Check which titles are best sellers in your specific genre to inspire yourself title writing process. In addition, this step can help you avoid using or plagiarizing someone else's title. Consider where you plan to market your book. Will this be for the general public or for the academic community? Or both? Look at different titles in your field that market to each of these different groups. Run searches on Internet search engines and other databases such as JSTOR for academics or IMDB for fiction. Not only can this help you gain perspective on the title landscape of your field, but also give you further ideas. Read bestseller lists from sources such as the The New York Review of Books or The London Review of Books. Remember that you want your title to be as original as possible so that it doesn't get lost in a crowd of other intriguing books. Each genre of literature, from children's to academia and fiction, have different conventions in titling. Familiarizing yourself with these conventions can help you to understand common types of titles and possibly even avoid cliche ones. Make sure you know the genre in which you hope to market your book. For example, if you want to publish in children's literature, think about popular titles. They're usually simple and have something that catches a child's eye such as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs or The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Consider your ability to cross-over genres. Some academic texts could be of interest to the public and can incorporate different elements to hook a person's attention and give an idea of the subject matter. Many titles have a primary and sub-title, for example, Eugene Weber used The Hollow Years: France in the 1930s. It's catchy and simple, yet lets the reader know enough to figure out the subject. As you start thinking about potential titles, make sure that a copy of your book is never far. This can help you peruse and identify keywords, images, dialogue or characters that may spark potential readers' attention and help you write a unique book title. Recognize that keeping the text close for finding a title may also help you refine the text. Refer to it any time you are unsure of something; the lines may inspire you. Figure out major elements of the book such as the narrator or the overall argument. Ask yourself how these elements figure into a powerful title. Remember that the title isn't a simple label, but rather a way for readers to first access your work. Your title should contain either direct references or allusions to the themes of your book. This doesn't mean that the title has to be very long; in fact, short and catchy titles are often much more effective at peeking potential readers' interest than drawn out descriptions. Ask yourself "what does this book cover?" or "what is it about?" to help you figure out themes. Write down these keywords in your notebook. For example, if you are writing about the Red Cross during World War II you could use keywords such as "Holocaust," "victims," "refugees," "humanitarianism," and "concentration camps." Use allusion in the title, which works for both fiction and non-fiction. For example, consider the title 50 Shades of Grey. This book goes into so-called grey zones of life and directly addresses one of the books protagonists. Be aware that your title can help shape your book as you revise it. If you have written a work of fiction, including something about the main character can help you to create a compelling title. If your book focuses on the comments or role of one person or narrator, consider using this as a way to draw in your reader. For example, The Catcher in the Rye introduces a mysterious figure that symbolizes the book's protagonist. Use a primary character in the title to grab potential readers. For example, in addition to Caulfield's Catcher, Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby, Age 8 in children's literature gives us the name of the protagonist with a bit of context. Anything that draws on a person's emotions, such as images, metaphors, or even raw feelings can help draw in a potential reader. If your work strikes emotional chords or has unusual imagery, consider using these as elements in your title. Think about titles in your genre and even others that use imagery, emotion, or metaphor. This is mainly applicable to works of fiction. For example, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in children's literature that uses the image of a rainstorm of meatballs. Twilight evokes the shadowy work a human experiences with vampires. If your book is a work of fiction that includes a significant amount of dialogue, figure out ways to grab a reader with it. You may want to keep the dialogue element short and to the point. For example, Gone with the Wind or Monsters of Men Many genres use intrigue, mystery, or curiosities within their text. Planting these types of elements in your title can spark a person to want to investigate further by reading the book. Intrigue may work best with works of fiction or genres like historical fiction. Think of titles such as The Da Vinci Code or Post-Mortem. They make you ask questions like "What does Leonardo Da Vinci have to do with this mystery?" or "what happened post-mortem?" However, even academic titles can create intrigue including such examples as The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History because it makes one ask "why is human rights the last utopia?" Titles that generate questions like this have created a sense of intrigue and piqued your curiosity. Take some time to notice if there are contradictory themes or situations in your book. Comparing and juxtaposing these elements in a short and simple title can help you get at the essence of your book, and grab potential readers' attention. Consider titles in different genres that use comparison. Some examples include: War and Peace, which details personal lives between situations of war and peace; Beyond Totalitarianism: Stalinism and Nazism Compared contrasts two dictatorships that are often paralleled to get at their unique features; and The Drowned and the Saved uses juxtaposition to get at those who survived and those who fell victim to the Holocaust. You can use different themes, feelings, or keywords from your book in your title. They can incorporate things like alliteration, rhyme, or an utterance. Keep in mind that some of the greatest works of literature use wordplay. Think of classics, such as Pride and Prejudice and Of Mice and Men, which use alliteration. Remember that you can incorporate wordplay into other genres such as academia or even children's literature. Classics like The Cat in the Hat and The End of History and the Last Man employ rhyme and common utterances to capture their readers' attention.

Summary:
Conduct research on titles. Keep genre titling conventions in mind. Have a copy of your book close at hand. Figure out your primary themes. Include a description of your protagonist in the title. Employ imagery, metaphor, or emotion. Draw upon dialogue. Sow the seed of intrigue or curiosity. Compare or juxtapose elements. Play upon words.