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How To Craft The Perfect Book Subtitle [With Examples]

• February 16, 2024

Table of Contents:

• The Role of a Subtitle in a Book's Success

Tips for Crafting an Engaging Subtitle

Common mistakes to avoid in subtitles, ghost writing founder: expert insights, utilizing keywords and seo in your subtitle, the impact of subtitles on marketing and sales.

When you pick up a book, you first notice its title.

But right after that, something else catches your eye: the subtitle.

A book subtitle is a few words that give you more details about the book. It’s like a little hint that tells you more about the story or the information inside the book. A good subtitle can make someone want to read the book. It can make the book stand out and be remembered. In this article, we will learn how to make a great subtitle for your book.

Let’s find the perfect words to make your book special!

The Role of a Subtitle in a Book’s Success

A book subtitle is really important for your book. It’s like a bridge that connects the reader to the story or topic, especially when publishing children’s book s where you need to be more target-focused to grab the kids’ attention.

A good subtitle can grab someone’s attention and make them want to read more. It tells the reader what to expect from the book.

For example, a book called “Journey to the Stars” might have subtitles like “An Astronaut’s Adventures in Space.” This book’s subtitle clearly shows that the book is about space adventures. Some books become famous because their subtitles are so interesting. They can make people curious and excited to read the book. So, a subtitle is not just a few words under the title; it’s a powerful tool to attract readers.

Making a great subtitle for your book can be fun! Here are some tips to help you. First, keep it short and sweet. A long subtitle can be hard to remember. Second, make it clear what the book is about. If your book teaches something, say that in the subtitle. For example, a book on saving money could have a subtitle like “Simple Ways to Save Money Every Day.” Third, try to make it catchy or interesting. Use words that make people curious or excited. Fourth, it should match the feel of your book. If your book is serious, the book subtitle should be too. If it’s a funny book, a playful subtitle is perfect. Remember, the best subtitles make readers think, “I want to read that!”

When making a subtitle, it’s easy to slip up. Here are some no-nos to watch out for. First, don’t make your subtitle too long. If it’s as long as a paragraph, it’s too much! Keep it quick to read. Second, avoid being too vague. If your subtitle is “A Story of Love and Life,” it doesn’t tell much. What’s special about this story? Be specific. Third, don’t forget to check for spelling mistakes. A typo in your subtitle can make it look like you didn’t care enough to check your work. Lastly, ensure your subtitle and main title don’t say the same thing. If your title is “Gardening for Beginners,” your subtitle shouldn’t be “A Beginner’s Guide to Gardening.” Try something like “Growing Your First Garden Made Easy” instead. Avoiding these mistakes can help your book make a great first impression.

Getting advice from a Ghostwriting Founder can be helpful when working on your book’s subtitle. They know a lot about what makes a book sell. One tip they share is to consider your subtitle a promise to your reader. It should tell them exactly what they’ll get from reading your book. For example, if your book is about learning to draw, a good subtitle could be “From Stick Figures to Masterpieces: A Beginner’s Guide.” This tells the reader that they will learn to draw much better. The Ghost Writing Founder also says using words that grab attention is important. Words like “secrets,” “easy,” or “proven” can make your book subtitle more interesting. Remember, the goal of your subtitle is to make someone want to pick up your book and read it. So, taking advice from an expert can make a difference.

When you make a subtitle, using keywords is smart. Keywords are special words people type into search engines when looking for books like yours. If you’re writing a book about cooking quick meals, you might use keywords like “fast,” “easy,” and “recipes” in your subtitle. This way, when someone searches for “easy recipes,” your book might appear.

This is called SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization. It helps more people find your book online. For example, a subtitle like “Quick and Easy Recipes for Busy Weeknights” has good keywords. It tells readers exactly what the book offers and makes it easier for them to find it when they search online. So, think about what words people might use to find your book and try to include those in your subtitle. However, you will need an SEO blog writing agency  to help you get the right keywords for SEO optimization.

A good subtitle can be considered to be a good book marketing idea . It’s like a little ad that tells people why they should read your book. When your subtitle explains your book in an interesting way, more people might want to buy it.

For example, if your book is about adventures in space, a subtitle like “galactic journeys to the unknown” can excite someone to read it. This excitement can turn into sales. Also, when your subtitle has the right keywords, like “space adventures” or “galactic journeys,” it helps people find your book when they search online.

Bookstores and libraries also look at subtitles to decide where to put your book so the right readers can find it. So, a great book subtitle doesn’t just make your book look good; it helps more people find and buy it. You can secretly get your subtitles written by ghostwriters. Indeed, they are professionals with experience in this field, so this is not even a tough task. You can simply find ghostwriters for hire.

Making the perfect subtitle for your book is very important. It’s like a helper that tells people what your book is about and makes them want to read it. We learned that a good subtitle should be clear and interesting and that special keywords should be used to help people find your book online. Remember to keep your subtitle short and to avoid common mistakes like making it too vague or having spelling errors. Now you know how to make a subtitle to help your book stand out, attract more readers, and sell more copies. Good luck with your book, and have fun creating your subtitle!

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10 memoir title ideas and why they work so well

Sometimes, memoir titles come to you in a flash of inspiration, sometimes they need to be painfully extracted, one tortuous word after another. Sometimes, titles come before books. Sometimes, they only make themselves known to you after you’ve finished writing.

In this article, we’re going to review a range of memoir titles, and give you some prompts for coming up with memoir title ideas for your own books.

Good memoir titles should entice or intrigue the reader, evoke a sense or spirit of the book, and give readers a hint as to the tone of the story they’re going to read. A good memoir title can help sell a book, a bad one can sink it.

So how do you come up with a good memoir title for your book?

Good memoir titles come in many shapes and sizes

From snappy single-word memoir titles, to fragments of phrases, and snippets of conversation, there is no one-size-fits-all. There are occasional trends towards certain types of title – single-word titles ( Becoming, Arranged, Ghosted, Educated ) have been big, but the autobiography and memoir market has space for all kinds of titles. So don’t worry about trying to fit your title into a particular style.

To help you think up the best and most appropriate title for your memoir, here are some good memoir titles, grouped into types, drawn from books published in the last few years.

Single word memoir titles

There’s a trend for single word memoir titles, like Educated (Tara Westover), Toast (Nigel Slater), Redeemable (Erwin Jones), Stumped (Richard Harrison) and the most famous one-word memoir title of recent times, Becoming by Michelle Obama.

If you’re considering single word memoir titles, consider using active verbs like fighting, running, winning to give that sense of action and forward motion.

The ‘I told you I could eat a frog’ type memoir titles

Fragments of speech drawn from your manuscript can make for interesting titles.

One of my favourite examples of this approach is No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy (Mark Hodkinson). It’s a very elegant example of how a few carefully chosen words can really sum up the ethos, feel, and intentions of a whole book.

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson is the question her mother asked her when she learnt that her daughter was a lesbian. Again, that one line of speech sums up so much about that book. Just like fiction, memoirs often hinge on a point of conflict, and that question provides conflict in spades.

The familiar expression (or variation on a familiar expression) memoir titles

A popular device is to take a well-worn expression or saying as inspiration. Often, these kinds of titles subvert our expectations.

Just Ignore Him by Alan Davies suggests how a seemingly innocuous phrase can have a darker subtext.

Must Try Harder by Paula McGuire takes that old remark, beloved of school teachers, and uses it as a springboard for a book about how she fought against mediocrity.

Puntastic memoir titles

Me:Moir (by Vic Reeves, born James Moir) could just be the best title for a memoir of all time.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher is a nice play on wishful thinking.

The confrontational title

A shocking or confrontational title will make potential readers notice your book.

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jenette McCurdy is an arresting, confrontational, title that pulls no punches. The title leaves readers in no doubt that this is going to be an uncompromising memoir, and coupled with the cover image, a blackly comical one.

Positive and aspirational memoir titles

Many writers use their memoirs to show how they’ve overcome some trial or adversity, and in doing so, write with one eye on helping their readers. If you’re writing an unashamedly positive book, then you need an equally positive or aspirational title to go with it.

Some good examples:

Find A Way by Diana Nyad

Forward by Abby Wambach

Yes Please by Amy Poelher

And how about A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival  by Melissa Fleming. It’s a biography, not a memoir, but how beautiful is that title?

Intriguing memoir titles…

It’s hard to beat Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad by Daniel Finkelstein as a title that conjures up so many questions that you want to dip in and find out the answers straightaway.

Clickbait memoir titles

Stephen Moffatt, the writer of the BBCs Sherlock and Doctor Who talked about slutty episode titles that drew viewers in. It can be a good approach to memoirs too.

I’m going to nominate a book I worked on called Sex, Suicide and Serotonin (Debbie Hampton) in this category, for obvious reasons.

The defining moment

Some stories are all leading up to one event, or inspired by the ramification of an event. In those cases, it makes sense to use that event as the basis of your title. Some books that do that include:

Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Play on the contrasts

You can sum up the whole expanse of your memoir’s emotional or topical range by bringing out the extremes in your title. The expression ‘rags to riches’ is the obvious example of that kind of thinking.

Some memoirs that play with contrasts in their title are:

A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz

Slow Days, Fast Company by Eve Babitz

Memoir titles: the suffix and sub-title

Very often memoir writers will add the explanatory suffix – a memoir – to make it clear what a reader is going to get.

As well as the suffix, some memoirists add a sub-title to give extra context and meaning to the title. If you’ve chosen a subtly engaging memoir title, then your sub-title can give a bit more context.

Let’s say you’re going to call your memoir, Drowning Not Waving , you could add in an explanatory sub-title: Reflections of a Frazzled Father !

Or perhaps you want to write a book about surviving a difficult childhood. You don’t want to write a conventional ‘misery memoir’ but your publisher thinks that being known as a misery memoir might make your book more marketable. You can use your sub-title to hit that part of the market without compromising your intentions. For example: Unbroken: Not Just Another Misery Memoir .

Love, Interrupted by Simon Thomas features the sub-title: Navigating Grief One Day at a Time . The job of the sub-title in this case is to give potential readers a sense of what the book is about. Anyone hoping for a memoir going into detail on his days on Blue Peter or as a Sky Sports presenter will appreciate straightaway that this is a very different kind of book.

Another benefit of the memoir sub-title is that it gives you some key words to play with, which is useful for anyone trying to promote and market a book.

Memoir title ideas often come late in into the writing process

If the perfect memoir title hasn’t come to you before or during the writing process, don’t panic.

It makes sense that it should be easier to think up a title after you’ve finished writing your manuscript. At the start of the process, you have the freedom of knowing your book can be anything. But that freedom can be more of a distraction. Generally, when you work out a structure and start to shape the book, you’ll impose limitations on it, which will help you see the core of the book more clearly. And the clearer your vision gets, the easier it will be to come up with interesting and appropriate memoir title ideas.  

You may also find that if you started out with an idea of what you wanted your memoir title to be, it doesn’t actually fit the book you’ve written. So don’t be afraid of abandoning a title if it doesn’t work for you anymore.

Some prompts to help you come up with more memoir title ideas

Some writers rely on ‘free writing’ – they start with a blank page and write whatever comes into their head when they think about their life story. If that doesn’t give them ready-made titles, it can spark ideas that lead to titles.

If you’re still struggling to come up with a good memoir title, here are a few more ideas:

• As you were writing, did any themes loom larger for you than others? Any turns of phrase that kept cropping up?
• What do people always say about you? Are there any particular words or phrases they use to describe you? Could one of those work as your title?
• Could you go with a comic contrast, e.g. Punctual (for somebody who is known for being late).
• Are there are any things that people have said to you – or about you – that have really inspired you, challenged you, infuriated you, or spurred you on?

Too many memoir title ideas?

If you end up with too many good ideas for your memoir title, test your title ideas out with your friends and family. Is there a consensus on which titles work better than others? Do you find that, as you suggest the ideas, you start to feel more passionate about one of them?

If you still can’t decide, do a mock up of your cover, with the different title options. Sometimes, seeing an idea on the page can really help clarify your thoughts.

And don’t forget to Google your preferred title, to make sure it’s not already out there. Having a book with the same title as one that’s already been published isn’t very helpful when it comes to publicising and promoting your book, and selling it.

Let’s write the memoir, then worry about what to call it!

If you’re confident you’ve got a life story you want to tell, I’m confident we’ll find the perfect memoir title for it. Get in touch via my contact form if you’re looking for a ghostwriter to write your memoir – and we’ll give it the title that fits.

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How to Create Killer Autobiography Titles: Tips and Examples

Writing an autobiography can be a great journey of self-discovery and even a kind of therapy. But how do you boil down years of experiences and pages and pages of text into a single, captivating title that will draw in your reading audience and somehow seem to summarize the “plot” of your life? This question can be a deeply challenging one for many authors.. Let’s start by answering two questions.

Q: Why is it so important to take the time to come up with interesting autobiographical titles?

A: The answer is simple. A good title gives the reader an idea of what your story is about and prepares them for the journey. Dedicate time to coming up with a list of appealing titles, and see how well they seem to fit with the story that you’re trying to tell.

Q: Do you need to have a title before you start writing?

A: It’s up to you. Some writers prefer to create a title for their autobiographies well before penning the first pages of their first drafts. Having the title creates a framework for their writing.. But this isn’t everybody’s way of doing things. Many authors prefer to write and let the title emerge from the writing. In short, whether you start out with a title or pick one after you’ve written the last words on the last page is completely up to you.

If you think that now is the best time to think about autobiography title ideas, here’s some advice and helpful tips to help you choose the best one.

Develop Autobiography Ideas

This section will be helpful for those authors who are only at the beginning of the writing process. However, if you have already written something, answering these questions will still help you improve your writing and perhaps help you look at your draft with fresh eyes.

• Come up with the main theme . As you are going to share the story, it should have a core theme that will tie the scenes and memories from your life into a meaningful whole.
• Think about your future reader. Now you might consider your prospective audience. Perhaps you’ll want to consider the values and interests of that audience. Knowing your future readers could help you promote your book, define your style, find appropriate examples from your life, and help your writing to keep a consistent tone and focus.
• Define the reason. First of all, to find the core idea of your autobiography, ask yourself why you are writing an autobiography in the first place. What is it that you want people to know? 

So, WHY? Here are some autobiography topics to look at:

• Share an inspiring or unusual story that happened in your life.
• Promote your values, beliefs, and principles.
• Tell the story of your career path in a particular company or business you have worked for.
• Praise your parents, friends, beloved, or any other person that has significantly influenced your life.
• Spread valuable lessons that you have learned.
• Glorify God and tell your own story about your relationship with God.
• Show off your cultural background, traditions, and events that have influenced your cultural identity.
• Simply record your life story and understand its place in the universe.
• Relate your biggest mistake and how it influenced your life.

Grab Readers’ Attention with Catchy Autobiographical Titles

Let’s face the fact that the first thing your prospective reader will see is the book title and cover. That’s why it’s important to hook readers’ attention with something touching, intriguing, comical, or breathtaking. Here are some of the most engaging autobiographical topics that are more likely to be appreciated by readers.

Self-criticism . The power to draw conclusions and admit mistakes is a sign of a strong personality. Your reflections on your faults can  make for an attractive and spicy autobiographical title. Include this in your title to make it more appealing to the reader.

E.g. “Self-Made Man: One Woman’s Journey into Manhood and Back Again” by Norah Vincent 

Controversial notes. If you have done something that is unusual, that isn’t the norm for your community, or that is generally surprising and unique , it could also help you produce a fascinating title. 

E.g. “The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible” by A.J. Jacobs 

Brief ideas. The more clever and direct the words you choose, the more appealing the title will be. Try to pack the main idea of your autobiography into one or two words.

E.g. “Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah, “Educated” by Tara Westover 

Evocative emotions . If your personality is unknown to the reader, you have a gap to fill. Add vivid descriptions and evocative mental images to immediately involve the reader in the journey you’re about to take them on.

E.g. “The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother” by James McBride

Match Title for Autobiography about Yourself with Overall Tone

Let’s say you are writing a lighthearted and funny autobiography with a lot of humor and allegory. Then a humorous title will clearly signal to the reader what to expect. After all,the title and book cover are the first things the prospective reader sees.

A more serious or dramatic autobiography could do with a title  that’s a bit deeper or more profound in tone. Don’t mislead the reader, a cheerful title for a story about tragedy and obstacles will only disappoint the reader.

Types of Creative Autobiography Title: Ideas and Examples

You can get inspired by existing autobiography titles. Use an online bookstore such as Amazon to find autobiographies from other writers. Jot down the most interesting and appealing words and phrases. Think how you can base your own title on your findings.

Here are the most common types of autobiographies titles:

Word-emblem. It may be the main event or influential person in your story. Also, it may be a symbol, turning point, or something powerful.

Paradox . If your story is about opposing forces or events, you can turn it into a title.

Evocative words. How can you describe the main theme of your story in one to two words? You can add subtitles if you wish to add depth to the title.

Metaphorical/literal phrase. It may be a phrase from the text that characterizes the main idea of your autobiographical story.

Your name. This type is more common for historical personalities or celebrities who are well-known to the general public. But there is no prohibition on adding your name to autobiography titles. Just add a subtitle to provide more details about yourself for the reader and an eye-catching book cover for the best results.

Humor. If your story is about something positive and light-hearted or perhaps well-packed with self-deprecating jokes, why not go for a humorous title?

Try AI Title Generators to Get Autobiography Title Ideas

You can ask an AI chatbot like ChatGPT or Copy.ai to give you advice and sample topics to choose from. When you write a detailed description of what your autobiography is about, including the main theme and events you get the best results.

