# An experiment - Name my book



## David Gordon Burke (May 23, 2015)

This is going to be a long post so bear with me cause there may be some stuff in here that could be useful to the self publishing Indie author working on the Amazon platform.

Here is the deal - I have figured out that a big part of the sucess of any given book on Amazon begins with the title.  

How do I know this?  Research.  The first and most important issue where sales are conserned at Amazon is the placement of the book - ie  the book's ranking in the Amazon search engine.

This is largely a three part process - the title, the keywords and the book description.  In the world of non-fiction. the placement of keywords that describe the book is easy.  Not so much with a novel.  

However. there are cheats.  Amazon allows for a secondary title.
The earlier in the title you add your keyword. the better. 

If you have any doubt what a keyword is, slide over to my blog and look for the post about the 4 Ps of selling on Amazon.

So here is where I am going to enlist the help of anyone who wishes to participate in the experiment.  Name my book.

It is the story of a Horse called Indio.  
I had  originally thought of that name - A Horse Named Indio.  
The story is of a tenage girl who dreams of being a jockey at the only racetrack in Mexico. despite the machismo in the sport,  There will only be one race in the book so it is not a Seabiscuit copy.  

The story revolves a fight for ownership of the horse plus a bunch of current affairs in Mexico wrapped up in political intrigue. crime. corruption and finally a horse race that ends with a political career in ruins.  Simple stuff really.  

Your assignment (if you choose to accept it) is to help craft a title for the book that includes the most popular5 key words.  

Horse novel, Horse book, horse story, horse fiction etc.  I  will post more keywords as I go (depending on the interest.)

An Example>

A Horse Named Indio - A Mexican Horse story
A Modern Horse Fiction mystery

Something like that.

Any suggestions?

David Gordon Burke


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## Schrody (May 23, 2015)

I wish I could be more helpful, David, but I'm afraid I'm pretty bad at giving titles; either I have them in a second, or I struggle until the very end. The only thing that came to my mind is "A horse that run". Maybe you can play with the derivations and find a good title. Sorry I haven't been more helpful.


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## Sonata (May 23, 2015)

The Horse That Only Raced Once


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## Riis Marshall (May 23, 2015)

Hello David

I don't suppose _Moby Horse_ would do.

Sorry about that; I just couldn't resist.

Tricky business: titles. You're absolutely right to work hard to try to get it right.

You might try what I call 'solo brainstorming'. Pick up your pad or open a blank screen and just start  putting them down, one after another, without thinking about whether they might work or not. Don't evaluate them, just get them out of your head. Call it free association or stream of consciousness or whatever. You might be surprised what turns up when you've listed 100 or so.

All the best in your search.

Warmest regards
Riis


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## stevesh (May 23, 2015)

I'd like to play, but you're kind of tying our hands by insisting that the 'keywords' be included. Are you sure that's essential? There was a book titled _50 Shades of Grey_ that I believe sold a copy or two without any hint of the nature of the content in the title.


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## David Gordon Burke (May 23, 2015)

stevesh said:


> I'd like to play, but you're kind of tying our hands by insisting that the 'keywords' be included. Are you sure that's essential? There was a book titled _50 Shades of Grey_ that I believe sold a copy or two without any hint of the nature of the content in the title.



Wouldn´t you consider 50 shades a bit of an anomaly? I just redid all the keywords for my books and I saw them rise in the ranking in one day. Still tweaking the key words to try to up them some more.

Am I sure it´s essential?  That is the essence of the experiment - to find out if one can plan the placement from the beginning of the project.  One can plan for this in a non-fiction setting ---- why not in a fiction setting.  

David Gordon Burke


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## TKent (May 23, 2015)

Is this fiction or non-fiction?  Everything I've read about the importance of a good title for fiction vs. non-fiction give different guidelines. I have definitely read some books by self-published authors who have had great success naming their non-fiction books in a way that takes advantage of this.

But I don't see this applying to fiction. I'm looking for creativity in fiction, not information on a particular subject. So it would actually be off-putting to me personally to have a title that chosen in this way.

Of course, that is just my opinion. 

