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The one thing about a book title or an article headline is that you have very few words to do a lot of things: You want to grab the reader's attention, you want to hold that reader's attention, and you want to tell the reader what the book or the article is about. It is the rare title or headline that can do all three. Most of the time, you have to settle for two out of three.

Now, two out of three is not bad if you're playing baseball or shooting basketball, but it's bad if you're selling stocks or closing a deal. Still, if you can get your point across, you've done your job. Here are some pointers:

Avoid clichés. The trouble with clichés is that people have heard them before. They'll assume you have nothing new to offer and move on, passing over your hard work without a second glance. Sometimes, a cliché works; more often, it does not.

Use familiar words. The last thing you want the reader to do is to have to look up a word you've included in the title/headline. More often than not, if the reader doesn't understand a word, he or she will not bother to try to understand.

Capture the essence of the work. Like the lead of a newspaper story, a headline/title makes a promise to the reader: Keep reading and you will see the title/headline explained. In other words, we use a catchy phrase to get your attention, starting you thinking in one direction, and then tell you why we chose that phrase by explaining why we're going in the direction we're going and when we get there. The best phrase in the world becomes the worst phrase in the world if it doesn't explain the situation behind it. If you promise the reader one thing and don’t deliver it, you've cheated them out of their expectations. A jaded reader will not be your fan for long.

Don't offend anyone. If the book or article is full of visionary work that is likely to offend someone, that's different. But most of the time, you're writing a title/headline about something that is not controversial. If the article or book is not controversial, then neither should the title/headline be.

Use words that use pictures. Some of the best words in the English language explain themselves in words and pictures. You have little space in which to write your title/headline. Using such powerful image-ready words makes your job easier.

Well, that's a good introduction to the art of writing titles and headlines. Put these suggestions to good use, and you'll have readers poring over your books and articles.

David White is a senior editor for American Book Publishing.