We recommend using artificial intelligence services with caution however. Use it as inspiration and as a source of ideas. Mix, rewrite, or develop something yourself from the titles offered.

Ask for Advice on Your Autobiographies Titles

Write down the greatest autobiography title ideas on a sheet of paper. Ask someone  close to you to take a look at it and give you their honest, detailed feedback. You can ask friends, relatives, coworkers, and other people you trust and whose opinions you value.

There are also a lot of literary forums, communities, and groups who are ready to help you with not only your title, but also to evaluate your autobiography draft. 

Reddit. Here are some popular subreddits for writers:

• r/logophilia
• r/writerchat
• r/selfpublish

Twitter. You can ask for advice in a topical Twitter feed like #WritingCommunity.

NaNoWriMo. It’s a great writer’s community of writers with more than 20 years of experience. This non-profit organization is free and has a lot of active members. You can visit their forum to ask for advice, get feedback, and much more.

Do’s and Don’ts to Create the Best Title for Autobiography about Yourself

• Stick to what it means for you. You can add vivid descriptions and even some fiction (but preferably be honest about it) to your autobiography, but you need to express what matters to you in the title.
• Ask your friends and family for advice. Write down the best title variants and share them with your close ones for feedback.
• Be patient. It may take a long time to come up with a really catchy autobiography title. Just leave yourself enough time to sith with your ideas if you’re not quite sure yet.
• Keep it short and concise. On the one hand, you can create a long title with a subtitle. But keep in mind that it should be easy to read and understand. That’s why you should aim for short and sweet.

Don’ts

• Use puns. Maybe, you have already found autobiographies that have puns in titles and even got inspired. Most of the time these titles don’t work well for the general public.
• Offensive humor. Funny titles are great, but try not to go too far. Carefully pick words so as not to denigrate parts of your potential audience, even if the funny words are really only referring to yourself.
• Use misleading titles. The autobiography title should give your reader a grasp of what to expect in the book (while leaving some room for the imagination).
• Include generic titles. Make an investigation and make sure that your title hasn’t already been taken by another book, movie, or other work.

Wrapping Up

We hope that you are now well-armed with these working tips to help you find your perfect autobiography title. Stay sincere, grab the reader’s attention, and focus on your experiences to make it shine. Don’t rush. When people dedicate time to coming up with their autobiographies titles they’re more likely to find something to attract their people’s attention and this can make the difference between an autobiography being read or passed up!. 

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Author : Caroline Chartrand

04th Jul 2023

Crafting an Outstanding Book Subtitle: A Detailed, Step-by-Step Guide

When you pick up a book, what catches your attention first? The title, of course! But have you ever noticed the smaller text beneath it? That’s the subtitle. It grabs the interest of the readers. A book subtitle acts like a sneak peek. It gives readers a glimpse into what lies within the pages. In addition, It helps create intrigue and make your book stand out from the rest.

If you want to make your book shine, then you have come to the right place! Today, we will help you master the art of crafting an exceptional book subtitle. Step by step, we will break down the process into manageable chunks. No matter if you are publishing self-help books , fiction, or nonfiction book, you will be equipped with the tools to create a subtitle that captivates your readers.

What is a Subtitle in a Book?

Picture a book as a delicious cake. The book title is like the icing on top. It catches your eye and draws you in. But what about the layers underneath? That’s where the book subtitle comes in. Think of it as the flavor description that entices you to take a bite.

What is a book subtitle? A book subtitle is a short line of text that accompanies the title. It provides more information about what the book is about. Its purpose is to give readers a sneak peek, a tantalizing taste of what awaits them within the pages.

How is a Subtitle Different from a Title?

Titles and subtitles are like dynamic duos in the book world. A book title captures the essence of the book. On the other hand, the book subtitle adds an extra layer of context and detail. The title may be catchy and attention-grabbing. At the same time, the subtitle clarifies the subject matter, genre, or theme of the book. Together, they create a powerful combination that captures the attention of the readers and gives them a glimpse of what they can expect from the book.

What is the Role of a Book Subtitle?

If you’re browsing through a bookstore or scrolling through an online bookstore, what makes you stop and click on a book to learn more? It’s often the subtitle that piques your curiosity. A well-crafted subtitle can make your book stand out among the sea of other titles. In addition, it makes potential readers curious about what lies within its pages. Also, it serves as a valuable book advertising tool. As a result, it entices readers to explore further.

Subtitles also engage the readers. They provide a snapshot of what the book offers. It helps readers determine if it aligns with their interests and preferences. A clear and intriguing subtitle can captivate readers. It makes them eager to delve into the book and discover more. It sets the tone and expectations. As a result, people anticipate and get excited about your book.

If we conclude, a book subtitle is the secret ingredient. It adds depth, clarity, and allure to your book. It enhances your book marketing plan and attracts attention. In addition, it engages readers by providing a glimpse into the essence of the book. So, give careful thought to your subtitle, as it can make a huge impact on the success of your book.

How to Write a Subtitle for Your Book?

It is no easy task to craft a compelling book subtitle. So, we have decided to provide you with a detailed roadmap. It will guide you through each stage of the subtitle creation process and explore every essential aspect. Still, we won’t just stop there. We will also sprinkle in plenty of illustrative examples to help bring these concepts to life. So, uncover the secrets and transform your book subtitle from ordinary to outstanding, leaving readers eager to explore the pages of your book.

Identify Your Target Readership

When you host a party, you need to know who you want to invite before sending out invitations, right? The same goes for when you write a book and craft its subtitle. So, you must first identify your target audience to create a subtitle that resonates with readers. You should know the people you want to reach with your book. If you understand your target readership, it is like you know your party guests. As a result, you can tailor your subtitle to their interests and preferences.

Understand What the Readers Prefer and Expect

You know everyone has unalike tastes in music, movies, and food. Similarly, readers also have unique preferences when it comes to books. Some love thrillers and page-turners. In contrast, others prefer moving tales. So, you should delve into the minds of your potential readers and understand what they expect from a book. As a result, you can create a subtitle that aligns with their desires and captures their attention.

Conduct Market Research to Gather Insights

Market research is like taking a peek into a treasure trove of details about your target audience. So, go and dig deep to uncover valuable insights that will help you craft the perfect subtitle. Start by exploring similar books in your genre. What do their subtitles convey? Analyze reviews and feedback from readers to understand what resonates with them. Market research can help you gain a wealth of knowledge to help shape your subtitle strategy.

Summarize the Main Theme Or Idea

Every book has a central theme or idea that it explores, just like every movie has a plot. To craft a compelling subtitle, you need to identify and summarize this main theme or idea in a few words. What is the heart and soul of your book? Is it a thrilling mystery, a heartwarming romance novel , or a thought-provoking exploration of a specific topic? You can create a subtitle that captures the attention of the readers and gives them a glimpse of what lies within the pages by distilling the essence of the theme of your book.

Highlight Unique Selling Points (USPs) and Key Benefits

Suppose you’re at a store, looking at two similar products. What makes you choose one over the other? It’s often the unique features or benefits that set it apart. The same principle applies to your book. What makes it unique and different from others in the same genre? Is it the fresh perspective, the special characters, or the practical advice it offers? When you highlight these unique selling points (USPs) and key benefits in your subtitle, you give readers a compelling reason to pick up your book.

Craft a Concise and Impactful Message

In a world filled with information overload, brevity (exact use of words) is key. You have only a few words to capture the attention and make a lasting impression. So, craft a concise and impactful message. However, it requires a careful selection of words and a focus on conveying the essence of your book. Therefore, use vivid language, strong verbs, and descriptive phrases to create a sense of excitement and intrigue. A well-crafted subtitle should make readers stop and say, “I need to read this!”

Avoid Ambiguity and Confusion

When reading a sentence that leaves you scratching your head, you may wonder what it means. That’s the last thing you want for your book subtitle. Therefore, if you want to create a compelling subtitle, you should emphasize clarity and conciseness. Be clear and precise in your wording, so readers can quickly grasp the essence of your book. Steer clear of unclear or convoluted (complex to follow) phrases that readers could misinterpret. Your subtitle should be crystal clear. It should leave no room for confusion.

Use Clear and Straightforward Language

Have you ever heard the saying, “Keep it simple, stupid”? Well, the same principle applies to crafting a subtitle. Use language that is clear and straightforward. Avoid complex or words filled with jargon. Your goal is to convey your message effectively. Therefore, if you use complicated language, it may make readers lose interest. So, choose words that resonate with your target audience and a wide range of readers can easily understand. Remember, simplicity can be powerful.

Eliminate Unnecessary Words or Phrases

Sometimes, less is more. In the world of subtitles, if you eliminate unnecessary words or phrases, it can make a huge impact. Take a step back and review your subtitle with a critical eye. Are there any words or phrases that don’t add value or are redundant? Trim the excess and streamline your subtitle to its core essence. You will be able to create a subtitle that is concise and impactful only if you remove unnecessary clutter.

Incorporate a Hook or Captivating Element

Imagine walking by a billboard with a captivating advertisement that makes you stop and take a second look. That’s precisely what you want to achieve with your book subtitle. To create intrigue and curiosity, use a hook or interesting element that grabs the attention of the readers. It could be a thought-provoking question, a factual statement, or a fascinating concept. The goal is to make readers pause and say, “Tell me more!”

Just Hint at The Content of the Book and Don’t Give Too Much Away

Think of your subtitle as a teaser that gives readers a glimpse into the unique content of your book. You want to strike a delicate balance between revealing enough to generate interest and holding back to leave room for exploration. So, hint at the themes, the characters, or the unique aspects of your book without giving away all the juicy details. It will create a sense of mystery and anticipation. That will entice readers to discover more.

Generate Curiosity to Pique the Interest of the Readers

Curiosity killed the cat, they say, but it’s the lifeblood of engaging book subtitles. You want to ignite that spark of interest within readers. It makes them eager to uncover the secrets hidden within your book’s pages. Create intrigue by posing a question that leaves readers curious for answers. Spark their imagination with vivid imagery or create a sense of wonder with an unexpected twist. The more you can generate interest, the more likely readers will be drawn to explore your book further.

Identify Relevant Keywords for Your Book

Keywords are like puzzle pieces that connect your book to its potential readers. To create a subtitle that stands out, you need to identify relevant keywords that accurately represent your book. Think about the core themes, subjects, or concepts explored within your book. What words or phrases best capture its essence? These are the keywords you want to highlight in your subtitle. They will attract readers who are specifically interested in those topics.

Integrate Keywords that Resonate with Your Target Audience

Just like a magnet attracts metal, keywords attract readers who search for specific types of books. So, choose keywords that resonate with your target audience, i.e., the people you want to connect with through your book. Put yourself in their shoes and think about the words or phrases they would use when searching for a book like yours. Integrate these keywords into your subtitle. As a result, you can increase the chances of capturing the attention of your ideal readers.

Ensure Keywords Align with the Genre and Topic of the Book

Keywords are not just random words thrown together. They need to be relevant to the genre and topic of your book. Imagine you’re looking for a thrilling mystery novel. Still, the subtitle is filled with keywords related to romance or self-help. It would create confusion and disappointment. So, ensure that the keywords you choose align with the genre and topic of your book. It will help attract the right readers who are genuinely interested in what your book has to offer.

Stand Out from the Competition

Imagine walking into a candy store with rows upon rows of colorful sweets. How do you choose which one to try? It’s the unique flavors and eye-catching packaging that catch your attention. The same goes for your book subtitle. To stand out from the competition, you need to offer something different, something that makes readers take notice. Find a fresh angle, a unique perspective, or a magnetic element that sets your book apart from others in the same genre. It will make your subtitle shine brightly in a sea of titles.

Utilize Fresh and Unique Language

Just as a new song on the radio can catch your ear, new and unique language in your subtitle can capture the attention of the readers. So, think outside the box and let your creativity flow. Use words and phrases that are unexpected, imaginative, and memorable. It will give your subtitle a distinct voice that stands out in the minds of the readers. Infusing your subtitle with fresh and unique language can create an enticing allure that draws readers in.

Writing Subtitles for Different Genres

Every genre requires a tailored approach when it comes to a book subtitle.

When crafting a subtitle for a fiction book, focus on capturing the essence of the story or protagonist. Think about the main conflict, the unique setting, or the emotions the narrative evokes. Create a subtitle that gives readers a taste of what they can expect.

When you write a subtitle for a nonfiction book , keep in mind the purpose and value of the book. What will readers gain from reading your book? Will it help them overcome challenges, expand their knowledge, or achieve personal growth? Highlight the key benefits and takeaways that readers can expect.

Self-Help Books

If you want to create a subtitle for this genre, emphasize the benefits and results that readers can achieve. What change or improvement can readers expect by following the guidance in your book? Will it help them boost their confidence, enhance their productivity, or achieve success in a specific area? Grab the attention of readers who seek practical solutions and actionable advice.

Gather Feedback from Beta Readers or Focus Groups

Imagine baking a delicious cake. Before you serve it to others, you want to make sure it tastes just right. Similarly, gather feedback from beta readers or focus groups when crafting your book subtitle. Share different versions of your subtitle with a small group of trusted people and ask for their honest opinions. Did the subtitle catch their attention? Did it accurately represent the book? Their valuable feedback will help you learn how your subtitle resonates with potential readers.

A/B Testing with Different Versions of the Subtitle

In the world of marketing, A/B testing is like trying on different outfits to see which one looks best. To refine your subtitle, conduct A/B testing. Create multiple versions and test them against each other. Create two or more variants of your subtitle and use them in book marketing materials or online platforms. Monitor the responses and engagement from readers to see which version performs better. It will provide insights into which elements of the subtitle are more effective and also capture the interest of the readers.

Analyze Feedback and Make Adjustments

Feedback is like a treasure map that guides you toward improvement. Analyze the feedback you receive from a beta reader, professional editor, or A/B testing. Then, identify patterns or common themes. Pay attention to what resonated with readers and what may need a change. Did they find the subtitle compelling? Were there any confusing aspects? Use this feedback to make changes and refine your subtitle accordingly. Keep in mind that it is an iterative process. So be open to making changes that enhance the impact of your subtitle.

Illustrative Examples of Outstanding Book Subtitles that Books

The purpose of book subtitles is to capture the attention of the readers and convey the essence, purpose, and benefits of the books. Let’s showcase some examples that inspire you as you craft your own outstanding book subtitle.

Example of Subtitles for Fiction Books

1- “Vanity Fair: A Novel Without A Hero.”

2- ” The Housemaid’s Secret: A Totally Gripping Psychological Thriller With A Shocking Twist .”

3- ” Steel Valley: Coming of Age in the Ohio Valley in the 1960s .”

These examples demonstrate subtitles for fiction books. They capture the essence of the story, evoke curiosity, and hint at the emotional journey that awaits readers. If you use evocative language and captivating themes like them in your subtitles, it can entice readers to dive into the world of your book and experience the gripping tales that unfold.

Example of Subtitles for NonFiction Books

1- “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.”

2- “The Science of Happiness: How Our Brains Make Us Happy – and What We Can Do to Get Happier.”

3- “The Art of Persuasion: Winning Without Intimidation.”

These examples showcase effective subtitles for nonfiction books. They convey the purpose and value of the books, highlight the topics they will explore, and the benefits readers can expect. When you use powerful words and emphasize the outcomes readers can achieve in your book subtitles, you can attract those seeking knowledge, personal growth, and practical advice.

Example of Subtitles for Self-Help Books

1- “The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance—What Women Should Know.”

2- “The Productivity Blueprint: A Simple Step-By-Step Guidebook Filled with Strategies and Hacks to Manage Your Time, Become Successful, and Achieve Superhuman Productivity.”

3- “The Mindful Manifesto: How Doing Less and Noticing More Can Help Us Thrive in a Stressed-Out World.”

These examples exemplify powerful and result-driven subtitles for self-help books. They emphasize the transformative nature of the books and highlight the specific benefits readers can attain. If you focus on personal growth, self-improvement, and practical strategies in your book subtitles, it can inspire readers to take action and achieve positive change in their lives.

What is the Difference Between a Book Title and a Subtitle?

A subtitle in a book plays a vital role and positions your book within the market. It often surpasses the impact of the title itself. The title grabs the spotlight. However, it is the subtitle that truly engages readers. The title acts as a hook, while the subtitle serves as the reel. It draws readers in and captures their attention.

What is an Example of a Book Subtitle?

A book subtitle is a contextual phrase. It accompanies a book title and provides clarity and understanding. It is not necessary that it should be memorable. However, its primary focus is to convey the content and purpose of the book.

For Example: “ Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within “

The title is notable and memorable. But you can not tell much about the book by looking at it. In contrast, the subtitle tells you further that it is a book about self-learning and self-improvement.

What is the Meaning of Subtitle?

A subtitle is a secondary title that goes along with a book. It provides extra info about its content. It acts as an additional layer of detail that help readers better grasp the main title and understand what the work is about.

How Long Should a Book Subtitle Be?

Subtitles typically range from three to seven words in length. When it comes to nonfiction, the title tends to be shorter, while the subtitle is longer. If you opt for a lengthy title in nonfiction, it’s advisable to match it with a more extensive subtitle. It’s generally recommended to strike a balance and aim for subtitles that contain up to around ten words.

A well-crafted book subtitle has the power to captivate readers. It conveys the essence of your book. Also, entice readers to dive into its pages. It sets the tone, piques curiosity, and positions your book in the crowded marketplace. If you carefully choose words in your book subtitle, it can make a lasting impression and attract the right audience. So, invest as much time and effort as you can and write a great book subtitle, for it is a gateway that welcomes readers into the world you’ve created.