Say what you will about Fifty Shades, it is one of my favorite titles out there!


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## Riis Marshall (May 23, 2015)

Hello Folks

The title that grabs me for its triple whammy is Robert Harris' _The Ghost_. Seriously imaginative thinking.

All the best with your search.

Warmest regards
Riis


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## Bloggsworth (May 23, 2015)

* The Mexican Jockey*
*Extortion, Drugs, Murder and a horse called Indio.*




I think there should be sufficient buzz-words in that!


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## David Gordon Burke (May 25, 2015)

Bloggsworth said:


> * The Mexican Jockey*
> *Extortion, Drugs, Murder and a horse called Indio.*
> 
> I think there should be sufficient buzz-words in that!


Thanks.  Not exactly what I´m looking for but it does get my imagination going in other directions.

As for some other previously mentioned points - The Amazon search engine does not distinguish between different kinds of books .... it works the same way for all books.  If one were to take advantage of their knowledge of the inner working of the engine, regardless of the style of book (fiction or non-fiction)  then their chances of being seen would likely increase.  

As for success vs. creativity - I can sacrifice a bit of creativity if it means being read.  An easy decision.
This process has already worked for my non-fiction.  It´s a lot harder to work out for the fiction stuff ..... the keywords are more elusive.  Still tweaking it.  

David Gordon Burke


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## PiP (May 25, 2015)

The horse of dreams


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## Gillmanjoe (May 28, 2015)

a girl, a horse, and a dream


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## ismith (May 28, 2015)

Indigo Hope


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## Phil Istine (May 29, 2015)

Horse Whispers (a play on "hoarse")

or maybe

Stalking Horse.
As your book involves political intrigue; "stalking horse" is a term in UK politics where a no hoper challenges for the party leadership to test the will for change. A no hoper is used as it can be career damaging if the challenger is unsuccessful.  They will only usually make the challenge once.

Maybe "Horses for Courses"


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## Riis Marshall (Jun 1, 2015)

Hello David

Although the marketeers tell us keywords are important, I'm not so sure.

Every hear of an outfit called 'Amazon'? What the heck kind of keyword is that and what's it have to do with selling books - or any of the other stuff they sell now?

About the only pattern I see is with the naming of thrillers and crime stories, mostly because that's what I write. They usually include some play on 'murder', 'death', 'die', 'kill', etc. in their titles. Even here there are writers who have sold loads of books without using any of these keywords.

All the best with your writing.

Warmest regards
Riis


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## David Gordon Burke (Jun 1, 2015)

Riis Marshall said:


> Hello David
> 
> Although the marketeers tell us keywords are important, I'm not so sure.
> 
> ...



The issue here is largely a combination of the Keywords, the title of the book and the description of the book.  
These three elements work together to place your book.  While I truly respect varied opinions (ok, that´s a damn lie, opinions are found everywhere .... then there are facts) there are tons of books and websites out there that deal with this issue.  I have been reading and researching a lot.

Do any search on a book on Amazon.  Take a look at the title and keywords and the description.
I just did a search on Horse Novels - the number one hit?  A book called ´Out Stealing Horses - A Novel. They repeat some keywords in the first sentence of the description.  The keywords (you can have up to 7 phrases) are hidden.

Searched Paranormal Novel -  First hit?  Daughter of Aphrodite (Daughter Trilogy #1 Paranormal Romance) (The Daughter Trilogy)
Here there are some keywords in the first paragraph.  Again, no idea of all the keywords.

Searched Sports Novel - Second hit - GAME: an American Novel about Small Town Football
Again some keywords in the description.

I am not going to go out on a limb and say this is the end all in selling books on Amazon.  I am only sharing the info as I find it.
This is not a science or a religion.  It is however a strong suggestion.  The absolute best combination of elements is elusive.  How it is exactly done I do not know but I will sure make my best effort to include some of this stuff in my book info section.  I´m not going to count on getting struck by lightning like 50 shades of Manure or whatever.  

Or I could just skip it and hope my books gets found amoung the 50,000,000 other books out there vying for public attention .... maybe I´ll get discovered for my cheery personality.

David Gordon Burke


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