That's what Emanuel Haldeman-Julius said about changing the
title of a book to increase sales. And he should know, he's
the guy who single-handedly sold more than 100,000,000
"little blue books" during the first part of the 20th
century (Yes, I said 100 million copies).
His book entitled "The First Hundred Million" gives a rare
glimpse into how to use certain tested title words to
increase your sales. In fact, his book is one of the most
scientific studies of what a title change can do for your
sales.
The most remarkable thing is that Haldeman-Julius simply
advertised his books by title alone. There was no selling
copy, only the title of the book. That's it.
So before you decide on any haphazard title for your next
ebook, manual, ezine article or free report, you might want
to take advice from this savvy marketer.
Haldeman-Julius had a policy in his business - if a title
didn't sell over 10,000 copies a year it was sent to a
place in his office called "The Hospital". Inside the
Hospital he went to work coming up with a new title for the
poorly selling book and re-releasing it. If the revised
title didn't sell, the book went into the 'morgue".
He tells about a book originally being titled "The Art of
Controversy" which never really sold until it was changed
to "How to Argue Logically" and then it leapt up to 30,000
copies. The amazing thing is that nothing else was changed
inside the book, just the title.
And from this "in the trenches" research, Haldeman-Julius
discovered certain title words that could increase the
sales of almost any book when applied. For instance the
words "The Truth About" increased sales for one book
starting its publishing life as "Patent Medicine". This
book by Dr. Arthur Cramp only sold 3,000 copies in 1925 but
when the title was changed to "The Truth About Patent
Medicine" it rose up to a respectable 10,000 copies.
Therefore the words "The Truth About" are magical.
Next, he found the words "Life" and "Love" to work well.
Followed by the worn, but still very powerful phrase "How
To". Books with "How To" in the title were almost always
placed at the top of his sales list. Take for example, the
title "How to Psycho-Analyze Yourself" sold 43,000 copies
while a similar title "Psycho-Analysis Explained" sold
5,000 less copies. And the title "How I Psycho-Analyzed
Myself" managed to attract only 13,500 buyers.
What's more, Haldeman-Julius discovered the public was (and
still is) clamoring for facts. So the words "The Facts You
Should Know" proved a big winner.
So how can you apply this information?
Easy! The way you should use this wisdom from the ages is
by applying it to titles, ebooks, ezine articles, free
reports and your headlines. For instance, if I was a
cosmetic surgeon I'd give out free ebooks like this: "The
Facts You Should Know About Liposuction" or "The Truth
About Laser Hair Removal" or "How To Erase The Years With
Laser Resurfacing". Each of these could almost be a
headline by themselves. That's what you want to strive for
because that's what people want!
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Yanik Silver is recognized as the leading expert on
creating automatic, moneymaking websites...and he still
doesn't know how to put up a website.
He is the author, co-author or publisher of several best-
selling online marketing books and tools, which can be
found at http://www.SurefireMarketing.com
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