Remember to experiment, ask for feedback, and iterate along the way. It allows your subtitle to evolve into its most compelling form. In addition, don’t hesitate to seek assistance from experts. You can have Authors Breeze at your service if you need any kind of help. Our experts provide the best services for authors and help authors craft the book subtitle that stands apart.

Caroline Chartrand

As a writing expert, Caroline R Chartrand has written numerous books across various genres, from memoirs to self-help guides. With a passion for history and literature, she has delved into the lives of some of the fascinating figures in history, uncovering hidden stories and surprising facts.

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The best biographies to read in 2023

• Nik Rawlinson

Discover what inspired some of history’s most familiar names with these comprehensive biographies

The best biographies can be inspirational, can provide important life lessons – and can warn us off a dangerous path. They’re also a great way to learn more about important figures in history, politics, business and entertainment. That’s because the best biographies not only reveal what a person did with their life, but what effect it had and, perhaps most importantly, what inspired them to act as they did.

Where both a biography and an autobiography exist, you might be tempted to plump for the latter, assuming you’d get a more accurate and in-depth telling of the subject’s life story. While that may be true, it isn’t always the case. It’s human nature to be vain, and who could blame a celebrity or politician if they covered up their embarrassments and failures when committing their lives to paper? A biographer, so long as they have the proof to back up their claims, may have less incentive to spare their subject’s blushes, and thus produce a more honest account – warts and all.

That said, we’ve steered clear of the sensational in selecting the best biographies for you. Rather, we’ve focused on authoritative accounts of notable names, in each case written some time after their death, when a measured, sober assessment of their actions and impact can be given.

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Best biographies: At a glance

• Best literary biography: Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley | £20
• Best showbiz biography: Let’s Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood | £6.78
• Best political biography: Hitler by Ian Kershaw | £14

How to choose the best biography for you

There are so many biographies to choose from that it can be difficult knowing which to choose. This is especially true when there are several competing titles focused on the same subject. Try asking yourself these questions.

Is the author qualified?

Wikipedia contains potted biographies of every notable figure you could ever want to read about. So, if you’re going to spend several hours with a novel-sized profile it must go beyond the basics – and you want to be sure that the author knows what they’re talking about.

That doesn’t mean they need to have been personally acquainted with the subject, as Jasper Rees was with Victoria Wood. Ian Kershaw never met Adolf Hitler (he was, after all, just two years old when Hitler killed himself), but he published his first works on the subject in the late 1980s, has advised on BBC documentaries about the Second World War, and is an acknowledged expert on the Nazi era. It’s no surprise, then, that his biography of the dictator is extensive, comprehensive and acclaimed.

Is there anything new to say?

What inspires someone to write a biography – particularly of someone whose life has already been documented? Sometimes it can be the discovery of new facts, perhaps through the uncovering of previously lost material or the release of papers that had been suppressed on the grounds of national security. But equally, it may be because times have changed so much that the context of previous biographies is no longer relevant. Attitudes, in particular, evolve with time, and what might have been considered appropriate behaviour in the 1950s would today seem discriminatory or shocking. So, an up-to-date biography that places the subject’s actions and motivations within a modern context can make it a worthwhile read, even if you’ve read an earlier work already.

Does it look beyond the subject?

The most comprehensive biographies place their subject in context – and show how that context affected their outlook and actions or is reflected in their work. Lucy Worsley’s new biography of Agatha Christie is a case in point, referencing Christie’s works to show how real life influenced her fiction. Mathew Parker’s Goldeneye does the same for Bond author Ian Fleming – and in doing so, both books enlarge considerably on the biography’s core subject.

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1. Let’s Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood by Jasper Rees: Best showbiz biography

Price: £6.78 | Buy now from Amazon

It’s hardly surprising Victoria Wood never got around to writing her own autobiography. Originator of countless sketches, songs, comedy series, films, plays, documentaries and a sitcom, she kept pushing back the mammoth job of chronicling her life until it was too late. Wood’s death in 2016 came as a surprise to many, with the entertainer taking her final bow in private at the end of a battle with cancer she had fought away from the public eye.

In the wake of her death, her estate approached journalist Jasper Rees, who had interviewed her on many occasions, with the idea of writing the story that Wood had not got around to writing herself. With their backing, Rees’ own encounters with Wood, and the comic’s tape-recorded notes to go on, the result is a chunky, in-depth, authoritative account of her life. It seems unlikely that Wood could have written it more accurately – nor more fully – herself.

Looking back, it’s easy to forget that Wood wasn’t a constant feature on British TV screens, that whole years went by when her focus would be on writing or performing on stage, or even that her career had a surprisingly slow start after a lonely childhood in which television was a constant companion. This book reminds us of those facts – and that Wood wasn’t just a talented performer, but a hard worker, too, who put in the hours required to deliver the results.

Let’s Do It, which takes its title from a lyric in one of Wood’s best-known songs, The Ballad of Barry & Freda, is a timely reminder that there are two sides to every famous character: one public and one private. It introduces us to the person behind the personality, and shows how the character behind the characters for which she is best remembered came to be.

Key specs – Length: 592 pages; Publisher: Trapeze; ISBN: 978-1409184119

Let's Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood

2. the chief: the life of lord northcliffe, britain’s greatest press baron by andrew roberts: best business biography.

Lord Northcliffe wasn’t afraid of taking risks – many of which paid off handsomely. He founded a small paper called Answers to Correspondents, branched out into comics, and bought a handful of newspapers. Then he founded the Daily Mail, and applied what he’d learned in running his smaller papers on a far grander scale. The world of publishing – in Britain and beyond – was never the same again. The Daily Mail was a huge success, which led to the founding of the Daily Mirror, primarily for women, and his acquisition of the Observer, Times and Sunday Times.

By then, Northcliffe controlled almost half of Britain’s daily newspaper circulation. Nobody before him had ever enjoyed such reach – or such influence over the British public – as he did through his titles. This gave him sufficient political clout to sway the direction of government in such fundamental areas as the establishment of the Irish Free State and conscription in the run-up to the First World War. He was appointed to head up Britain’s propaganda operation during the conflict, and in this position he became a target for assassination, with a German warship shelling his home in Broadstairs. Beyond publishing, he was ahead of many contemporaries in understanding the potential of aviation as a force for good, as a result of which he funded several highly valuable prizes for pioneers in the field.

He achieved much in his 57 years, as evidenced by this biography, but suffered both physical and mental ill health towards the end. The empire that he built may have fragmented since his passing, with the Daily Mirror, Observer, Times and Sunday Times having left the group that he founded, but his influence can still be felt. For anyone who wants to understand how and why titles like the Daily Mail became so successful, The Chief is an essential read.

Key specs – Length: 556 pages; Publisher: Simon & Schuster; ISBN: 978-1398508712

The Chief: The Life of Lord Northcliffe Britain's Greatest Press Baron

3. goldeneye by matthew parker: best biography for cinema fans.

The name Goldeneye is synonymous with James Bond. It was the title of both a film and a video game, a fictional super weapon, a real-life Second World War plan devised by author Ian Fleming, and the name of the Jamaican estate where he wrote one Bond book every year between 1952 and his death in 1964. The Bond film makers acknowledged this in 2021’s No Time To Die, making that estate the home to which James Bond retired, just as his creator had done at the end of the war, 75 years earlier.

Fleming had often talked of his plan to write the spy novel to end all spy novels once the conflict was over, and it’s at Goldeneye that he fulfilled that ambition. Unsurprisingly, many of his experiences there found their way into his prose and the subsequent films, making this biography as much a history of Bond itself as it is a focused retelling of Fleming’s life in Jamaica. It’s here, we learn, that Fleming first drinks a Vesper at a neighbour’s house. Vesper later became a character in Casino Royale and, in the story, Bond devises a drink to fit the name. Fleming frequently ate Ackee fish while in residence; the phonetically identical Aki was an important character in You Only Live Twice.

Parker finds more subtle references, too, observing that anyone who kills a bird or owl in any of the Bond stories suffers the spy’s wrath. This could easily be overlooked, but it’s notable, and logical: Fleming had a love of birds, and Bond himself was named after the ornithologist James Bond, whose book was on Fleming’s shelves at Goldeneye.

So this is as much the biography of a famous fictional character as it is of an author, and of the house that he occupied for several weeks every year. So much of Fleming’s life at Goldeneye influenced his work that this is an essential read for any Bond fan – even if you’ve already read widely on the subject and consider yourself an aficionado. Parker’s approach is unusual, but hugely successful, and the result is an authoritative, wide-ranging biography about one of this country’s best-known authors, his central character, an iconic location and a country in the run-up to – and immediately following – its independence from Britain.

Key specs – Length: 416 pages; Publisher: Windmill Books; ISBN: 978-0099591740

Goldeneye: Where Bond was Born: Ian Fleming's Jamaica

4. hitler by ian kershaw: best political biography.

The latter portion of Adolf Hitler’s life, from his coming to power in 1933 to his suicide in 1945, is minutely documented, and known to a greater or lesser degree by anyone who has passed through secondary education. But what of his earlier years? How did this overlooked art student become one of the most powerful and destructive humans ever to have existed? What were his influences? What was he like?

Kershaw has the answers. This door stopper, which runs to more than 1,000 pages, is an abridged compilation of two earlier works: Hitler 1889 – 1936: Hubris, and Hitler 1936 – 1946: Nemesis. Yet, abridged though it may be, it remains extraordinarily detailed, and the research shines through. Kershaw spends no time warming his engines: Hitler is born by page three, to a social-climbing father who had changed the family name to something less rustic than it had been. As Kershaw points out, “Adolf can be believed when he said that nothing his father had done pleased him so much as to drop the coarsely rustic name of Schicklgruber. ‘Heil Schicklgruber’ would have sounded an unlikely salutation to a national hero.”

There’s no skimping on context, either, with each chapter given space to explore the political, economic and social influences on Hitler’s development and eventual emergence as leader. Kershaw pinpoints 1924 as the year that “can be seen as the time when, like a phoenix arising from the ashes, Hitler could begin his emergence from the ruins of the broken and fragmented volkisch movement to become eventually the absolute leader with total mastery over a reformed, organisationally far stronger, and internally more cohesive Nazi Party”. For much of 1924, Hitler was in jail, working on Mein Kampf and, by the point of his release, the movement to which he had attached himself had been marginalised. Few could have believed that it – and he – would rise again and take over first Germany, then much of Europe. Here, you’ll find out how it happened.

If you’re looking for an authoritative, in-depth biography of one of the most significant figures in modern world history, this is it. Don’t be put off by its length: it’s highly readable, and also available as an audiobook which, although it runs to 44 hours, can be sped up to trim the overall running time.

Key specs – Length: 1,072 pages; Publisher: Penguin; ISBN: 978-0141035888

5. Stalin’s Architect: Power and Survival in Moscow by Deyan Sudjic: Best historical biography

Boris Iofan died in 1976, but his influence can still be felt today – in particular, through the architectural influences evident in many mid-century buildings across Eastern Europe. Born in Odessa in 1891, he trained in architecture and, upon returning to Russia after time spent in Western Europe, gained notoriety for designing the House on the Embankment, a monumental block-wide building containing more than 500 flats, plus the shops and other facilities required to service them.

“Iofan’s early success was based on a sought-after combination of characteristics: he was a member of the Communist Party who was also an accomplished architect capable of winning international attention,” writes biographer Deyan Sudjic. “He occupied a unique position as a bridge between the pre-revolutionary academicians… and the constructivist radicals whom the party saw as bringing much-needed international attention and prestige but never entirely trusted. His biggest role was to give the party leadership a sense of what Soviet architecture could be – not in a theoretical sense or as a drawing, which they would be unlikely to understand, but as a range of built options that they could actually see.”

Having established himself, much of the rest of his life was spent working on his designs for the Palace of the Soviets, which became grander and less practical with every iteration. This wasn’t entirely Iofan’s fault. He had become a favourite of the party elite, and of Stalin himself, who added to the size and ambition of the intended building over the years. Eventually, the statue of Lenin that was destined to stand atop its central tower would have been over 300ft tall, and would have had an outstretched index finger 14ft long. There was a risk that this would freeze in the winter, and the icicles that dropped from it would have been a significant danger to those going into and out of the building below it.

Although construction work began, the Palace of the Soviets was never completed. Many of Iofan’s other buildings remain, though, and his pavilions for the World Expos in Paris and New York are well documented – in this book as well as elsewhere. Lavishly illustrated, it recounts Iofan’s life and examines his work in various stages, from rough outline, through technical drawing, to photographs of completed buildings – where they exist.

Key specs – Length: 320 pages; Publisher: Thames and Hudson; ISBN: 978-0500343555

Stalin's Architect: Power and Survival in Moscow

6. agatha christie: a very elusive woman by lucy worsley: best literary biography.

Agatha Christie died in 1976 but, with more than 70 novels and 150 short stories to her name, she remains one of the best-selling authors of all time. A new biography from historian Lucy Worsley is therefore undoubtedly of interest. It’s comprehensive and highly readable – and opinionated – with short chapters that make it easy to dip into and out of on a break.

Worsley resists the temptation to skip straight to the books. Poirot doesn’t appear until chapter 11 with publication of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which Christie wrote while working in a Torquay hospital. Today, Poirot is so well known, not only from the books but from depictions in film and television, that it’s easy to overlook how groundbreaking the character was upon his arrival.

As Worsley explains, “by choosing to make Hercule Poirot a foreigner, and a refugee as well, Agatha created the perfect detective for an age when everyone was growing surfeited with soldiers and action heroes. He’s so physically unimpressive that no-one expects Poirot to steal the show. Rather like a stereotypical woman, Poirot cannot rely upon brawn to solve problems, for he has none. He has to use brains instead… There’s even a joke in his name. Hercules, of course, is a muscular classical hero, but Hercule Poirot has a name like himself: diminutive, fussy, camp, and Agatha would show Poirot working in a different way to [Sherlock] Holmes.” Indeed, where Holmes rolls around on the floor picking up cigar ash in his first published case, Poirot, explains Worsley, does not stoop to gather clues: he needs only his little grey cells. Worsley’s approach is thorough and opinionated, and has resulted not only in a biography of Christie herself, but also her greatest creations, which will appeal all the more to the author’s fans.

As with Matthew Parker’s Goldeneye, there’s great insight here into what influenced Christie’s work, and Worsley frequently draws parallels between real life events and episodes, characters or locations in her novels. As a result of her experiences as a medical volunteer during the First World War, for example, during which a rigid hierarchy persisted and the medics behaved shockingly, doctors became the most common culprit in her books; the names of real people found their way into her fiction; and on one occasion Christie assembled what today might be called a focus group to underpin a particular plot point.

Worsley is refreshingly opinionated and, where events in the author’s life take centre stage, doesn’t merely re-state the facts, but investigates Christie’s motivations to draw her own conclusions. This is particularly the case in the chapters examining Christie’s disappearance in 1926, which many previous biographers have portrayed as an attempt to frame her husband for murder. Worsley’s own investigation leads to alternative conclusions, which seem all the more plausible today, when society has a better understanding of – and is more sympathetic towards – the effects of psychological distress.

Key specs – Length: 432 pages; Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton; ISBN: 978-1529303889

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How to Write a Superb Book Title, Subtitle, and Series Name

I am pretty terrible with titles, in the professional, hello-I’d-like-to-sell-you-a-book sense (also, to be fair, in the aristocratic sense, as I have so far utterly failed to convince anyone to refer to me as The Comte Somers). When I got an agent many years ago, she wrote to tell me that while she loved the novel, I would have to change the title immediately because a) the original title was also the title of a Dave Mathews Band song (What can I say? I was young and unaware that using Dave Mathews Band songs is universally disqualifying in every aspect of life) and b) it was so bad it made her feel all-new kinds of sadness.

Since then, I’ve come to accept that my natural instincts are terrible when it comes to titles (Also: Fashion). And I’ve also come to understand that coming up with a great title for your work is vitally important at all stages of the publishing and marketing process. Most importantly, I’ve come to realize that not being naturally good with titles isn’t an indictment of my talent or my chances of selling books—because history tells us that an alarming number of classic novels had truly awful, terrible original titles. As a first lesson in the importance of titles, ask yourself if you would buy a novel titled Something That Happened ? What’s that? That might be the laziest title you’ve ever heard and you instinctively hate the author for trying to use it? Well, that was John Steinbeck’s original title for Of Mice and Men .

What about a novel titled All’s Well that Ends Well ? Does that give you the vibe of a sweeping story of war and the search for meaning in your life? Probably not, which is why Leo Tolstoy eventually sobered up and changed the title to War and Peace.

So don’t feel too bad—if writers like that can make poor title decisions, there’s hope for you yet. The first step to crafting great titles is acknowledging their importance.

Titles are More Important Than You Think

The argument can be made that selecting a book title, subtitle, and series name (if applicable) is the most important part of selling a book, because it’s usually the first thing that people see. You can have a terrific story and brilliant back cover copy, but if your title is awful I can pretty much guarantee no one will ever know.

A great title needs to convey three things to a potential reader:

Yes, you have one—or you need to develop one as soon as possible. Whether you’re pursuing traditional publishing or self-publishing, you need to offer readers a persona they can identify with—that’s your brand. While your Author Brand can—and usually does—align generally with your true personality and values, it’s held at a slight remove from that reality, giving you latitude to be creative with your image.

