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Of all the memoir posts I have written and others have written for The Memoir Network, Best Title for Your Memoir/How To Choose has proven to be the most visited—week after week.
I tell writers, “You are well advised to send time coming up with  best title for your memoir. It can be that important to the success of your memoir.”
In fact, your choice of a best title for your memoir is a marketing decision.

Examples of title changes that saved a book’s life

Jane Austen’s second novel was called, First Impressions, and was rejected under that title. When she changed the name to Pride and Prejudice, it reached out into the world.
Philip Roth’s most famous novel was first named The Jewboy, then Wacking Off, and A Jewish Patient Begins his Analysis. Finally, he settled on  Portnoy’s Complaint.
Can you guess which of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books was first called Trimalchio in West Egg, then Among Ash-Heaps and Millionaires, On the Road to West Egg, Under the Red, White, and Blue, Gold-Hatted Gatsby, and The High-Bouncing Lover? It was his ever famous The Great Gatsby.

A best title for your memoir: a marketing opportunity

Even in so short a presentation as I have here, it should be evident that you must choose a best title for your memoir strategically. It’s just not a matter of choosing a title that you like or that makes you feel good for some reason. It’s ought to be about choosing a title that will make the book available to its natural audience.
Your title is a marketing opportunity. Think of it as a sort of billboard that announces your book to the world

In conclusion

See below for a great article on how to generate a best title for your memoir.
find a best title for a memoir

Best Title for a Memoir: How to Choose

Writers ask me how to choose a best title for a memoir. Because I have worked with them, usually as their coach or editor and know their story, I am in a position to brainstorm with them to come up with a decent —and sometimes even a great—title for their book.

Editor’s Note: This content is also available as a YouTube video. Click here.

There are many possibilities available to a writer, but one thing is certain: a writer must choose a title for a memoir strategically.  It is a marketing opportunity. The title printed on your book cover can—and ought to—promote sales of your memoir.

Here are some guidelines I use to generate a memoir title—for my own titles or for those of clients. I hope they prove helpful to you, too.

How important is a working title?

When you are working on a memoir, you may want to have some way of distinguishing one manuscript from another. You may also be working concurrently on a second or a third book—and that is not unusual for some writers. In that instance, you will want a name so as to be able to distinguish this manuscript from another as you speak to your writing group, your writing coach or a friend.

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