’s Ideas: Brave Trevor: Fear of Flying, Flying Trevor: Flying Free, Trevor’s Adventure: Above the Clouds, Trevor’s Journey: Soaring, and Trevor’s Freedom: Dreams Come True!

So, as you can see, we had a lot of different options on the table, but most of them included our character name, Trevor. You can either use the character name by itself, or if it isn’t strong enough to be used alone, consider adding in what they’re doing, what they’ve overcome, or part of their journey.

 

The Theme of Your Book

Your book should have a key moment or scene that switches the plot’s direction.

Children’s Book Title - Don't Fart In the PoolIt could be the moment that your main character overcomes their problem, conquers something, learns something, or simply a life-changing moment for your main character.

If you’re struggling to pick a title for your children’s book, then look at the pivotal moments from the book and see if you can incorporate them into the title.

With another of our books, Don’t Fart In the Pool, we chose the book’s theme rather than the main character’s name, Stan. I think the title gives you a pretty clear idea of what the book’s about!

 

The Catch Phrase or A Line from Your Book

If your character has a funny or cool catchphrase that they use a lot in the book or that identifies with them, perhaps that will make an excellent title for your book?

A lot of children’s books use a line consistently throughout the book or rhyming in the book itself to send a message to kids. Often, these catchy phrases or lines can also make good book titles.

Make a list of any catchy lines that you use when you’re writing your book and save them until you’re ready to start thinking of book titles. Making a list of potential titles as you go is also a great idea in general.

 

Picking A Children’s Book Title – Conclusion

If you haven’t finished the story yet, or you’re still in the illustration process, then don’t stress about the title of your children’s book. Up until the time you hit that publish button, you can always change the title, even if it can be a little tedious to make those last-minute changes.

Have you got an idea for a children’s book but don’t know where to start? Believe it or not, but with the right advice, creating a best-selling children’s book isn’t as complex or challenging as you might imagine.

At Author Services Australia, we have a dedicated team of illustrators and graphic designers standing by who can bring your children’s book illustrations to life! Regardless of your illustration style, we’ll be able to make it happen.

Our friendly and professional team at Author Services Australia is happy to help with your children’s book. If you need help with self-publishing, such as ghostwriting services, professional editing, children’s book formatting, or cover design and uploading, then our team is here to help.

If you need any assistance with author marketing or social media, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can contact us directly.

We’re proud to support Australian authors with their dreams of creating best-selling children’s books.

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