You can have more than one brand if you work in different genres or lanes. For example, I publish fiction in the sci-fi, urban fantasy, and crime genres; my ‘fiction’ brand is violent, profane, and littered with funny antiheroes. I also write extensively about the craft of writing and write a lot book reviews and roundups on a freelance basis. My ‘freelance’ brand is a bit of a cozy literary drinking buddy vibe. I make a lot of references to whiskey and my cats and I employ a steady stream of self-deprecating humor (The whiskey and the self-deprecation are definitely related).

A good place to start is to be literal. When I began work on my book about writing, I used the working title The Unconventional Writer , because that encapsulated both the kind of advice I planned to offer and fit in with my image as a left-of-center writing guru. Now, that’s not a terrible title but it lacks a certain pizzazz (This is a technical term used by literary scientists. It means ‘I don’t know what it is, but I like it’). By the time I delivered a draft to my publisher, we’d changed the title to Writing Without Rules . That had more flow and rhythm to it while still conveying the same fundamentals.

This isn’t a black-and-white aspect of a book’s title, of course. You can’t always guess a book’s genre from the title alone—but your title should be in line with genre conventions , and it should convey at least an impression of the style of the book. If you’ve written a serious historical crime novel, for example, you probably don’t want to give it a goofy title like Wobble to Death , even if Peter Lovesey actually did really well with that book. If you’ve written a zippy romance, you want to convey that with a playful title—but if it’s an erotic romance, you’ll want to clue in potential readers right away. If your book is a serious non-fiction work or a memoir, you should choose a title that reflects that. Consider a title like Thinking Fast and Slow or A Brief History of Time . The titles instantly suggest their subject matter.

You want to do this for both artistic reasons—you want your title to represent the book, after all—but also for practical purposes. If a reader is looking for a regency romance and finds themselves reading a book that makes Fifty Shades of Grey seem tame, they’re going to be irritated at best, and feel tricked at worst. In fact, Fifty Shades of Grey is a great example of purposeful titling: Romance readers knew immediately that those books were outliers in the romance world simply because the title was so grim and completely devoid of your typical romance trappings. Similarly, you want to attract readers who are looking for what you’ve written, and many of them aren’t going to bother checking the genre listed on the Amazon page .

Excitement and Intrigue

Finally, one of the most important but difficult-to-articulate aspects of a great title is the way it grabs the reader and makes them want to read the book. There’s a bit of science to this—one reason we’ve seen so, so many crime thrillers titled with some variation of “girl” ( The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , Gone Girl , etc.) is because those titles give you a hint as to the focus of the story, while the use of “girl” instead of “woman” adds an element of perceived vulnerability. In other words, the moment you see a title like The Girl on the Train you know that girl is going to be in danger. You’re already thrilled and you haven’t even read a word. Consider a title like Ruth Ware’s *The Woman in Cabin 10—*the woman in question may find herself in danger, but the title conveys less worry with the use of the grown-up woman , which hints that you should be more focused on the mystery aspect.

Of course, there are plenty of other ways to intrigue and excite with a title. Good titles usually offer a glimpse of the story. Sometimes this is a bit literal: Pride & Prejudice is a classic title for this precise reason, and you know something pretty crucial about They Both Die at The End before you’ve even opened it. Another option is to use your character’s name in the title, like James Patterson did with Alex Cross , because it tells the reader where to put their attention. Coupling your character name with a description of what they’re about to experience is also a great way to excite your reader—just ask J.K. Rowling, whose Harry Potter titles are Platonic ideals when it comes to Young Adult fantasy.

One enormous mistake is to be contemptuous of your title, because that contempt conveys to your audience. A good case study would be Sean Penn’s debut novel, Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff . Putting aside the general critical assessment that Penn should never write anything ever again, that title is a disaster on every level. Most importantly, it makes the reader feel like they’re the butt of a joke, as if Penn couldn’t be bothered to come up with something eye-catching and interesting. “Don’t be Like Sean Penn” is a good general rule of thumb in life, of course, but doubly so when it comes to titling your work.

Crafting the Perfect Book Title

Knowing what a book title is supposed to do is easy enough; applying that to your very real book is something else. Coming up with great titles isn’t an exact science —there will always be examples of titles that seem too flowery and melodramatic ( Gone with the Wind ), too weird ( You Shall Know Our Velocity ) or too long ( The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared ) that nevertheless seem to work really well. But exceptions prove the rule, and the rule is to go for a title that fits the book and genre, excites the reader, and carries your brand. Here’s a rough guide to doing that.

Consider SEO

We live in the age of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and there’s no escaping it. Shopping for books online is a fundamentally different experience than shopping in a physical store. On the one hand, selection is infinite. On the other, discovery is incredibly difficult. It all comes down to keywords and algorithms; Amazon, which dominates the market (it sells about half the print books in the U.S., and about three-quarters of the digital books), uses a complex algorithm to suggest books to people based on their shopping history and other factors. Some of those other factors is the genre you (or your publisher) explicitly place your book in when selling it on Amazon—and keywords you specifically supply or that are culled from your title and subtitle, if any.

That brings us back to how your title should sit well with the genre of your book and offer a glimpse of the story. If your books is an epic fantasy about fighting dragons, having the word “dragon” in your title is fairly obvious (maybe, as we’ll see, too obvious), as that will cause the algorithms of this world to suggest your book to people who have bought a lot of other fantasy titles with dragons—presumably your precise audience. But keep in mind that you can also add “dragon” to your keywords when adding your book to Amazon or other platforms, so you don’t have to bend over backwards to awkwardly get keywords into your title.

Avoid Keyword Stuffing

Which brings us to keyword stuffing and overdoing the keyword bit. If you troll through Amazon you’ll come across plenty of books with long titles and subtitles like Political Thriller: Unwanted, an American Assassin Story: an assassination, vigilante justice and terrorism thriller (Paladine Political Thriller Series Book 4) which very obviously “stuff” keywords into their titles in a bid to show up in more search results. This might even work, but it’s going to backfire when your potential readers are put off by the title’s length and might even become confused due to the grammatical chaos unleashed there. The better approach is to use Amazon’s keyword section to its fullest potential—you get 7 boxes of 50 characters each. Stuff your keywords there and you’ll show up in more searches without annoying your reader—and use specific phrases, like “epic fantasy,” because that will rank you higher in those specific categories.

Take Inspiration from Your Story

A great place to start when trying to come up with a title for your book is to take an image directly from the story or the subject matter. If you’ve written a noir mystery centered on a falcon statue from Malta covered in precious gems, calling it The Maltese Falcon is a straightforward way of achieving everything a title needs to achieve. Any recurring or powerful image from your story or your character’s internal monologue might do—just add some modifiers.

Before you settle on that title, however, do some research. Genre stories tend to have similar elements, after all—let’s revisit the whole epic-fantasy-with-dragons scenario. If you search Amazon for books with the word “dragon” in the title you’ll get more than 70,000 results. Chances are whatever combination of words you put around “dragon,” there’s a decent chance someone’s already used that title. It’s important to note that you can’t copyright a title, but you can trademark a title—so you probably shouldn’t call your fantasy novel A Dance with Dragons even if it’s literally about a dance competition in a magical kingdom where everyone has to partner with dragon (author’s note: I would buy that book three times) . Even if you do your research and discover that title isn’t trademarked, all you’ll get for your trouble are angry and confused readers. You might also consider that no matter how clever your title is, you’ll still be one of more than 70,000 books showing up for the keyword “dragon,” so maybe a more distinctive title is in order.

Titling a Series

If your book is part of a series, you’re going to need to come up with a distinctive name for the series as well. Otherwise readers will assign their own—which might happen anyway. After all, George R.R. Martin wants us to call his epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire but everyone pretty much refers to it as Game of Thrones . Why is that? While A Song of Ice and Fire makes perfect sense within the universe Martin created, it’s also kind of obscure and, well, weird. Game of Thrones is not only a catchy, easy-to-remember phrase, it also captures the energy of the books perfectly. Plus, it’s the first book in the series, which makes it easy to remember.

That last part is key: Your series title should ideally ground the reader in the universe, immediately evoking the overall story you’re telling. That’s why Game of Thrones , with its implications of ruthless politics and violence, is perfect and A Song of Ice and Fire meets resistance. When coming up with a series title, you need to consider everything mentioned earlier when coming up with book titles, but in a broader context. There are several basic options:

Character Name

You don’t need to say Harry Potter or Alex Cross to know that naming your series after its main character is a successful strategy. This approach allows you to get more creative with your individual book titles, too, since you won’t necessarily have to remind everyone who your main character is each time (though you certainly can).

Universe Name

Whether your books are fantasy or mystery, sci-fi or romance, another option is to take some unique aspect of your universe and craft your series title around that. If your fantasy story is a series of adventures linked by a single legendary band of mercenary soldiers, calling your series Chronicles of The Black Company will work just fine. If your regency romance series is focused on a single family, calling the series the Bridgerton series is perfect. If your epic fantasy is focused on a war to defeat a dark lord who likes to make magical rings, calling it The Lord of the Rings is terrific.

Allusive Name

You can also choose something epic and poetic for your series name—though as seen with A Song of Ice and Fire this can backfire to a certain extent. But there are plenty of examples of book series’ titles taken from poetry or other sources that work really well, like Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials or Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past .

If all else fails, consider making your series title very basic and literal. No one ever complained that Lemony Snicket’s sardonic book series about the series of unfortunate events that befall the Baudelaire kids was called A Series of Unfortunate Events , after all, and no one’s disappointed to find that Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad books are, in fact, about a Dublin murder squad.

One thing to keep in mind here is that your series title can be a lot broader than your book titles—and can even hint at events or secrets that haven’t been revealed in the story.

What About Subtitles?

Subtitles can be tricky. As noted earlier, the temptation to cram subtitles with keywords and use them to befuddle search engines is strong but inadvisable, and the first question you have to ask yourself is whether your book needs a subtitle at all. If your book is a standalone novel, the only subtitle you should probably use is “A Novel.” Subtitles on novels often come across as telling the reader what to think about the book before they’ve even read it. You should only give your standalone novel a subtitle if you need to convey something to the reader immediately—most probably that the book they’re holding is a bit postmodern and metafictional. If that’s not your goal, put down the subtitle and back away with your hands in the air.

There are exceptions to this rule of thumb. For novels in a series, subtitling them to make it clear they’re part of a series is good marketing and very helpful to your readers, and explicitly noting their place in the reading order with a “Book X of The XX Series”-style subtitle will be appreciated. And for genre novels like mysteries a subtitle that makes the genre clear can also help readers decide if your book is worth investigating. A famous example is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus , which gave her early 19th-century readers a clue at to the nature of the story, linking it to a ancient myth and making it clear it wasn’t meant to be a ‘realistic’ story at all. If your non-fiction book is called Murder in Canaryville , giving it the subtitle The True Story Behind a Cold Case and a Chicago Cover-Up tells crime fiction fans that this is not their next bloody mystery novel.

If your book is non-fiction, subtitles become more important. When you see a title like Sapiens , you likely have no idea what the book is—it could be a work of fiction, a sci-fi adventure, or even a memoir. The subtitle A Brief History of Humankind settles it into the non-fiction category and lets the reader make an informed decision about their interest in the book. The same rule generally applies to a memoir, especially if you’re not particularly famous. Giving a subtitle that eliminates confusion will get you goodwill from your potential audience while also ensuring your book shows up in the right searches and on the right lists.

The bottom line is that coming up with a book or series title or subtitle is more of an art than a science—and it’s best to take your time when coming up with one.

Further Reading

• How to Write Book Titles That Sell: 5 SEO Tips for Creating a Nonfiction Book Title so You Can Sell More Copies
• How to Get the Most from Your 7 Kindle Keywords
• How to Create Brilliant Book Titles (With Examples)
• An Author’s Guide to Book Subtitles
• 50 Famous Book Titles Taken from Literature

Tools & Resources

Book title generator.

Find the perfect title for your nonfiction or fiction book with our Book Title Generator. Save time and unleash your creativity by generating a unique and captivating title tailored to your target audience.

Don't like it?

Why use a book title generator tool?

Do you need help coming up with a title for your book? Have too many ideas and need help narrowing it down? Our book title generator tool can help!

It will create a working title that sets the stage for your book, with the ability to instantly come up with 1000s of variations to choose from. Simply follow the prompts on the tool and click “Generate” to get your title and subtitle ideas. Use it as many times as you need to come up with new combinations and get the creative juices flowing. 

No book (yet)? No problem! 

You can use our title generator for book inspiration. For many, having an initial idea for their book title inspires them to get started. But for others, it is a daunting task that towers over the actual act of writing their book. 

How to craft the perfect book title (with a generator tool)

When people ask us how to write a book , we help them break it down into smaller, achievable steps. And one of those early steps is creating a working title.

A “working” title is meant to be used as a placeholder when you first start writing your book. And a quick way to craft one is with a book title generator.

Here are some tips for using an AI book title generator to come up with the winning book title ideas:

1. Start with a few specific words or phrases

A great nonfiction book title should reflect what the book is about, what the person will learn, or the end result they’ll achieve after reading your book.

Fiction books aren’t as straightforward. It’s a creative process that requires establishing the style and tone you want for your title and book cover – and then using a book title generator to help you rapidly test different word combinations, phrases, and title lengths.

2. Do some research within your genre

Search for other books in your genre and subgenre, taking note of the types of titles and trends you see. Which are you drawn to? Do they include a lot of adjectives? Are they long or short? This will help you create a running list of the type of title format you want, and help you steer clear of title formats you want to avoid.

If you aren’t sure about your genre, you can use a list of book genres to find where your story is best aligned.

3. Get inspiration from your characters, setting, or location

Many books have been named after the hero (think: Harry Potter, Oliver Twist , or Macbeth ), the location in which the story or a significant scene occurs ( The Wizard of Oz ), or something that makes a character stand out ( The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ). A unique name or fantasy world can create intrigue and mystery in your book title.

4. Use – or imply – foreshadowing

They Both Die at the End tells the reader what’s going to happen before they even turn to the first page. But that’s part of the reason you want to pick it up. How could the author possibly surprise you after spoiling the ending?

Meanwhile, titles like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King or As I Lay Dying , aren’t as obvious but still pull you in.

5. Consider your audience

Writing a YA book title is different from writing an adult high fantasy book title. That’s why our book title generator asks who your audience is. It will help you brainstorm an age (and genre) appropriate title for your book.

6. Draft a book description

A description will give the book title generator tool keywords and context, resulting in more specific titles.

Understanding how to write a book description that captures someone’s attention and draws them into the story is an art form in itself. It’s like the trailer of your book. And should be intentionally thought out before you publish and market your book. But at this point in the journey, you don’t need to have your description in its final form.

7. Input everything into the book title generator tool

While it’s certainly not required, taking the time to think about all of the above points will help you create stronger inputs for the AI book title generator. Changing the different things you choose to highlight in the tool’s fields will give you a wide mix of titles. You could even come up with 1000’s of book titles (though we don’t recommend that)!

8. Choose between your top three ideas

We recommend using the “Generate” button on the book title generator until you find a couple of possible working titles. You don’t want to give yourself so many options that you are overwhelmed, but 3-4 solid working book titles are just enough to help you move on to the rough draft .

Related: How to Title a Book

Remember that the first milestone for writing a book is getting (imperfect) words on paper.

Then, when you actually write your entire book and complete it, you can revisit the idea of your book title and dig more into how to subtitle your book . You will have a more fine-tuned approach as to what your book title should include, and you’ll be better prepared to hone in on your best-selling idea.

As a self-published author, your title is not set in stone. In fact, many independent authors change their book titles even after they have published their book; they simply release their book with a new title name, especially if they discover after publication that the original isn’t effective in communicating what the book is about.

So, ready to get started?

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The Art of the Mini Sales Pitch: How to Subtitle Your Book So People Will Read It

Tajja isen on balancing the demands of marketing with artistic vision.

About a year after my essay collection, Some of My Best Friends , was published, I got an email from my editor. Subject line: “Thinking caps, please: a new subtitle.” I’d known that this was coming. When we started kicking around ideas for the paperback, my team saw an opportunity to jazz things up. A new cover, a new subtitle. The hardback versions were beloved—by more than just me, I was reassured!—but it turns out that the original subtitle, Essays on Lip Service , had begun to strike people as a little too subtle.

“We want something that isn’t so vague,” my editor wrote, “and that very clearly tells you what you’re going to get in this collection: smart, incisive opinions; a perspective that may shift your own; some humor!” I love challenges like this; when you have to find the perfect way to sell a story to make it land with an audience. I also believe any exercise that asks you to compress your book into some sort of elevator pitch is never a wasted one. So, I was game, I was keen, I was dauntless. Even if a tiny part of me was miffed to discover I hadn’t gotten it right the first time.

The book is about the easy, lazy proliferation of social-justice language—how it’s funny when institutions slap it on like lipstick, how I’ve encountered that tendency in various industries I’ve worked in, and what that pattern tells us about what it means to be alive right now. With subject matter like that, I knew there was a high risk of being misread, or read uncharitably. If there was even the smallest chance the previous subtitle heightened that risk, then of course we should replace it.

I fired off some suggestions, knowing none were quite right but hoping, as a juicy brainstorm can, they would spark something even better from someone else and we’d keep one-upping until we struck gold: On the Limits of Good Intentions . Talk Is Cheap When the World Is on Fire . Sure, they were clunky, but maybe there was something there?

As the email chain went on, accumulating dozens of suggestions and incorporating the feedback of a widening gyre of stakeholders, the tone began to change. Every time I thought we might be getting close, a new problem sprung up, a steady whack-a-mole of fears that we might do something—or, worse, had already done something—to turn off a reader. There were more doubts brewing about the original subtitle than I’d realized. Lip service wasn’t just “vague,” it was also “academic.” In fact, so was essays . It was “hand-wringy.” It gave people “bad vibes.” It wasn’t punchy. It wasn’t funny, or it wasn’t funny enough. Actually, what if we just changed the title altogether?

