the formula for a bestselling book title 🧪

In today’s email:

🧪 how bestselling authors come up with their titles
🧪 how Thom created a successful children’s book

Atomic Habits by James Clear has been a monster hit, and you have most likely already heard its captivating name before today. It’s a #1 New York Times bestseller, has sold over 5 million copies worldwide, and has been translated into more than 50 languages, meaning it has reached an incredible amount of people and influenced change across the globe

James recently sat down to talk with Tim Ferriss (bestselling author of the 4-Hour self-help book series ) to discuss their individual journeys to becoming the authors they are today. The conversation covered many topics, but one particular segment caught our team’s attention and will be interesting to you as an author.

They spoke about how a book’s title impacts its chances of success AND the formula they use to come up with bestselling titles.

James created a spreadsheet with 150 titles from recent bestselling books to further his research, and here are the results of his findings.

The most common format is THE [blank] of [blank]. For Example:

• The Power of Habit

• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

• The Psychology of Money

The core formula is to take your topic, which forms the second part of the title. Then you use a descriptor as the first part of the title. Sounds simple, right?

The trick comes from combining words and ideas that are not normally found together. Habits aren’t normally described as atomic, and not giving a f*ck is rarely described as a subtle art. The bestselling books all have an element of contrast in the title.

This is a great hack we will be advising authors to use when coming up with their book titles, and is something for you to keep in mind when you are brainstorming ideas for your next title!

Inspiration is everywhere when you’re an author. From the current book, you are reading, to an art installation in a museum or simply a conversation with a friend.

For Thom, it came from necessity. Thom was inspired by the touching eccentricity of the ‘Madeline’ books by Ludwig Bemelmans, plus the absurdity of Dr. Seuss. Thom also enjoyed the Horrid Henry series by Francesca Simon with its tendency for the comical comeuppance of bad behaviour.

Thom wanted to emulate those books whilst teaching his children their own lessons about good behaviour.

The stories began as a way for Thom and his wife to ensure that their summers in the south of France were not disrupted by meltdowns and poor behaviour.

Great idea if you ask me.

The book quickly evolved into a much greater project.

Teaming up with an illustrator, Thom and Jason (the illustrator) created a masterpiece.

The story is about a mischievous boy who is sent to a school run by “the strictest teacher in all of France” Madame Giroux. It indulges children's sneaky fascination for anything mischievous whilst teaching them no good will come of misbehaving.

The illustrations are exquisite, and combined with the super storytelling, this is a truly excellent book.

The hardback version that Thom is holding truly does the book justice. What a triumph. Well done Thom, Jason, and the team here at Publishing Push for a truly magnificent project 👏

Thom and Jason have been getting 5-star reviews across the board since its release.