A way to change the world
As a hole, people are curious creatures but at individual level you will often encounter a lot of resistance towards the new.
Take links for example: you usually don’t click them if you’re not clear about where they’ll take you.
It’s the reason why most web designers will stick to the rules and place your logo in the top left corner, will have the menu top right and will populate it in a classic manner: About, Services, Products, Contact even in this exact order.
The same will be true if you are naming your products or your book. You will get more engagement if, instead of using abstract notions, your titles just spell it out and everyone is clear about the subject.
That is, if you are not a celebrity in your space, like Seth Godin is in marketing. He can get away with book titles like “Purple Cow” and “Meatball Sundae” or with an unusual blog format.
Why? How? He’s set expectations upfront. His reputation, his other good books, and his bold actions, like shipping “Purple Cow” in a milk Carton (story here: https://seths.blog/2007/03/purple_cow_redu/) have already primed the buyers.
Even so, he didn’t risk colliding with people’s reluctance to new stuff. He distributed the first batch for free (except shipping costs), and had a small subtitle saying: “Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable”… aka he spelled it out.
Do you see what’s going on?
You need to be remarkable to stand out from the crowd but you also need to overcome resistance to the new.
Seth’s “Purple Cow” is great example but just look around and you’ll find a lot more. Take Musk’s Tesla: he overcame resistance with a remarkable super fast electric sports car.
It changed the world.
Is your product remarkable and “safe to click”?