As someone for whom the word essays is a huge incentive to pick up a book at all, this was very discouraging. I envied the titans of nonfiction, the Didions and the Sontags, who could slap the e-word on their book and be read as an enigmatic genius rather than a difficult scold. On one level, I knew this was just 20/20 hindsight colliding with the brutal logic of marketing. But this was a bit like finding out I’d been walking around in public with something smeared on my face and nobody told me until a year later.

Worse, I’d been walking around with the thing smeared on my face and thinking that it made me look cool . With Essays on Lip Service , I thought I was invoking an established tradition of nonfiction subtitles that signaled rigor and style. A way to assure the reader they were in for a good, smart time. It’s Slouching Toward Bethlehem: Essays . Not Slouching Toward Bethlehem: And Other Clever Thoughts I’ve Had While Being a Caustic White Lady .

Were Didion to publish her debut collection today, maybe that’s what it would have been called; the intellectual open-endedness implied by Essays or even A Memoir doesn’t really seem to fly anymore. Not to the same extent. Over the past few years, nonfiction subtitles have started trending more toward explicit description . They have become an informal barometer of market pressure; a microcosm for questions of commerce. It’s a truism that essay collections and memoirs by the non-famous are hard to break out. In response to this challenge, subtitles have become a mini-sales pitch that obscures a book’s genre the way you might sneak a dog’s pills into a spoon of peanut butter.

Of course, plenty of contemporary writers still get to subtitle their books essays or a memoir or even a memoir in essays . But an informal taxonomy suggests that numerous other patterns have sprung up in at least implied response to this market toughness. Because this is a very informal and vibes-based theory—this is an essay about the publishing industry, after all—it’s impossible to mark a fixed turning point.

But I’d guess that something changed in 2016, when Melissa Broder published So Sad Today . Subtitled Personal Essays , the modifier made clear that this was something different; an effort to clarify or distinguish the book’s contents in an essay market that was glutted even then. I always appreciate the modifier subtitle and the way it allows the writer to retain a little mystery. Heavy: An American Memoir . Notes from No-Man’s Land: American Essays . Thin Places: Essays from in-Between . “What does that mean?” I always wonder, and not in a way that gives me bad vibes or makes me wring my hands, but in a mood of genuine curiosity that propels me toward picking up a book.

Another popular strategy—one that I was hungry to recreate but was never able to find the right noun or verb to help me pull off—is to imbue the subtitle with a word that somehow gestures to the book’s theme or argument. Think Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion . On Immunity: An Inoculation . Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional . This is chef’s kiss–level elegance. You get a taste of the case the book is going to make and the tone in which the writer’s going to make it. I reflect ; I inoculate ; I confess . It’s like an actor annotating a script and asking what does this character want and having that guiding intention accompany you through the text. But, for the life of me, I couldn’t find anything made of a comparable material that didn’t make me break out in hives.

What was I going do: Some of My Best Friends: A Microaggression ? Some of My Best Friends: A Virtue Signal ? (Okay, I admit, this is actually very close to one that somebody suggested.) I had tried to write a smart book about a subject that attracts a lot of dumb discourse. And, as the weeks wore on and we got no closer to finding a subtitle that seemed workable, I was really feeling that chasm.

All these choices offer different ways of addressing a very specific challenge: that of trying to capture a reader’s attention and stand out among the competition. The subtitle in particular feels like it embodies a critical choice that an artist has to make: How much are you willing to compromise in the name of the market? When it comes to what you’re willing to do to cut through the noise, the calculus—between your vision for the project and what you’re comfortable doing to sell it—is different for every person. It’s not like a website, where an editor can slap a click-baity headline on an essay and you don’t find out until you start getting harassed for it. Here, you get to sign off.

The reason I agonized so much over the new subtitle was because I felt pulled between those two imperatives: the vision versus the sell. The message I was getting about the original subtitle was that we had weighted things too far in the first direction. Now, we had to sell it more . I thought I’d figured out where my own personal lines of compromise lay. This was a request to redraw them.

I was struggling to do so, having drinks at my friend Matt Ortile’s house, when he threw me a lifeline: “What about And Other White Lies ?” Matt had gone in a similar direction for his own collection, The Groom Will Keep His Name: And Other Vows I’ve Made About Race, Resistance, and Romance . “White lies” made me sit up and put my wineglass down. It was smart and sharp and it made me just uneasy enough that I knew marketing would love it.

The final subtitle, as it appears on the paperback, is And Other White Lies I’ve Been Told . This formulation, too, participates in an established trope— And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman (Nora Ephron); And Other Things I Still Have to Explain (Phoebe Robinson); And Other Thoughts I’ve Had While Being a Caustic White Lady (Joan Didion). There’s a certain anthropological prurience to these subtitles; the promise of a first-person voice to guide the reader through the experience of inhabiting a given subject position. It’s a note about which I still feel some lingering ambivalence. But it felt too fitting to pass up. Putting it on the book nudged at the limits of my comfort, but it didn’t feel like I was ceding ground on the integrity of the project. Ultimately, that was the most important thing.

__________________________________

Some of My Best Friends: And Other White Lies I’ve Been Told by Tajja Isen is now available in paperback from Atria/One Signal Publishers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Featured image by Marco Verch is licensed under CC BY 2.0 .

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What Is A Subtitle Of A Book And How To Write One

Sometimes, a title says all your cover needs to say (other than your author name). 

But more often than not, at least when it comes to nonfiction, a good subtitle can be the difference between publishing success and invisibility . 

Why are subtitles necessary, though?

What makes them so powerful? 

And how do you write the kind of subtitle that will give your book the edge it needs in a crowded market ?

Let’s find out. 

What Is a Subtitle of a Book? 

A subtitle in a book is a phrase that often does more to establish your book’s place in the market than your title does.

The title gets more of the spotlight, but the subtitle does most of the work. The title is the hook ; the subtitle is the reel. 

So, what is the subtitle’s purpose? What does it actually do?

• Clarifies the focus of your book (which is useful if your title is vague); 
• Tells readers why they should read your book—what they’ll get out of it;
• Helps convey the tone of your book (serious, scholarly, funny, lighthearted, etc.); 
• Provides context for the title (which can be short and cryptic but memorable);
• Uses keywords to make your book visible to search engines. 

Some books have standalone titles that do all the work, making subtitles unnecessary. But effective do-it-all titles are rare. 

And as you’ll see in the examples further down, crafting a killer title-subtitle pairing can be a lot of fun—the kind of fun your readers can feel when they see your cover. 

That’s the hope, anyway. So, how do you get closer to that? 

How to Write a Subtitle that Sells 

There’s no set formula for crafting the perfect subtitle for a book. But many of the best subtitles use the following to their advantage: 

• Keywords — Book subtitles need targeted keywords to get the attention of both search engines and shoppers. Publisher Rocket can help you find the best ones for your book. Caveat: Don’t overdo it. Keyword cramming is not a good look.
• Cadence — Subtitles that read easily and are even fun to say are more likely to circulate in the minds of shoppers and anyone who happens upon your book cover.  Cadence gives your words a balanced, rhythmic flow and melodic feel. It lingers. 
• Brevity — Get to the point in as few words as possible without sacrificing essential details. Shorter isn’t always better. But don’t use more words than you need. 
• Clarity — Spell out in crystal-clear language exactly how the reader will benefit from reading your book or what problems it will solve for them. 
• The Rule of Three — The human brain loves groupings of three, and many subtitles capitalize on that with three goals, ideas, or pain points. 

Keeping the above in mind, here are some steps to help get you started on creating the best subtitle for your book: 

• Research what’s already working — Look at bestseller lists in newspapers and online bookstores to get a sense of what’s working. What do you notice about the subtitles that stand out for you? 
• Identify the keywords you need — Use the keyword tools at your disposal—including search engines (Google, Amazon, etc.) to find the keywords people use to find books like yours. 
• Brainstorm a list of at least 20 subtitles —  Using the most important keywords, make a list of at least 20 potential subtitles to consider. Allow yourself to write down even the stinkers that come to mind. No filters. 
• Identify your top three  — Cut your list of 20 down to the three that make the best possible use of the words in them. Write them out where you’ll see them throughout the day. 
• Get feedback — Try running them through the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer. Otherwise, try to find your ideal readers (who aren’t friends or family) and ask for their honest, unfiltered feedback. 

5 Examples of Subtitles 

We’ve found five subtitles examples demonstrating the key elements and considerations described above. Look through them carefully and feel free to click on the links to each book’s sales pages for a closer look. 

Example #1:   The Five Hour Workday: Live Differently, Unlock Productivity, and Find Happiness by Stephan Aarstol 

We’ll start with a subtitle that uses the rule of three and popular keywords to capture the attention of book browsers and search engines alike. While the title offers a strong clue to the book’s message, the subtitle drills down to the three key benefits of reading the book. 

Example #2:   The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown

The title here is vague, but the subtitle more than makes up for it by identifying the book’s aim is clear unambiguous language. The aim is two-fold, but it articulates a goal that resonates with millions. It’s a clear invitation to a better life. 

Example #3:   Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

Here again, the title itself is unclear, though the “elegy” bit does suggest we’re looking at a memoir . It says little, though, about the focus of that memoir, and that’s where the subtitle helps us out. The word “crisis” gives the subtitle a sense of urgency, while “family” and “culture” give it resonance. 

Example #4:   The Science of Getting Started: How to Beat Procrastination, Summon Productivity, and Stop Self-Sabotage by Patrick King

Here’s another subtitle using the Rule of Three to hammer home the three main goals for this book. Keywords like “procrastination,” “productivity,” and “self-sabotage” make the book searchable and more likely to be found by those searching for help in those areas. 

Example #5:   The Forks Over Knives Plan: How to Transition to the Life-Saving, Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet by Alona Pulde and Matthew Lederman OR The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World by John Robbins

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Does A Comma Go Before Or After But?

Both food books use subtitles to make the book’s purpose clearer to the reader. Forks Over Knives uses the three-fold keywords “life-saving,” “whole-food,” and “plant-based” to make the book searchable and create an emotional impact. Food Revolution uses its subtitle to explain the word “Revolution” in the title by driving home the power of one person’s diet. 

Now that you know why subtitles are essential and how to create a powerful one for your book, what’s your biggest takeaway from this post? 

How many subtitle ideas have already come to mind for your current book? Remember to keep the filter switched off while you’re brainstorming. This is your “rough sketch” of ideas. It’s supposed to look rough. Have fun with it. 

How many subtitles can you think up today? 

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25 Best Biographies: The Life Stories Every Man Should Read

Read them. Learn from them. Return to them.

Nothing tells us more about how to be alive now than learning from those who have gone before. And nothing captures their triumphs and disasters better than a book. We invited 25 writers to recommend a biography they love. Here are their picks of 25 lives well lived, 25 lives well told. Read them. Learn from them. Return to them.

1 | How To Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty-One Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell (Vintage, 2010)

Recommended by Nick Hornby:

Sarah Bakewell’s book is a biography with a difference. Like every great life in the arts, Montaigne’s is hundreds of years long. He happens to have died in 1592, but his influence is everywhere: in Hamlet’s soliloquies, in every newspaper, on every blog. Montaigne, for better or for worse, invented the personal essay — really — and this singular book explores some of the ideas these essays raised, and traces Montaigne’s survival from generation to generation.

There’s a more conventional biography in here, too, but Bakewell manages to thread it into a philosophical self-help book about grief, conviviality, work, originality and a lot of other subjects that Montaigne wanted us to think about. As a consequence, How To Live is original, accessible, thoughtful, useful, and more fun than you’d ever have thought a 16th-century essayist could be.

I’d like to read a similar book about Elvis, or Shakespeare, or Dickens, or Jane Austen; sometimes the true greatness only emerges years, centuries even, after the last breath has been drawn.

Funny Girl by Nick Hornby is out now (Viking)

2 | Becoming a Poet: Elizabeth Bishop with Marianne Moore and Robert Lowell by David Kalstone (University of Michigan, 1989)

Recommended by Colm Tóibín:

Becoming a Poet by David Kalstone, is the story of the relationship between three poets: Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell and Marianne Moore. Using letters and drafts of poems, he shows how Lowell and Moore did everything they could to influence and help and often patronise Elizabeth Bishop. Moore and her eccentric mother even rewrote one of Bishop’s poems for her, just as Lowell made one of Bishop’s stories into a poem, and later, without her permission, one of her letters into a sonnet.

Kalstone, who died in 1986, three years before the book was published, was a scholar with a light touch, a critic with a real interest in what lay behind poetic influence and inspiration. The book manages to tell the story of three sensibilities, and then shows us Bishop’s efforts to float away from her two mentors by writing slowly and meticulously about her childhood in Nova Scotia — some poems took her more than twenty years to complete — and then about Key West, where she lived for a decade, and then later her life in Brazil.

Kalstone’s style is elegant: he manages to make careful and sober judgements. His book is one of the great biographies.

Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín is out now (Viking)

3 | Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson by SC Gwynne (Scribner, 2014)

Recommended by Richard Ford:

I’m generally bored rigid by the Civil War. A boyhood in Mississippi will do that to you (or else turn you into a Republican). But SC Gwynne’s superb biography of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is a revelation — as is Jackson himself.

Gwynne is an especially informed and felicitous writer, while Jackson poses a challenge to the most resourceful student of human character. Jackson was a compendium of glaring opposites: a pious and uxorious homebody and failed science teacher, who transformed himself (in an absurd and bad cause) into the fiercest and most ingenious of battlefield generals.

A biography of his life, then, needs to, if not reconcile Jackson’s incongruities then at least to get them into the shapely sentences, yet Gwynne is truly remarkable at this.

Don’t let the title throw you off: this is a riveting book.

Let Me Be Frank With You by Richard Ford is now (Bloomsbury)

4 | Elia Kazan: A Life by Elia Kazan (Da Capo, 1988)

​Recommended by John Lahr:

Elia Kazan’s autobiography A Life is my favourite book on American theatre.

Kazan was a dynamo. Scratch anywhere in modern American theatre and you’ll find him. As an actor with The Group Theatre, he shouted “Strike, Strike, Strike!” in Clifford Odets’s Waiting for Lefty , the polemical anthem which launched Odets and The Group into stardom in the Thirties.

As a director, his psychological insight and sense of narrative structure helped to shape the most important plays of mid-century theatre: Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth , Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ; Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman .

As if that weren’t enough, he co-founded the Actors Studio, which revolutionised acting, and was the first co-artistic director of Lincoln Centre. All the forces in American theatre come together, one way or another, in him.

At the centre of this furious energy and appetite for life was a combative outsider’s rage. His memoir is unique for its honesty, intimacy, and insight into all the great talents with whom he worked and into his own legendary struggle to be an artist and to be true to his political principles.

The scope of Kazan’s influence, the complexity of his personality and his psychological acumen place this memoir in a class by itself.

Nobody in 20th-century theatre had Kazan’s career, and no memoirist has left a more unabashed witness to the brilliance and barbarity of American individualism.

Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh by John Lahr is out now (Bloomsbury)

5 | The Life of Samuel Johnson LLD by James Boswell (1791)

Recommended by Adam Gopnik:

When it comes to biographies, I always return, in a shamelessly unimaginative spirit, to James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson .

The most unoriginal of choices, this dramatic biography of the life of a miscellaneous journalist remains the most original of books — in many ways the most original (and still inimitable) book in all the English language.

Instead of the slow-crawl, dutiful chronicling of the life of a great man, piety after piety and year after year, it is a collection of hyper-dramatised vignettes, sometimes comic — “I asked Dr. Johnson whether he thought any man of a modern age could have written such poems? Johnson replied, ‘Yes, Sir, many men, many women, and many children’” — sometimes passionate — “‘I am afraid I may be one of those who shall be damned’ (looking dismally). Dr. Adams: ‘What do you mean by damned?’ Johnson: (passionately and loudly) ‘Sent to Hell, Sir, and punished everlastingly’” — but always utterly alive.

I’ve been reading in it every night for 30 plus years, and never get even slightly bored, though I’ve sometimes wondered why Boswell’s dramatic technique remains so rarely imitated, even in biographies written by intimates of their subjects.

Winter by Adam Gopnik is out now (Quercus)

6 | Wilfred Owen by Dominic Hibberd (W&N, 2002)

Recommended by Philip Hoare:

In 2014 we were bombarded with more books about the World War I than bombs that fell in the trenches, so I dug out Dominic Hibberd’s brilliant Wilfred Owen .

Building on Jon Stallworthy’s wonderful first biography of 1974 (sadly, Stallworthy died last year), Hibberd brings a startling, if not counterfactual, new focus to bear on our most celebrated war poet. In 1914, Owen was a perfume salesman in Bordeaux, sporting a floppy fringe and hanging out with decadent anarchist poets. When he did enlist, the following year, it was not to fight for his country, but for poetry.

Hibberd’s biography was the first to deal openly with Owen’s sexuality. He shows that the power of Owen’s poems lies in his passion for the men under his command. Like many of my generation, Owen’s was the authentic voice of protest.

Indeed, his poems only became widely popular in the Sixties, when they were evoked in the opposition to Vietnam. Until Jane Potter’s much-anticipated edition of Owen’s letters emerges later this year, the anniversary of the Great War will have not produced any account so compelling as Owen’s verse, or as revealing as Hibberd’s prose.

