psychological literature here, but the point is this: Don’t try to be too sophisticated at the risk of becoming obscure. It will only hurt your book. It’s a basic fact of human psychology—people don’t like to feel stupid or socially awkward. If a book title is hard to pronounce, or more importantly, if it’s a phrase that sounds stupid when said out loud, it makes them far less likely to buy it, and chances are they won’t talk about it to other people. One of the most important things to think about when picking your book title is word of mouth. Think about how people will feel about saying this book title out loud to their friends. Does it make them look smart or stupid? The worst possible title is one that makes someone feel silly saying it out loud. For example, if the book title is something like “Why Racism Is Great,” no one is ever going to tell their friends about it, no matter how good the book is, because they have to then face the scrutiny of why they bought that book in the first place. Social context doesn’t just matter some; it matters a lot. Take this list of bad book titles, and imagine saying any of them out loud to your friends in a serious way—you’d never do that. 5. SHORT Generally speaking, shorter titles are best. A short title is not only more memorable and easier to say, but it also gives more space and flexibility for better cover design. People get lured into crafting titles that are exacting and long- winded in an effort to make the title signal the book idea and audience. In the title, stick to the core idea. If you want to get wordy, then leave that to the subtitle. 188 · ThE SCriBE METhOD