Many writers mistakenly lower-case short words in titles, even verbs (which are often tiny)
General rules (which vary somewhat according to style guides):
---In titles, do capitalize nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, the first and last words in a title and (per most style guides) words with four or more letters.
---In titles, don't capitalize (do lowercase) articles, conjunctions, short prepositions, and many words with three or fewer words.
---Major style guides: MLA Style and Chicago Manual of Style (for books), AP Style (for newspapers, etc.), and various other specialty style guides
Mind you, some publications use mostly lower-case in their titles (e.g.,
• How I Found Out I had Pancreatic Cancer [problem words are highlighted in red--they should be capitalized]
Good video, but "had," a verb, should be capitalized.
• The Basic Problem for Authors who write More than One Book
• There are Three Ways To Create Evergreen Links
"Are" (a verb, the plural of "is") should be capitalized; "to" is one of the short prepositions not capitalized in the middle of a title.
• This is Why Book Marketing Doesn't Work
• What is Memory Care and How Much Should it Cost? (Assisted Living Today)
• California's Collusion with a Texas Timber Company Let Ancient Redwoods be Clearcut
• What is AI and How Can Writers Use It?
"Is," a verb, should be capitalized. All forms of "to be" should be capitalized when a title is capitalized.
• Top 10 Chronic Conditions in Adults 65+ and What You Can do to Prevent or Manage Them
• What do Anti-Freelancer Laws Mean for Independent Journalists?
"Do" is as important as "Prevent" or "Manage" -- and it's a verb, so it should be capitalized.
• Is Plagiarism Illegal? What are the Legal Consequences? (Plagiarism.com)
---Is it Plagiarism to Pay Someone to Write for Me? (Plagiarism.com) "It" is small but it's important.
• Your Story is More Important Than You Think You'd be surprised how many organizations get this one wrong.
• An Air Force Career Held up Because of Debt Owed for Medical Bills
• Who Calls and Where they are Referred
• What is the Market Rate?
• The Secret Donald Trump is No Secret
• Words and Phrases that Make it Obvious You Used ChatGPT ("it" is a pronoun)
• Telling the Stories of Life through Guided Autobiography Groups, a book by James E. Birren and Kathryn N. Cochran.
Capitalization of ‘through’ in a title follows certain style rules. In Chicago, MLA, and APA styles, ‘through’ should be capitalized as it’s more than four letters. But according to AP style, ‘through’ is considered a preposition and isn’t typically capitalized unless it’s the first or last word. AP style is for journalists, and this is a book, and "through" is more than four letters, so most book publishers would capitalize it in a title. [This is why, when you hire an editor, you should hire one who is familiar with the style for whatever product you want edited--newspaper-style or book-style.] See Is “through” Capitalized in a Title?
• What is Typesetting and Why Does it Matter? (Michele DeFilippo, Ingram Spark) See Ingram Spark's useful online guide How to Design a Book.
They should add a paragraph on capitalizing small important words.
• Who Calls and Where they are Referred
Find explanations here: Capitalization
Including whether to capitalize "black" for Negro.
The rule is NOT "Capitalize all the big words."
Many authors wrongly lower-case "be" and "is" and "are" and "am" and "up" and "do" in titles, but if you are fully capitalizing titles, all verbs, including all forms of the verb "to be" and "to do" should be capitalized. "Is" and "it" should both be capitalized. Why?
• Capitalize brand names. For example, whiskey and cola but Seagram's and Coca-Cola