The Sea Inside by Philip Hoare is out now (Fourth Estate)

7 | Chapter and Verse by Bernard Sumner (Bantam, 2014)

Recommended Irvine Welsh:

A biography should be able to spring surprises, even if you know the subject.

Bernard Sumner’s Chapter and Verse contained poignantly rendered family tragedies, told with warm humour and without a hint of self-pity, that the wider world and even close friends were often previously unaware of.

As well as showing a life saved and made by rock’n’roll, it illustrates somebody almost effortlessly negotiating the rapids of success and stardom, armed only with street smarts and laconic Manc wit.

The passage on a bitter council co-worker’s view on weight gain alone makes it essential. It's a must-read for all Joy Division and New Order fans.

A Decent Ride by Irvine Welsh is out 16 April (Cape)

8 | The Perfect Stranger by PJ Kavanagh (Carcanet, 1966)

​Recommended by David Nicholls:

I’ve read some wonderful memoirs over the years, from Blake Morrison’s classic And When Did You Last See Your Father? to, more recently, Damian Barr’s frank and touching Maggie and Me . But if I had to choose one, I think I’d go for The Perfect Stranger by PJ Kavanagh.

It’s a classic coming-of-age story following the young writer’s adventures from a Butlin’s holiday camp to Paris, Korea, Barcelona and Oxford, where he meets the “perfect stranger” of the title.

Funny, poetical, ultimately heartbreaking, it’s a lost classic, out of print for many years but due for republication soon.

Us by David Nicholls is out now (Hodder & Stoughton)

9 | Ever, Dirk: The Bogarde Letters edited by John Coldstream (W&N, 2008)

​Recommended by David Thomson

This is a life as told through the letters of Dirk Bogarde: a great actor, a fair writer of novels and memoirs, a man with a natural talent for gardens and houses and a seething enthusiasm for gossip and friendship.

He was gay (but not inclined to admit it), yet some of his most stimulating friendships were with women he adored. As edited (superbly) by John Coldstream, this book gives you the sound of his voice, the pleasure of having him as your host and the fascination of witty, personal letters that are hideously misspelled!

Yet through all the gaiety and humour, you perceive someone always acting and trying to hide a chill and a loneliness that emerge in real biographies of him. Instead, he wanted to be good company and “ever, Dirk”.

What more do you expect from a true biography than a sense of the act he was putting on? I’m not sure honesty makes for good biography or great actors.

Why Acting Matters by David Thomson is out on 23 April (Yale)

10 | Edie: An American Biography by Jean Stein (Cape, 1982)

Recommended by Andrew O'Hagan:

I find it hard to choose my favourite biography because I love so many. It could easily be James Boswell’s Life of Johnson , a deathless book filled with drama and comedy. (It’s a classic because it makes you realise what the art of biography means.) But what about Richard Ellmann’s biography of Oscar Wilde, Fred Laurence Guiles’ of Marilyn Monroe, Hilary Spurling’s two-volume masterpiece on Matisse, or Miranda Carter’s account of the lives of Anthony Blunt?

Whatever it is that makes a great biography, the element is in short supply. Yet the book I’ve decided to choose is different from most biographies; it’s more edited than authored, and it happens to be about a person who is quite marginal.

Edie by Jean Stein is the story of Andy Warhol’s associate Edie Sedgwick as told by those who knew her. Edie was a beautiful young socialite who made a splash in the underground art scene before dying of a drug overdose at the age of 28. It might not sound like much of a life, but great biographies are often a record of a period as much as a person, and Stein’s book is a brilliant book about the Sixties.

It also cuts to the core of what we now understand to be a general obsession with celebrity. The book is the first and best of what is called “oral biography”: the story is told through hundreds of interviews and is orchestrated with terrific brio.

The Illuminations by Andrew O’Hagan is out on 5 February (Faber)

11 | A Strong Song Tows Us: The Life of Basil Bunting by Richard Burton (2013, Infinite ideas)

Recommended by Iain Sinclair:

A culture, at any given time, can be judged by its poets. And by the way those poets are appreciated or ignored. In the ground beside a Quaker Meeting House, near Sedbergh, is the plain stone that serves as a memorial to the Northumbrian poet Basil Bunting. Bunting did not look for a biography. He kept predatory academics and gossipmongers at arm’s length. He burnt letters. The story, in so far as he wanted to tell it, was a single poem, Briggflatts: the myth of self as a memory-song or river echo. “Descant on Rawthey’s madrigal.”

But we want the mystery unpacked and explained. Richard Burton, in A Strong Song Tows Us , has been diligent. Bunting in prison as a conscientious objector during the First World War. Carousing with Hemingway in Paris. Hanging out with Ezra Pound in Rapallo. Diplomat and spy in Persia. Rescued from newspaper drudgery by young Tom Pickard. Feted by Allen Ginsberg. A man acclaimed, then reforgotten. Here is a life that covers most of the 20th century. It comes back in the end, to the sound heard in Briggflatts: the mason’s mallet spelling out a name for a gravestone.

London Overground: A Day’s Walk Around the Ginger Line by Iain Sinclair is out on 4 June (Hamish Hamilton)

12 | Anyone Who Had a Heart: My Life and Music by Burt Bacharach with Robert Greenfield (Harper, 2013)

Recommended by Mick Brown:

“I Say A Little Prayer”, “Walk on By”, “The Look of Love”, “This Guy’s in Love With You” – Burt Bacharach has been responsible for writing and producing some of the most memorable, and romantic, songs in post-war popular music, but he is also a highly entertaining, and surprisingly candid, raconteur. The Broadway lyricist Sammy Cahn once said of Bacharach that he was the only songwriter who didn’t look like a dentist. Rather, he was the epitome of cool, an urbane ladykiller as smooth as his orchestral arrangements, who plied his trade in a world of rapacious agents, self-destructive singers, broads, highballs and frequent dinners at Italian joints “where Sinatra liked to hang out”. This autobiography is vividly illuminating on the craft of the songwriter, Bacharach’s oddly distanced relationship with his lyricist Hal David, and the hurly-burly of life around New York's Brill Building — a kind of hit factory of Sixties pop music. It also spares nothing of an energetic love life featuring such walk-on players as the wonderfully named Slim Brandy (real name Shirley Orenstein), who danced in the line at the Sands Hotel in Vegas, and Tracy Fisher, a showgirl who owned a poodle named Killer and who, Bacharach notes laconically, “eventually wound up living with some low-level hood, who killed her on a boat.” Bacharach floats across the pages, radiating charm and talent as seemingly effortless as his melodies.

Tearing Down The Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector by Mick Brown is out now (Bloomsbury)

13 | Félix Fénéon, Aesthete and Anarchist in Fin-de-Siecle Paris by Joan Ungersma Halperin (Yale, 1989)

Recommended by Tom McCarthy:

This is an extraordinary biography (it took 25 years to write) of an extraordinary person. Félix Fénéon was an immaculately-dressed man-about-the-boulevards; a brilliant art critic who championed the Post-Impressionists at a time when the Academy dismissed them as irrelevant; editor of several literary magazines; and bomb-throwing anarchist who liked planting incendiary devices in flowerpots on the windowsills of restaurants packed with politicians and diplomats. When put on trial for acts of which he was self-evidently guilty, he charmed his way off the hook, and even had the jury rolling in their chairs (”It is alleged that I was seen talking with the German terrorist Kampfmeyer ‘behind a lamppost?’ But a lamp-post is round…”). Here is the outline of his “psychological novel” The Muzzled Woman : 1st Part: Uh! 2nd Part: Two purplish butterflies alight on Jacqueline’s zygomatic muscle. 3rd Part: Paul's Sa’s bed. 4th Part: The menacing eye of the lewd druggist. Did he actually write it? Of course not. Who needs to when the outline is that good? Later in life, he pioneered the three-line news-haiku, otherwise known as fait divers: It was his turn at nine-pins when a cerebral haemorrhage felled M. André, 75, of Levallois. While his ball was rolling, he ceased to be.

Satin Island by Tom McCarthy is out on 12 March (Vintage)

14 | The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A Caro (1982- Knopf)

Recommended by Mark Lawson:

Most biographers devote a short part of their own life to a long stretch of somebody else’s, but US writer Robert A Caro has achieved more than a 1:1 ratio. President Lyndon Baines Johnson had a 32-year political career, culminating in the White House after JFK’s assassination; and Caro has so far spent four decades describing that CV. Starting work shortly after LBJ’s death in 1973, he published the first volume, The Path to Power , in 1982 and three more have appeared at intervals of roughly a decade, with the concluding fifth book (presidency and post presidency) currently under-way. The cumulative result is the greatest work ever written about the motives, tactics and consequences of elective power. Anyone contemplating taking a position from tennis club treasurer to Mayor of London should read the third book, <Master of the Senate>, a riveting account of beguiling rivals and opponents to do what you want. And, although there had been thousands of accounts of the Kennedy assassination by the time that Caro published The Passage of Power in 2012, his version, told from the viewpoint of Johnson on the floor of the following car, is the most intense and affecting. Caro never denies the vulgarity and corruption that were a part of LBJ but also shows that he did more to shape American society than JFK had. The Deaths by Mark Lawson is out now (Picador)

15 | Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller by Judith Thurman (St Martins, 1995)

Recommended Adam Thirlwell:

So often I’m distrustful of biography as a form, and especially the biographies of writers — all those novels reduced to psychosomatic neuroses! But I love Judith Thurman’s of Isak Dinesen. Now, I understand, Dinesen is not — not any more — the most famous of names. She was the author of the memoir Out of Africa , and a sequence of Gothic tales that’s unlike any other fiction in the 20th century. But then, Dinesen was unlike any other author. She was born into the Danish aristocracy. Her real name was Karen Dinesen; she published fiction in English as Isak Dinesen, then in Danish as Karen Blixen – which is also the name on her tombstone. But she was known in Denmark simply as Baronessen, the Baroness. And you need to read this biography not only for the outré details – like the dinner she once had with Carson McCullers, Arthur Miller, and Marilyn Monroe (Monroe, she said, reminded her of a lion cub) – but for the elegance of Thurman’s composition, which transforms a life into a patterned process. And that, amigos, is what biography should be.

Lurid and Cute by Adam Thirlwell is out now (Cape)

16 | Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys by Viv Albertine (Faber, 2014)

Recommended by Mark Ellen:

This is the most gripping and evocative rock memoir I’ve ever read. It opens like a black and white movie about a broken-home childhood in the late-Fifties, becomes a Grimm’s Fairy Tale of outrageous teenage adventure, then a punk pantomime with her game-changing all-girl band The Slits, then a brutally honest attempt to make sense of marriage, motherhood and middle-age with clothes, music and boys the three irresistible forces that steer her path and fire her imagination. Every split-second is so vivid and powerfully observed: the less than fragrant sex (Pistols, Mick Jones, Johnny Thunders), the head-warping drug episodes, the emotional highs and menstrual miseries of being a girl in a ballet dress playing electric guitar. Here’s a taste, Viv has run away with a friend to Amsterdam and is about to spend the night with a junkie (it’s 1970, she’s 15): “Out of the gloom a double mattress begins to materialise and, lounging on it, languishing behind a veil of smoke from a joint like the caterpillar in Alice In Wonderland , is an angelic boy with long golden ringlets. He looks us over and smiles.” That’s nothing: wait till she’s on tour with The Clash...

Rock Stars Stole My Life!: A Big Bad Love Affair With Music by Mark Ellen is out in paperback on 8 May (Coronet Books)

17 | Ball of Fire by Fred Trueman (Aldine, 1976)

Recommended by Richard Benson:

For a sport that prides itself on its chivalry, fair play and liking for cucumber sandwiches, cricket produces an awful lot of autobiographies with dodgy exposes and anger-management issues. Who can forget, for example, Ian Botham’s Eighties masterpiece Don’t Tell Kath , or Kevin Pietersen’s KP last year? Fred Trueman’s Ball of Fire, written with a ghost writer in 1976, is the snorty king of them all, a spectacular 150-page venting of arrogance, resentment, and Yorkshire chippiness. Trueman, active between 1949 and 1968, was arguably England’s greatest-ever fast bowler, controversial and aggressive. He later enjoyed a successful TV career as presenter and pundit. Ball of Fire features great anecdotes from his cricketing career, several blood-soaked, since this was a man who settled scores by breaking opponents’ jaws with bouncers. But it’s the drama (sample chapter titles: “The Curse of the Truemans”, “The White English Bastard”, “I Could Have Been Skipper!”) and furious showing off (“I bowled faster over a longer period than anyone else on earth”; “Some of those old-timers talked a load of old cock!”) that make it. Reading like a combination of Morrissey and Roy Keane, it’s as good an antidote to bland sports autobiographies as you’ll ever read. The Valley: A Hundred Years in the Life of a Family by Richard Benson is out now (Bloomsbury)

18 | James Joyce by Richard Ellmann (Oxford, 1959)

Recommended by Kevin Maher:

Over 800 pages of clear-cut analysis and no-nonsense insight, this is the book for anyone who’s made it as far as the third chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses , glared at the opening words, “Ineluctable modality of the visible..”, and thought, “You know what? Fuck this!”

Because Ellmann’s biography of Joyce is not just a ten-years-in-the-making masterwork in its own right, described by Anthony Burgess as, “the greatest literary biography of the 20th century.” It is also the great calmative that approaches the work of Joyce without pretension, and makes it entirely comprehensible by simply rooting it back into the life of an affable Irish overachiever who once boasted of Ulysses, “I’ve put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries.”

Highlights here include a high-stakes 1902 face-off between Joyce and the much older (and more famous) WB Yeats in a Dublin café (think Michael Mann’s Heat, but with extra rhetorical flourishes) in which the younger man dismisses his elder as a pompous relic. Or the many wildly intimate letters sent between Joyce and eventual wife Nora Barnacle in which the writer expresses his desire to, in so many words, let her do pee-pee and poo-poo all over him.

But mostly what Ellmann gives you is a gorgeous portrait of an artist who was determined to transform his life into literature. And by documenting that life in dense, breathtaking detail, Ellmann brings the literature alive and, thankfully, finally, takes the enigmas and the puzzles to pieces.

Last Night on Earth by Kevin Maher is out on 2 April (Little, Brown)

19 | Penelope Fitzgerald by Hermione Lee (Chatto & Windus, 2013)

Recommended by Alan Hollinghurst:

Penelope Fitzgerald presents a special kind of problem for a biographer.

Known now as one of the finest English novelists of the Seventies and Eighties, she didn’t publish her first book till she was 59, and her last and greatest, The Blue Flower , until she was nearly 80.

For much of her long and difficult life, she was a genius in waiting, and in her famous old age became something of a tease about her own history. She wrote glancingly about her marriage and career in the novels she produced at first at the rate of one a year, and all fans of her fiction will have longed to know more.

In Hermione Lee she has found the supreme biographer, not only tirelessly interested in every detail of Fitzgerald’s life, but with a profound sense of the imaginative compulsions which produced her utterly original novels.

This is a masterpiece worthy of its subject.

The Stranger’s Child by Alan Hollinghurst is out now (Picador)

In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences by Truman Capote (Random House, 1966)

Recommended by David Vann:

I’ve written a portrait of a school shooter, a mass murderer, so I’m biased, but Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood is still the biography I remember most.

It was in some ways a life-destroying act of empathy, and maybe that’s what biography demands: the erasure of the author. I know that I will never write about another murderer.

He’s become a part of my life, made my view of America and of men much darker, and if I could go back, I would not have written the book. And I wasn’t very good at it. I became impatient, wanted him out of my life, and finished the book quickly after writing the initial article for Esquire in the US.

What Capote did was remain immersed in that dark place for years. He went beyond any safety. And because of that, what we can find in his book is a part of our humanity, a recognition. This is rare.

In Dave Cullen’s bestselling book, Columbine , by contrast, we have the great lie of American heroes overshadowing any willingness to look at ourselves. He spent ten years, but all wasted.

Aquarium by David Vann is out on 5 March (William Heinemann)

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24 best autobiographies you have to read in 2024

Whether you're a long-time lover of non-fiction or you're new to the world of autobiographies, this is our list of the 24 best autobiographies you've got to read in 2024.

• Imogen Hope
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Are you dreaming of a summer holiday? Perhaps you're fantasising of afternoons spent lying on the beach or by the pool — chilly January days just a mere memory... And there's nothing that says holiday quite like a new book.

Autobiographical writing is a skill that is hard to master. Done well, it can give you a behind the scenes peek into the world of your favourite star, or give you an insight into historical events and cultural context that would otherwise be near impossible to understand.

While books can make some of the best gifts for others they also can be a great gift for yourself — especially if you're looking to take a break from the screens that surround us in modern life. We love the experience of going into a bookshop, looking at all the covers and picking out a few new titles. But life can get busy, and it can be tricky to find the time to continue to support your local bookshop. Shopping from a site like Bookshop.org also lets you support independent bookshops from home.

Having said that, reading a physical book isn't the only way to enjoy these amazing stories.

Getting a Kindle can be a great way to carry lots of books round with you if you're travelling, and you can often download books for a much lower cost. Listening to audiobooks is also a great way to stay on top of your reading when you're on the go. Amazon Audible lets you download books onto your phone and listen as you go, and it's also running a 30-day UK free trial right now.

More like this

Here's our list of the best autobiographies that you should read in your lifetime.

Looking for better ways to experience your favourite audiobook? Check out guides to the best wireless earbuds , best AirPod alternatives , and the best smart speakers . For more on audio, take a look at the best DAB radios .

