The Joy of Titling

One of the joys of being a publisher is seeing books develop over time.

One of the trials of being a publisher is helping to pick book titles.

Sometimes it is fairly easy. Agile Web Development with Rails pretty much summed up the book's content.

At other times, though, it's remarkably difficult. A back title can seriously harm a book. For example, Chad Fowler's first book with us is really, really good: a guide to managing and developing your career as a programmer. It was a joy to edit, and everyone who's read it loves it. But when it came time to give it a title, we were stumped. In the end, we decided to go for something a little jokey with some shock value, and My Job Went to India was born.

Big mistake.

The title didn't work. We sold a decent number of copies (just under 10,000), but we *should* have sold 3, 4, or 5 times that. It's a very, very good book. But I blew it for Chad by going with the wrong title. (It says a lot for Chad that he went ahead and wrote Rails Recipes with us after that.)

And now I feel like it might be about to happen again. Jeremy Sydik is finishing off a wonderful book. IT's all about how to create web sites that can be used by people with disabilities: the blind and color blind, those with motor problems, and so on. We clearly have a responsibility to create accessible sites but, as this book points out, we can also benefit greatly in terms of traffic if our sites can be used by the whole online population.

So then we come back to the thorny title problem. Right now, we're selling the beta with the name The Accessible Web—Creating Content for Everyone. But that doesn't seem to be working; folks I've talked to aren't clear what the book is about.

We're thinking about retitling the book. The current front-runner is Designing Web Content for Users with Disabilities—36 Keys for Unlocking the Accessible Web.

So, here's my question. Does that work better as a title? Or is there a *great* title we're missing?

I want to give these books the audiences they deserve. Help me out.

Thanks

Dave

Comments

[Dmitrii 'Mamut' Dimandt]

People get scared when they here the words "accessible"

Get the word "accessible" out of the title

[Aman King]

Hi Dave,

Don't beat yourself up too bad about "My Job Went to India". :-) I bought that book especially for that title, because it piqued my interest as I'm an Indian software professional, and I wanted to know what Chad had to say about Indian IT.

Hmm... do you have any demographics about the buyers of the book? I'd like to see how many of them are Indians.

That said, I must say that Chad's book was a great read. The things he said about Indian IT and even Indian culture in general is so true. He's been able to pinpoint the differences between the mindsets of Indians and our Western counterparts, and the best part is he does that without any sign of bigotry. I think he dealt with the subject beautifully. But yeah, I don't think the book is entirely about US vs India, as many chapters do not necessarily compare the two and are written as general recommendations.

I'm sure the book will do well if marketed in India. Indians, of all people, will benefit the most from the book actually, as it'll help us get out of our "frog in the well" attitude. ;-)

Keep up the good work, you guys!

[Mike]

Raise the title in braille , and maybe also some braille chapter headings. Then call it "Feel This Book: Web Access for Everyone."

And try another picture on the cover, like a kid on a snowboard careening down the rail of a Handicap ramp.

[Robert MacGregor]

Perhaps 'Creating Web content for Everyone'.

An inclusive title is approachable and conveys the book's core intent. Accessibility features, like any good idea, inevitably get used in places we don't expect; not just for people with disabilities.

[Ravi]

How about: "The Inclusive Web -- Designing Accessible Websites that Appeal to Everyone"? To me, that clarifies the purpose of the book (designing accessible websites) and maintains the original title's premise of appealing to the broadest possible audience.

[dusty]

How about something that talks about market penetration. I don't know the number, but lets say that 15% of users have some sort of disabilities.

The Other 15%:
How to Make your Website Accessible to EVERYONE

Or about social responsibilities.

The Universal Web:
Why you NEED to make your Website Accessible and How to Do it.

Or lay in something about mobile web as well.

The New Web:
Make your Website Accessible to Mobile and Disabled Users

[Kate Sydik]

I'll admit that I'm a bit biased--after all, I'm married to the author :-) I think one of the problems the title has is that this book ISN'T like other accessibility books and we need to find a way to get that across people who see the book on the shelf.

The audience of users with disabilities is a quickly growing population (as the baby boomers get older), and meeting the needs of this population makes legal, moral, and good business sense. However people tend to have a negative view of web accessibility if they think it means they need to spend a great deal of time and effort (and money) to strip out nifty functionality and graphic design in order to create sites as boring as stale oatmeal.
I realize there is a stigma with the word accessibility. Accessibility has a reputation of being dull, dry, preachy, and antagonistic toward graphic design. As a graphic designer, this is a view that at one time I shared, but I have learned that accessibility doesn't have to mean blah and boring, or writing everything twice.

