What’s in a Title of a Book

One thing I learned from publishing my first book is to perform research on the title and the book cover way ahead of time.  The first title of my book was, Genius and Partnership: Ancel Keys, Cholesterol, and the Discovery of the Mediterranean Diet.  When I tested this title with only days to go to publish here is some of the feedback I received:

What is Ancel Keys, a chemical or vitamin?

I don’t want to read about cholesterol!

What does cholesterol have to do with the Mediterranean Diet?

There is so much on Margaret Keys in the book, why isn’t she on the cover.  Are you sexist?

Therefore, I changed the title to Genius and Partnership: Ancel and Margaret Keys and the Discovery of the Mediterranean Diet.

I believe this is a much better title in several ways.  But, someone who is fairly knowledgeable asked, “Who in the world are Ancel and Margaret Keys?”

I replied, “That’s why I wrote the book. So you and millions of others will find out who they were!”