Best autobiographies at a glance:

• Open, Andre Agassi | £10.99
• Everything I Know About Love, Dolly Alderton | £10.99
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou | from £4.99
• Wild Swans, Jung Chang | from £4.49
• The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion | from £6.99
• The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher | £10.99
• The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank | from £9.49
• All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot | from £9.49
• This is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay | from £5.99
• Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela | from £6.99
• I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy | from £11.99
• Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama | £9.99
• Becoming, Michelle Obama | from £7.99
• Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman, Alan Rickman | from £7.50
• Just Kids, Patti Smith | £12.34
• Wild, Cheryl Strayed | £8.99
• Taste, Stanley Tucci | from £1.99
• Educated, Tara Westover | £10.99
• I Am Malala, Malala Yousafzai | from £8.54
• Crying In H Mart, Michelle Zauner | £9.99
• Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew Perry | £20.99
• The Woman in Me, Britney Spears | £12.50
• Love, Pamela, Pamela Anderson | from £10.99
• Finding Me, Viola Davis | from £5.99

Best autobiographies to read in 2024

Open, andre agassi.

Written in 2009, this is the autobiography of the American former World No.1 tennis player, Andre Agassi. Written in collaboration with JR Moehringer from a collection of hundreds of hours of tapes, this memoir gives top insight into the life of a professional sportsperson.

Agassi's was a career of fierce rivalries and it's fascinating to hear these from the perspective of an insider. Like many high-performing careers, in sport children are singled out for their talent at a young age, and Agassi describes the intensity of training for himself and his fellow tennis players in their collective pursuit of excellence.

This book would make a great present for any tennis fan, and gives an interesting insight into the man behind the nickname 'The Punisher'.

Buy Open by Andre Agassi for £10.99 at Waterstones

Everything I Know About Love, Dolly Alderton

Everything I Know About Love follows Times columnist Dolly Alderton through her early life and 20s. It tackles themes of dating, love, friendship as Alderton comes of age and grows into herself. Dispersed with recipes in the style of Nora Ephron's Heartburn, the book gained a cult following since it was published in 2018 and won a National Book Award (UK) for best autobiography of the year.

Alderton's memoir has also now been turned into a BBC TV show which follows a fictionalised version of Alderton and her friends as they navigate life in London.

Buy Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton for £10.99 at Foyles

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is the first of seven autobiographies Angelou wrote about her life. It follows her childhood, beginning when she's just three years old and spanning to when she is 16 — from her time as a child to when she had a child herself. The book follows the young Maya as she and her brother Bailey are moved between family members following the separation of her parents.

Discussing themes of racism, sexual assault and displacement, the expertly crafted narrative is widely taught in schools here and in the US. Written in the aftermath of the death of Martin Luther King Jr in 1968, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings became an instant classic and is a must-read.

Buy I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou from £4.99 at Amazon

Wild Swans, Jung Chang

Slightly different from traditional first person autobiographies, in this book Jung Chang tells the stories of three generations of women in her own family — her grandmother, her mother and herself. At a time when China is becoming increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, this book provides vital context into the 20th century history of the country.

Through the stories of her grandmother who was given to a warlord as a concubine, and her mother who was a young idealist during the rise of Communism, she captures moments of bravery, fear, and ultimately survival.

The book, which is banned in China, has sold more than 13 million copies worldwide and is as beautifully written as it is educationally fascinating.

Buy Wild Swans by Jung Chang from £4.49 at Amazon

The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion

Published in 2005 when it went on to win Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, this book follows Didion in the year after her the death of her husband of nearly 40 years, John Gregory Dunne. In this harrowing depiction of grief, love and loss, Didion turns her personal experience into one that is universally relatable.

Didion and Donne's adopted daughter Quintana fell ill days before his death and was still in hospital when he died. Didion recounts her experience caring for her throughout the book, all while going through her own grief.

While not an easy read, this is an incredibly powerful one.

Buy The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion from £6.99 at Amazon

The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher

This might be an obvious choice for any Star Wars fan, but we think the appeal of this book stretches far beyond just that. Made up of the diaries Fisher wrote when she was 19 years old and first started playing Princess Leia, the book was released shortly before her death in 2016.

Any peak behind the scenes of such a well-known franchise is bound to be popular, and this examines her experience as a young adult thrust into the world of fame and sex. Unlike her deeply person earlier memoir Wishful Drinking, in which Fisher described her struggles with mental illness, The Princess Diarist is full of bombshell revelations and funny punchlines, making for an enjoyable read.

Buy The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher for £10.99 at Foyles

The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank

The title of this book is clever because in so many ways, Anne Frank's diary is just that — the diary of a young girl. But it is also a vital account of history.

Starting on her 13th birthday, Anne writes about her life with her family living in Amsterdam from 1942 to 1944. Alongside other Jews, Anne and her family go into hiding to escape persecution from the Nazis. She deals with all the feeling teenagers experience growing up, but also grapples with her isolation, lack of freedom, and trying to understand what is happening in the world around her.

Important reading for young people and adults alike, Anne's writing brings home the realities of human suffering levelled upon the Jewish people by the Nazis. Anne's father Otto Frank was the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust, and he published his daughter's diary in line with her wishes.

Buy The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank from £9.49 at Bookshop.org

All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot

This book would make a great gift for the animal lover in your life, or any fan of the great outdoors. In it, James Herriot recounts his experiences as a newly qualified vet working in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1930s.

The first in his series of memoirs, All Creatures Great and Small finds Herriot in situations where there are high stakes, and more often than not some hilarity (think escaped pigs!). In the years since their first publication, the books have become classics.

If you want more of All Creatures Great and Small, there is also a TV adaptation to get stuck into.

Buy All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot from £8.54 at Bookshop.org

This is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay

This autobiography follows Adam Kay through his years as a junior doctor specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology and working within the NHS. It will have you crying of laughter and sorrow as the young doctor finds himself helping people from all walks of life, all while his own personal life falls into disarray.

Kay's debut publication was the bestselling non-fiction title of 2018 in the UK and stayed at the top of the charts for weeks.

This is Going to Hurt was adapted into a limited drama series by the BBC earlier this year starring Ben Whishaw, which used elements of the book to explore wider themes around health and the NHS.

Buy This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay from £5.99 at Amazon

Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela

This autobiography hardly needs an introduction. It tells the life story of former South African President and antiapartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela, covering his childhood, education and the 27 years he spent in prison.

Mandela is internationally praised for overcoming enormous persecution and struggle, rebuilding South Africa's society as President. The film adaptation of his autobiography stars Idris Elba as Mandela, and was released shortly after his death.

The Kindle edition and paperback copy of this book starts from just £6.99.

Buy Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela from 99p at Amazon

I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy

Jennette McCurdy's memoir has been one of the most talked about books of 2022. A former child star best know for her role on Nickelodeon's iCarly in the USA, McCurdy's memoir describes her experience growing up in the limelight with an abusive parent.

The book's title has, unsurprisingly, been a big talking point, but it addresses an issue faced by many who write about their life experiences — how do you write about your true experience without damaging your relationships? In this frank and often funny book, McCurdy describes the emotional complexity of receiving abuse from someone you love.

Buy I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy from £11.99 at Amazon

Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama

Published nearly 15 years before he became President of the United States, Barack Obama's first memoir is a deep exploration into identity and belonging. In this book which begins with him learning about his father's death, Obama explores his own relationship with race as the son of a Black Kenyan father and a white American mother.

Written with his recognisable voice, Obama travels back to Kansas where his mother's family is from (they later moved to Hawaii where Obama spent most of his childhood) before making the journey to Kenya.

This makes an interesting read not only to learn more about the background of a man who holds such an important place in America's history, but also in shedding light on how we all relate to our own parentage and what makes us who we are.

Buy Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama for £9.99 at Waterstones

Becoming, Michelle Obama

America's former First Lady Michelle Obama recounts experiences of her life in this record breaking autobiography, from growing up on the south side of Chicago with her parents and brother, to attending Princeton University and Harvard Law School before returning to Chicago as a qualified lawyer. It was whilst working at a law firm in the city that she met her husband Barack Obama.

Obama uses her elegant story telling to take us along on the incredible journey she went on, as an accomplished lawyer, daughter, wife and mother to becoming First Lady. This is an autobiography that lets you see history from the insider's perspective and is definitely a must read.

Buy Becoming by Michelle Obama from £7.99 at Amazon

Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman, Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman was much loved for his roles in fan favourite films, such as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series. This collection of diary entries, written with the intention of being made public and published after his death, give his witty insights into his day-to-day life but also his take on world events.

The book is filled not only with delightful showbiz gossip, but also with snippets of hidden moments — from his disbelief and grief at the sudden death of actor and friend Natasha Richardson, to the relief he feels that the costume for Severus Snape still fits.

Buy Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman by Alan Rickman from £7.79 at Amazon

Just Kids, Patti Smith

On its release in 2010, Patti Smith's memoir won the US National Book Award for Nonfiction. In many ways it is a love letter to her life long friend, the artist Robert Mapplethorpe. In Just Kids, she recounts their meeting, romance and how they continued to inspire and encourage each other in their artistic pursuits for the rest of their lives.

This story which so vividly depicts life is, however, overshadowed by Mapplethorpe's death. Read for a vivid description of the New York art scene in the late '60s.

Buy Just Kids by Patti Smith for £12.34 at Bookshop.org

Wild, Cheryl Strayed

In this autobiography, Cheryl Strayed writes about hiking the Pacific Coast Trail, from the Mojave Desert in California to Washington State in the Pacific North West. In total, Strayed walks over a thousand miles on her own and in the process, she walked back to herself.

This memoir is beautifully written, moving between stories from the trail to those about Strayed's childhood, her struggles with heroin use and the sudden death of her mother — the main motivation for her walk. Full of suspense, warmth and humour, this book will make you think about your life and your family, and probably make you want to go on a walk.

Wild was adapted into a film in 2014, produced by and starring Reese Witherspoon.

Buy Wild by Cheryl Strayed for £8.99 at Waterstones

Taste, Stanley Tucci

Stanley Tucci has long been beloved for his nuanced and charming acting performances, but in the last few years has gained popularity for his true love — food. Between his CNN series Searching for Italy making us all cross eyed with food envy, and his cookbook The Tucci Table written with wife Felicity Blunt, there's no getting away from the fact that Stanley Tucci is giving Italian food an even better name than it had already.

But there's a good reason for Tucci's renewed love of food and his devotion to these passion projects. He was diagnosed with oral cancer in 2018 which left him unable to eat for several months, and even after he was able to eat again, his sense of taste was changed. In this memoir, he recounts his early relationship with food in his grandparent's kitchen and at his parent's table, and how his relationship with food has shaped all the loves of his life.

We recommend having a bowl of pasta in front of you while you read this!

Buy Taste by Stanley Tucci from £6.99 at Amazon

Calling all bookworms, take a look at the best Kindle deals and the best Audible deals for this month.

Educated, Tara Westover

This is a frankly astonishing memoir in which Tara Westover recounts how she came from a Mormon fundamentalist background without a birth certificate or any schooling, and ended up studying for her PhD at the University of Cambridge.

Westover gives readers a peak behind the curtain into the lifestyle of a group who do everything they can to stay away from the outside world. She recounts the experience of herself and her siblings as they grew up in an environment where they were often injured and didn't have access to medical help.

The juxtaposition of loving her family and yet needing to escape is acutely described, and she writes so cleverly about the complex subject matter, often admitting that her version of events may not be the correct one. Westover expertly uses her own story to examine themes of religion, love and above all education - and we promise you won't be able to put it down.

Buy Educated by Tara Westover for £10.99 at Foyles

I Am Malala, Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai's story is undeniably an incredible one. After the Taliban took over in Swat Valley in Pakistan where she was born, Yousafzai was prevented from going to school. Despite being just a child herself, she became outspoken on girls' right to learn and in 2012, she was shot in the head by a masked gunman while on the bus to school.

After the attack Yousafzai moved to the UK with her family. In this autobiography, she describes the importance of female education, starting the Malala Fund, and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. This book will leave you inspired.

Buy I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai from £8.54 at Bookshop.org

Crying In H Mart, Michelle Zauner

Michelle Zauner is an Asian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist best known as lead of the band Japanese Breakfast. In this memoir, Zauner explores her relationship with her Korean heritage and how her mother's death forced her to reckon with the side of herself she had all but lost.

At the heart of this book about love, loss and grief is food. It acts as a constant dialogue between Zauner and her mother, as well as an enduring connection with her Korean heritage. This makes for a highly emotional and thought-provoking read.

Buy Crying In H Mart by Michelle Zauner for £9.99 at Waterstones

Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew Perry

Last year, we were saddened by the news that Friends actor Matthew Perry had sadly passed away, his autobiography, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing had become a bestseller the year before.

In Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry takes the reader behind the scenes of the most successful sitcom of all time (Friends), and he opens up about his private struggles with addiction. The book is honest and moving, with plenty of Perry's trademark humour, too.

Buy Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry for £20.99 at Waterstones

The Woman in Me, Britney Spears

If the reviews of Britney Spears's autobiography are anything to go by — "The easiest 5 stars I've given" — The Woman in Me is sure to be a hit with Spears fans.

For the first time in a book, Spears is sharing her truth with the world: The Woman in Me tackles themes of fame, motherhood, survival and freedom, and Spears doesn't shy away from speaking about her journey as one of the world's biggest pop stars.

Buy The Woman in Me by Britney Spears for £12.50 at Waterstones

Love, Pamela, Pamela Anderson

We might think we know Pamela Anderson as the bombshell in Baywatch, Playboy's favourite cover girl, and, more recently, making makeup-free appearances on red carpets – looking beautiful as she does so; she's an icon and an activist, and now we can read all about her in her own words for the first time.

Anderson uses a mixture of poetry and prose to speak about her childhood, career, and how she lost control of her own narrative.

Buy Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson from £10.99 at Amazon

Finding Me, Viola Davis

Naturally, we're big Viola Davis fans over on RadioTimes.com — we've loved her in everything from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes to The Woman King and The Help, so her autobiography Finding Me is right up our street.

In this book, we meet Davis when she's a little girl in an apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, and we journey with her to her stage career in New York City and beyond.

Buy Finding Me by Viola Davis from £5.99 at Amazon

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Blog • Perfecting your Craft

Posted on Jun 30, 2023

How to Write a Biography: A 7-Step Guide [+Template]

About the author.

Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.

About Dario Villirilli

Editor-in-Chief of the Reedsy blog, Dario is a graduate of Mälardalen University. As a freelance writer, he has written for many esteemed outlets aimed at writers. A traveler at heart, he can be found roaming the world and working from his laptop.

From time to time, nonfiction authors become so captivated by a particular figure from either the present or the past, that they feel compelled to write an entire book about their life. Whether casting them as heroes or villains, there is an interesting quality in their humanity that compels these authors to revisit their life paths and write their story.

However, portraying someone’s life on paper in a comprehensive and engaging way requires solid preparation. If you’re looking to write a biography yourself, in this post we’ll share a step-by-step blueprint that you can follow. 

How to write a biography: 

1. Seek permission when possible 

2. research your subject thoroughly, 3. do interviews and visit locations, 4. organize your findings, 5. identify a central thesis, 6. write it using narrative elements, 7. get feedback and polish the text.

FREE RESOURCE

Biography Outline Template

Craft a satisfying story arc for your biography with our free template.

While you technically don’t need permission to write about public figures (or deceased ones), that doesn't guarantee their legal team won't pursue legal action against you. Author Kitty Kelley was sued by Frank Sinatra before she even started to write His Way , a biography that paints Ol Blue Eyes in a controversial light. (Kelley ended up winning the lawsuit, however).  

Whenever feasible, advise the subject’s representatives of your intentions. If all goes according to plan, you’ll get a green light to proceed, or potentially an offer to collaborate. It's a matter of common sense; if someone were to write a book about you, you would likely want to know about it well prior to publication. So, make a sincere effort to reach out to their PR staff to negotiate an agreement or at least a mutual understanding of the scope of your project. 

At the same time, make sure that you still retain editorial control over the project, and not end up writing a puff piece that treats its protagonist like a saint or hero. No biography can ever be entirely objective, but you should always strive for a portrayal that closely aligns with facts and reality.

If you can’t get an answer from your subject, or you’re asked not to proceed forward, you can still accept the potential repercussions and write an unauthorized biography . The “rebellious act” of publishing without consent indeed makes for great marketing, though it’ll likely bring more headaches with it too. 

✋ Please note that, like other nonfiction books, if you intend to release your biography with a publishing house , you can put together a book proposal to send to them before you even write the book. If they like it enough, they might pay you an advance to write it.  

Book Proposal Template

Craft a professional pitch for your nonfiction book with our handy template.

Once you’ve settled (or not) the permission part, it’s time to dive deep into your character’s story.  

Deep and thorough research skills are the cornerstone of every biographer worth their salt. To paint a vivid and accurate portrait of someone's life, you’ll have to gather qualitative information from a wide range of reliable sources. 

Start with the information already available, from books on your subject to archival documents, then collect new ones firsthand by interviewing people or traveling to locations. 

Browse the web and library archives

Put your researcher hat on and start consuming any piece on your subject you can find, from their Wikipedia page to news articles, interviews, TV and radio appearances, YouTube videos, podcasts, books, magazines, and any other media outlets they may have been featured in. 

Establish a system to orderly collect the information you find 一 even seemingly insignificant details can prove valuable during the writing process, so be sure to save them. 

Depending on their era, you may find most of the information readily available online, or you may need to search through university libraries for older references. 