I have (obviously) read the content of the book. Again I'll admit I'm biased, but I don't find the book to be preachy or boring. It has a conversational style, with a sense of humor. “Stoplights and Poison Apples”, “It’s Not Polite to Flash the Audience”, and “Layout and Other Bad Table Manners” are not chapter titles one would expect to find on a book about web accessibility. The book demonstrates techniques primarily targeted toward serving an audience of users with disabilities but it also stresses how understanding semantic markup and styling, and scripts that progressively enhance content let us keep the doors open for more users (not just those with disabilities) by facilitating “alternative” browsers such as cell phones, PDAs, or game consoles. Better yet it doesn't "criminalize" graphic designers, like myself, or blow off design as "irrelevant fluff" but shows that it is possible to have accessible sites and still look darn good doing it.

The Accessible Web—Creating Content for Everyone is perhaps a little vague for a title. It probably doesn't communicate that the book is about web accessibility. “Designing Web Content for Users with Disabilities—36 Keys for Unlocking the Accessible Web” communicates the accessibility focus better, but doesn't communicate that the book goes beyond the community of users with disabilities to how semantics make better content for ALL users. There seems to be some debate about the word "accessibility". I think it needs to be in the title for clarity about the book content. How can we get past the stigma of accessibility in the title? The book needs searchable, clear title, but a boring cookie-cutter title does little to counter the "ugh...accessibility....*yawn*....boiled mush" stereotype. Is there an attention-grabbing title that captures the feisty spirit of the book, but is still clear, and searchable? I'm not sure, but we both appreciate the feedback!

[Sammy Larbi]

The first title may include the operative term that seems to have won out, "accessibility," but it is essentially useless unless you already know what it is you are looking for.

I'd be much more likely to pick up the 2nd title. There is the theory about putting "XX tips on how to" in titles makes them more "clickable," but I don't know how well that translates into book sales.

_My Job went to India_ greatly inspired me as well. Great book.

[Rob Biedenharn]

The Accessible Web —- 36 Keys for Unlocking Web Content for Users with Disabilities

A bit of a hybrid of your working title and the proposal.

[John-Mason P. Shackelford]

I like the title you picked. I knew exactly what the book was about in the title and it is tasteful. Of course I bought the My Job went to India book too and thought the title very funny.

[Jason Yip]

Just to reinforce the point that "Accessibility" is *not* just about "disabled" or "handicapped" users:

http://atri.misericordia.edu/Papers/Web_Accessibility.php
http://www.atpm.com/13.03/web-accessibility.shtml

[Jason Yip]

Just thought of this so the specifics might be wrong but I think the style is what you're looking for:

Is Middle Age a Disability? - Designing Web Sites Accessible to Everyone

Somehow that first bit should be a phrase or question rather than just an adjective and a noun (e.g., Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think" is a great title). The second bit is for catering to searches and categorisation.

[naum]

Read "My Job Went to India" and as an experienced programmer, felt that while it was a positive book in terms of some elements of career advice, was a big negative in how it addressed the whole offshoring/outsourcing issue. On one hand, yes, American IT workers should stay abreast of technology developments and arduously study to improve their craft. But throwing up your hands in a defeatist "that's the way it is" seems as off the mark as not addressing your own career development needs… …instead of lobbying for the interests of American programmers…

…and I write this as someone that indeed experienced firsthand "My Job Went to India"…

[Thomas Beck]

Dave-

There are lots of thoughtful comments here for you to choose from. The one thing I didn’t see mention of was branding. You’ve developed a clear branding for the Pragmatic Programmers series that people recognize, identify with, and trust. When I see the P.P. brand or the recognizable O’Reilly animal branded books, I’m always willing to give the book at least a cursory look and consider purchasing it.

I like the proposed cover and title for the Accessibility book. However, I believe that getting the exact title right is less important than not diverging from your brand. This is where I believe things went awry with Chad’s book. I browse your collection frequently and, despite owning Chad’s other book and the potential pertinence of My Job Went to India to my career, I never got beyond the cover. Yet, I was willing to buy a book with people in a crosswalk and a language I had never heard of, Erlang.