For his landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow spent untold hours at Columbia University’s library , reading through the Hamilton family papers, visiting the New York Historical Society, as well as interviewing the archivist of the New York Stock Exchange, and so on. The research process took years, but it certainly paid off. Chernow discovered that Hamilton created the first five securities originally traded on Wall Street. This finding, among others, revealed his significant contributions to shaping the current American financial and political systems, a legacy previously often overshadowed by other founding fathers. Today Alexander Hamilton is one of the best-selling biographies of all time, and it has become a cultural phenomenon with its own dedicated musical. 

Besides reading documents about your subject, research can help you understand the world that your subject lived in. 

Try to understand their time and social environment

Many biographies show how their protagonists have had a profound impact on society through their philosophical, artistic, or scientific contributions. But at the same time, it’s worth it as a biographer to make an effort to understand how their societal and historical context influenced their life’s path and work.

An interesting example is Stephen Greenblatt’s Will in the World . Finding himself limited by a lack of verified detail surrounding William Shakespeare's personal life, Greenblatt, instead, employs literary interpretation and imaginative reenactments to transport readers back to the Elizabethan era. The result is a vivid (though speculative) depiction of the playwright's life, enriching our understanding of his world.

Many readers enjoy biographies that transport them to a time and place, so exploring a historical period through the lens of a character can be entertaining in its own right. The Diary of Samuel Pepys became a classic not because people were enthralled by his life as an administrator, but rather from his meticulous and vivid documentation of everyday existence during the Restoration period.

Once you’ve gotten your hands on as many secondary sources as you can find, you’ll want to go hunting for stories first-hand from people who are (or were) close to your subject.

With all the material you’ve been through, by now you should already have a pretty good picture of your protagonist. But you’ll surely have some curiosities and missing dots in their character development to figure out, which you can only get by interviewing primary sources.

Interview friends and associates

This part is more relevant if your subject is contemporary, and you can actually meet up or call with relatives, friends, colleagues, business partners, neighbors, or any other person related to them. 

In writing the popular biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson interviewed more than one hundred people, including Jobs’s family, colleagues, former college mates, business rivals, and the man himself.

🔍 Read other biographies to get a sense of what makes a great one. Check out our list of the 30 best biographies of all time , or take our 30-second quiz below for tips on which one you should read next. 

Which biography should you read next?

Discover the perfect biography for you. Takes 30 seconds!

When you conduct your interviews, make sure to record them with high quality audio you can revisit later. Then use tools like Otter.ai or Descript to transcribe them 一 it’ll save you countless hours. 

You can approach the interview with a specific set of questions, or follow your curiosity blindly, trying to uncover revealing stories and anecdotes about your subject. Whatever your method, author and biography editor Tom Bromley suggests that every interviewer arrives prepared, "Show that you’ve done your work. This will help to put the interviewee at ease, and get their best answers.” 

Bromley also places emphasis on the order in which you conduct interviews. “You may want to interview different members of the family or friends first, to get their perspective on something, and then go directly to the main interviewee. You'll be able to use that knowledge to ask sharper, more specific questions.” 

Finally, consider how much time you have with each interviewee. If you only have a 30-minute phone call with an important person, make it count by asking directly the most pressing questions you have. And, if you find a reliable source who is also particularly willing to help, conduct several interviews and ask them, if appropriate, to write a foreword as part of the book’s front matter .

Sometimes an important part of the process is packing your bags, getting on a plane, and personally visiting significant places in your character’s journey.

Visit significant places in their life

A place, whether that’s a city, a rural house, or a bodhi tree, can carry a particular energy that you can only truly experience by being there. In putting the pieces together about someone’s life, it may be useful to go visit where they grew up, or where other significant events of their lives happened. It will be easier to imagine what they experienced, and better tell their story. 

In researching The Lost City of Z , author David Grann embarked on a trek through the Amazon, retracing the steps of British explorer Percy Fawcett. This led Grann to develop new theories about the circumstances surrounding the explorer's disappearance.

Hopefully, you won’t have to deal with jaguars and anacondas to better understand your subject’s environment, but try to walk into their shoes as much as possible. 

Once you’ve researched your character enough, it’s time to put together all the puzzle pieces you collected so far. 

Take the bulk of notes, media, and other documents you’ve collected, and start to give them some order and structure. A simple way to do this is by creating a timeline. 

Create a chronological timeline

It helps to organize your notes chronologically 一 from childhood to the senior years, line up the most significant events of your subject’s life, including dates, places, names and other relevant bits. 

You should be able to divide their life into distinct periods, each with their unique events and significance. Based on that, you can start drafting an outline of the narrative you want to create.  

Draft a story outline 

Since a biography entails writing about a person’s entire life, it will have a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can pick where you want to end the story, depending on how consequential the last years of your subject were. But the nature of the work will give you a starting character arc to work with. 

To outline the story then, you could turn to the popular Three-Act Structure , which divides the narrative in three main parts. In a nutshell, you’ll want to make sure to have the following:

• Act 1. Setup : Introduce the protagonist's background and the turning points that set them on a path to achieve a goal. 
• Act 2. Confrontation : Describe the challenges they encounter, both internal and external, and how they rise to them. Then..
• Act 3. Resolution : Reach a climactic point in their story in which they succeed (or fail), showing how they (and the world around them) have changed as a result. 

Only one question remains before you begin writing: what will be the main focus of your biography?

Think about why you’re so drawn to your subject to dedicate years of your life to recounting their own. What aspect of their life do you want to highlight? Is it their evil nature, artistic genius, or visionary mindset? And what evidence have you got to back that up? Find a central thesis or focus to weave as the main thread throughout your narrative. 

Or find a unique angle

If you don’t have a particular theme to explore, finding a distinct angle on your subject’s story can also help you distinguish your work from other biographies or existing works on the same subject.

Plenty of biographies have been published about The Beatles 一 many of which have different focuses and approaches: 

• Philip Norman's Shout is sometimes regarded as leaning more towards a pro-Lennon and anti-McCartney stance, offering insights into the band's inner dynamics. 
• Ian McDonald's Revolution in the Head closely examines their music track by track, shifting the focus back to McCartney as a primary creative force. 
• Craig Brown's One Two Three Four aims to capture their story through anecdotes, fan letters, diary entries, and interviews. 
• Mark Lewisohn's monumental three-volume biography, Tune In , stands as a testament to over a decade of meticulous research, chronicling every intricate detail of the Beatles' journey.

Finally, consider that biographies are often more than recounting the life of a person. Similar to how Dickens’ Great Expectations is not solely about a boy named Pip (but an examination and critique of Britain’s fickle, unforgiving class system), a biography should strive to illuminate a broader truth — be it social, political, or human — beyond the immediate subject of the book. 

Once you’ve identified your main focus or angle, it’s time to write a great story. 

While biographies are often highly informative, they do not have to be dry and purely expository in nature . You can play with storytelling elements to make it an engaging read. 

You could do that by thoroughly detailing the setting of the story , depicting the people involved in the story as fully-fledged characters , or using rising action and building to a climax when describing a particularly significant milestone of the subject’s life. 

One common way to make a biography interesting to read is starting on a strong foot…

Hook the reader from the start

Just because you're honoring your character's whole life doesn't mean you have to begin when they said their first word. Starting from the middle or end of their life can be more captivating as it introduces conflicts and stakes that shaped their journey.

When he wrote about Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild , author Jon Krakauer didn’t open his subject’s childhood and abusive family environment. Instead, the book begins with McCandless hitchhiking his way into the wilderness, and subsequently being discovered dead in an abandoned bus. By starting in the middle of the action  in medias res, Krakauer hooks the reader’s interest, before tracing back the causes and motivations that led McCandless to die alone in that bus in the first place.

You can bend the timeline to improve the reader’s reading experience throughout the rest of the story too…

Play with flashback 

While biographies tend to follow a chronological narrative, you can use flashbacks to tell brief stories or anecdotes when appropriate. For example, if you were telling the story of footballer Lionel Messi, before the climax of winning the World Cup with Argentina, you could recall when he was just 13 years old, giving an interview to a local newspaper, expressing his lifelong dream of playing for the national team. 

Used sparsely and intentionally, flashbacks can add more context to the story and keep the narrative interesting. Just like including dialogue does…

Reimagine conversations

Recreating conversations that your subject had with people around them is another effective way to color the story. Dialogue helps the reader imagine the story like a movie, providing a deeper sensory experience. 

One thing is trying to articulate the root of Steve Jobs’ obsession with product design, another would be to quote his father , teaching him how to build a fence when he was young: “You've got to make the back of the fence just as good looking as the front of the fence. Even though nobody will see it, you will know. And that will show that you're dedicated to making something perfect.”

Unlike memoirs and autobiographies, in which the author tells the story from their personal viewpoint and enjoys greater freedom to recall conversations, biographies require a commitment to facts. So, when recreating dialogue, try to quote directly from reliable sources like personal diaries, emails, and text messages. You could also use your interview scripts as an alternative to dialogue. As Tom Bromley suggests, “If you talk with a good amount of people, you can try to tell the story from their perspective, interweaving different segments and quoting the interviewees directly.”

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These are just some of the story elements you can use to make your biography more compelling. Once you’ve finished your manuscript, it’s a good idea to ask for feedback. 

If you’re going to publish your own  biography, you’ll have to polish it to professional standards. After leaving your work to rest for a while, look at it with fresh eyes and edit your own manuscript eliminating passive voice, filler words, and redundant adverbs. 

Then, have a professional editor give you a general assessment. They’ll look at the structure and shape of your manuscript and tell you which parts need to be expanded on or cut. As someone who edited and commissioned several biographies, Tom Bromley points out that a professional “will look at the sources used and assess whether they back up the points made, or if more are needed. They would also look for context, and whether or not more background information is needed for the reader to understand the story fully. And they might check your facts, too.”  

In addition to structural editing, you may want to have someone copy-edit and proofread your work.

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Importantly, make sure to include a bibliography with a list of all the interviews, documents, and sources used in the writing process. You’ll have to compile it according to a manual of style, but you can easily create one by using tools like EasyBib . Once the text is nicely polished and typeset in your writing applications , you can prepare for the publication process.  

In conclusion, by mixing storytelling elements with diligent research, you’ll be able to breathe life into a powerful biography that immerses readers in another individual’s life experience. Whether that’ll spark inspiration or controversy, remember you could have an important role in shaping their legacy 一 and that’s something not to take lightly. 

Continue reading

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Hey there, looking to get started on your autobiography but stuck on what to call it? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back! Choosing the perfect name for your life story can be tough, but it’s also a fun and important decision. So, grab a cup of coffee and get ready to brainstorm some awesome autobiography name ideas!

Table of Contents

Choosing a memorable autobiography name, reflecting your personal journey in the title, incorporating key themes and milestones, using humor or wit to engage readers, seeking feedback and suggestions from others, in conclusion.

When it comes to choosing a memorable name for your autobiography, there are a few things to consider. The title of your life story should be captivating, intriguing, and reflective of the journey you’ve been through. It’s the first thing people will see when they come across your book, so it’s important to make it memorable.

One approach to creating an autobiography name is to brainstorm keywords or phrases that encapsulate the essence of your story. Think about the major themes, events, or turning points in your life, and try to distill them into a few impactful words. Consider using **metaphors or symbolism** to convey deeper meanings and emotions. It’s also helpful to evoke a sense of curiosity or mystery with the title, sparking interest in potential readers.

Another strategy is to draw inspiration from literature, poetry, or famous quotes that resonate with your life experiences. **Quoting a meaningful line** from a favorite book or poem can add a layer of depth and resonance to your autobiography title. Additionally, incorporating personal mottos or mantras that have guided you through life can lend authenticity and significance to the name of your book.

For **creativity and impact**, consider experimenting with wordplay, alliteration, or unconventional phrasing. A catchy, unique title can make your autobiography stand out and pique curiosity. Remember to also consider the marketability and resonance of the title, as it will play a major role in attracting potential readers. By taking the time to consider these factors, you can create a memorable autobiography name that truly captures the essence of your life story.

Are you ready to share your personal journey with the world? Choosing the perfect title for your autobiography is crucial in capturing the essence of your story. Your title should reflect the unique experiences, challenges, and triumphs that have shaped you into the person you are today. Here are some tips and ideas for creating an impactful and meaningful title that truly represents your personal journey:

### Tips for When brainstorming ideas for your autobiography title, consider the following tips to ensure it resonates with your readers:

– **Think about the central theme**: What is the main message or theme of your life story? Is it resilience, love, overcoming adversity, or personal growth? – **Use imagery**: Incorporate vivid imagery that reflects key moments or symbols from your life that have had a significant impact on your journey. – **Highlight your unique perspective**: What sets your story apart from others? Emphasize what makes your experiences and insights distinctive and valuable.

### Autobiography Title Ideas Here are some creative and inspiring title ideas to spark your imagination and help you craft the perfect name for your autobiography:

| Title Ideas | Description | |—————————-|————————————————–| | Unbreakable Spirit | A powerful and evocative title reflecting resilience and strength. | | From Struggle to Strength | Capture the essence of overcoming obstacles and personal growth. | | In My Own Words | Emphasize the personal and intimate nature of your story. | | The Road Less Traveled | Highlight the unique and unconventional path of your journey. |

Find a title that resonates with you and captures the heart of your personal narrative. Taking the time to reflect and choose the perfect name for your autobiography will ensure that your story is told in a compelling and authentic way.

When it comes to choosing a name for your autobiography, it’s important to incorporate key themes and milestones from your life. These elements help to tell your unique story and make your book memorable to readers. Whether you’re focusing on a specific event, a personal journey, or an overarching theme, the title of your autobiography should encapsulate the essence of your life story.

One approach to brainstorming autobiography name ideas is to reflect on significant milestones and themes in your life. Consider the following prompts to help spark inspiration for your autobiography title: – What are the defining moments or turning points in your life? – What themes or patterns have been recurring throughout your journey? – What unique experiences or challenges have shaped your perspective and identity?

By incorporating these key themes and milestones into your autobiography title, you can create a compelling and meaningful representation of your life story. Remember to choose a title that resonates with you and accurately captures the essence of your unique narrative. Embrace creativity and authenticity as you explore different autobiography name ideas that reflect the depth and richness of your personal journey.

When it comes to choosing a name for your autobiography, it’s essential to create a title that is engaging, memorable, and reflective of your personality and experiences. One way to capture readers’ attention is to use humor or wit in your autobiography title. Incorporating humor into the title can make it more relatable and appealing to a wider audience, while adding wit can add a clever and thought-provoking element.

Here are some ideas for autobiography names that use humor or wit to engage readers:

• “Laughing Through the Tears: My Life Story” – This title combines humor and emotion, drawing readers in with the promise of both lighthearted moments and poignant reflections.
• “The Chronicles of Awkwardness: A Memoir” – Using humor to acknowledge the inherent awkwardness of life can resonate with readers who can relate to the challenges and humorous moments that come with navigating through life.
• “Sarcastic and Sassy: My Journey to Self-Discovery” – This title employs wit and humor to convey a bold and confident narrative, appealing to readers who appreciate a sharp sense of humor.

Are you in the process of writing your autobiography and in need of a catchy and captivating name? Naming your autobiography is a crucial step in the publishing process. A well-thought-out title can pique the interest of potential readers and encapsulate the essence of your life story. If you’re currently brainstorming autobiography name ideas, we’re here to help.

can provide valuable insights and fresh perspectives that you may not have considered. It’s always beneficial to gather input from a diverse group of people to ensure that your autobiography name resonates with a wide audience. Whether you’re a first-time author or a seasoned writer, feedback from others can make a significant impact on the success of your book. Here are some suggestions for soliciting feedback and suggestions for your autobiography name:

– Reach out to friends, family, and colleagues who know you well – Join writing groups or forums and participate in discussions about autobiography titles – Utilize social media platforms to conduct polls and gather opinions from a broader audience – Attend book clubs or literary events to engage with avid readers and gather feedback By , you can gain valuable insights that will help you choose a compelling and memorable name for your autobiography. Your book deserves a title that truly captures the essence of your life story, and the input of others can help you achieve that goal. So, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for feedback – the perfect autobiography name may be just a suggestion away.

Q: I’m struggling to come up with a catchy title for my autobiography. Any tips? A: Yes, think about the main theme or message of your autobiography and try to capture that in a few words.

Q: Can I use a quote as the title of my autobiography? A: Of course! A meaningful quote can make a great title for your autobiography and give it a personal touch.

Q: How long should my autobiography title be? A: It should be relatively short and punchy, ideally no more than a few words or a brief phrase.

Q: What if I can’t think of anything good? A: Don’t stress too much about it – sometimes a simple, straightforward title can be just as effective as a clever or creative one.

Q: Should I include my name in the title? A: It’s up to you! Including your name can make the autobiography feel more personal, but it’s not necessary.

Q: Can I ask friends and family for title ideas? A: Absolutely! Getting input from others can help you brainstorm and come up with something that truly resonates with you.

Q: Are there any common themes or phrases used in autobiography titles? A: Yes, many autobiographies use phrases like “My Story” or “Life and Times of [Name]” but feel free to get creative and come up with something unique to you.

So if you’re considering writing your own autobiography, choosing the perfect title is an important first step. Whether you decide to go with a catchy phrase or a meaningful quote, make sure it reflects the essence of your life story. Hopefully, the ideas we’ve shared here have sparked some inspiration for your own memoir title. Happy writing!

The Inspiring Legacy of Kross Ermias Asghedom: A Story of Resilience and Hope

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Biography (1987) subtitles

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Directed by: Agnes Nixon

Writer credits: Agnes Nixon

Cast: Jack Perkins - Peter Graves - Harry Smith

AKA: Biography, Biografía

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