These seemingly arbitrary heuristics are, like it or not, the only way to survive in a world of information overload. Stick to your brand, get your foot in the door, and then let the table of contents, sample chapter, etc., sell the potential reader. On another note, after having spent several years grappling with accessibility issues for state government systems serving citizens with cognitive and physical disabilities, I’m looking forward to the publication of your book – as long as you don’t diverge from your brand ; - )

[Neil Wilson]

I'd go for a trick title to get people who need to read the book to read it.

How about:

The Really Usable Web
How to make the Web work for those with disabilities.

Let the initial search for the book come up on a search of 'usability', and use the subtitle to show the focus on those with disabilities.

And, yes, use the word disabilities (or if you prefer 'handicapped' or 'disabled'). The PC lobby won't like it, but the simple fact is that it gets the message across to those who need to know - who probably aren't disabled themselves.

[Jack Rickard]

Handicapped Parking on the World Wide Web
Designing Accessible Content for Everyone

[amy newell]

I admit to wanting to buy My Job Went to India and choking on both the title and the cover. I thought the cover was hideous (sorry, whoever designed it), and I didn't want it on my bookshelf. Your standard book cover is not exciting or anything, but it's not ugly, and a row of the books all together is visually appealing and not chaotic. I second the thought that you should stick with your branding in future.

I have a dumb question, though: Why, if you think the title is holding back the book, don't you just re-issue it under a different cover and title? Call it "Pragmatic Career Management", slap a plain ole cover on it, and you're good to go.

As for the question at hand: "accessibility" is good, so is "36 tips for unlocking" etc.

[Mike Clark]

Perhaps a minor change to the first word?

"Enabling Web Content for Users with Disabilities—36 Keys for Unlocking the Accessible Web"

[Ryan Allen]

I reckon you could re-release My Job Went to India as another title, just rename it, pretend it's new.

It's one of the best books I've ever read, and despite the title Chad expresses respect for the people he worked with in India.

I didn't find he was negative at all to offshore development as someone mentioned in an above comment.

[Steve Lloyd]

I like the beta title, as I agree that 'Accessible' is going feature as a keyword in searches, and I guess any notion of its not working is probably related to the topic being new to many people. I haven't read the beta yet (but this has prompted me to buy it). If its as good as Jeremy Sydik's talk at RailsConf I'm sure it will sell well once news gets around.

Putting 'disability' in the title does seem like another 'India' mistake - 'for everyone' correctly conveys the notion that you're just aiming at application of techniques to maximize the reach of your website.

Top marks Dave for admitting the mistake over the 'India' title - it displays the sort of integrity that permeates the Pragmatic enterprise - though I seem to remember there being a good deal of adverse comment and advice against it *before* it went to press ;-) and like many I suspect, I bought a copy with gritted teeth and really enjoyed the excellent content.

[Magpie]

Accessibility is one of those vague terms that only have special meaning among those already in the know - probably not your audience. Without further explanation one assumes the majority, when you actually mean accessible to a specific minority, so the minority should be stated, or 'everyone' emphasised as people above have suggested eg. "Accessible to Everyone".
I fail to understand the PC logic that avoids naming the defining characteristics of a minority - doesn't that assume they are ashamed of those characteristics ?

[hgs]

Accessibility is the recognized term. (If only Microsoft knew this: how patronizing is the term "Easy Access" in Vista, which doesn't show up when you search for accessibility?)

I think the title is OK, but for a couple of nitpicks:

"The accessible *WEB*" makes it sound like information about web infrastructure, where this is going, etc. "The Accessible Website" might be better, more geared to what one is doing with one's site.

Content for everyone doesn't really convey who is excluded at the moment. Maybe something like "How not to turn customers away at the door" would explain what is going on now, at least. That way you don't convey this is just about improving things for disabled people (because it does help everyone).

I don't understand the semantics of the cover art, even if it is to the usual high standard. OK, it's a maze, one can get lost in it. But a bulldozer?

What about a pass saying "Access all areas"? For the photo you could resort to the old recursion classic: a picture of the book cover including the pass with a picture of... There's almost certainly a better idea though.

And I thought naming variables could get tricky...

[Corey G]

The Braille Web 2.0

[Keith Casey]

I can't believe no one mentioned this one...

Here in DC, we call that "Section 508 Compliance" and there are few resources on it at all. If you could throw that somewhere in the title or teaser it would mean something direct and tangible to anyone with govt web dev experience... and probably immediately meaningful to anyone who would need Section 508 enforced. Target got sued last year for not having it...

[Steven A Bristol]

How about "Increase Traffic with Web Accessibility," or something?