FROM THE HANDYMAN: Book Titles
The Author’s Opening Salvo: Book Titles
By Danielle Ackley-McPhail
©2011
You know, there are a hell of a lot of books out there.
(Yeah, I know…Duh!)
So, sarcasm aside, how do we keep them all straight? There is so much information associated with a book: the author’s name, the publisher, the ISBN, but first and foremost is the title. In the majority of cases that is the first, and maybe only bit of information your audience is going to know.
Guess it better be good, right?
This article was actually inspired by comments I received on a previous article, The Naming of Names, where I go in depth on naming characters. Well, books are a writer’s children just as much as any born from their loins-or imagination-and should garner a similar level of thought in naming so let’s get down to it, shall we?
Getting it Right
You know, some parents will be outraged at this next comment, but I dare say it is more critical to get the name of your book right than it is those of your children. Why? Well…a child might hate their name, but there is always the option of a nickname, or should you truly cock it up, legal name changes. Basically, your children have options. Your books, not so much… Once you release a book it is very unlikely any significant change will ever be made in the title (unlikely, not impossible, before you protest, but I’ll get to that later.) So, why do I assume that the title is the first-and possibly only-aspect of your book your audience is going to encounter? Well, if you should be fortunate enough to have your book shelved on a physical bookstore shelf the majority of books are spine out. If you don’t make it into a brick-and-mortar store you have to consider that many internet or database searches do not often display with images, or when book sites do return images they are often of a size that doesn’t really do justice to the cover. That makes a good title even more vital. Because of this it is very important that the title stand and represent. Here are some points you need to consider when thinking about potential titles:
So…I know what you’re saying now. How the heck does that help me come up with titles? Fair enough. Believe me these points are relevant once you have a few ideas on the table, so to speak. Just keep them in the back of your mind while I go into some of the approaches you can take to the task.
Theme - Determine the theme of your story and try to incorporate that into a title. For my first novel, Yesterday’s Dreams, sacrifice and self-discovery were two overriding themes for the book. The title referred to a key location in the book, a pawnshop, but it also referred to the sacrifices the main character made for her family. That is the first relevance. It also referred to the character coming into her own when she feared there was nothing left for her. So dreams let go and dreams achieved.
Another example from my work is the series Bad-Ass Faeries. This meets all of the above bullet points quite handily but in relation to theme we started the series to bring the popular perception of faeries back to the roots of the legends where the fae were malevolent, mischievous, or warriors…not cute and fluffy. When you read the title you know you aren’t going to be reading about faerie princesses…unless they are also warriors.
Genre - which one are you writing in? This is relevant for two reasons. One: if you are writing genre you are generally writing to a very narrow target audience and there are often certain conventions in titles you might want to take into account. Doesn’t mean you have to follow them, but you should be aware. Two: genre writing has distinct characteristics that the title should reflect that way the readership is more likely to recognize that your work is what they are looking for. My example for this is my recent anthology In An Iron Cage: The Magic of Steampunk. This one we have to pick apart a bit. The “In An Iron Cage” part is catchy and intriguing but doesn’t really tell you what the collection is about. The subtitle “The Magic of Steampunk” makes it very clear this is a steampunk anthology and that the stories include magical elements, which identifies the book as both steampunk and fantasy.
Tone - Is your story or book serious or humorous? Is it full of drama or romance? It seems obvious enough, but this is very important to sort out, after all, you don’t want a joke title on a serious book because the audience is going to expect the title is a reflection of what they are going to read. For example: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglass Adams. With a title like that you expect the contents of the book are humorous. By contrast The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson (yeah…I had to look it up too…) tells you right up front that the story is frightening.
Concept - is there some defining idea in the book that would be interesting to the reader that you can allude to in the title? I’m working on a science fiction story at the moment that involves theoretical travel beyond known space. In doing my research I ran into a bit of information in a Dark Matter article about a reference ancient map makers use to place on their maps for areas that were unknown: Terra Incognita. That was a fun fact and given the concept of my story and that fact that it had to deal with space travel I had to name the story Astra Incognita. Not everyone will get the historic reference I'm alluding to, but they will-I hope-be intrigued enough to read on! And hey, for those that do get the reference, they are going to be thrilled and feel like they are in on a secret, and again-I hope-eager to see where I’m going with it.
Play on Words - I develop a lot of anthologies from concept to completion. With those I often start with just an idea and a title, or sometimes a piece of art that inspires a title. One of those collections is Dragon’s Lure. See, I have a couple of books on my table with dragons on the cover, but no dragons in the story (don’t ask). That made me realize I had a market for a dragon book if I could come up with an idea. For something different I figured it would be good to explore the concept of why world mythology attributes certain things as lures for dragons…like virgins and the moon or nests of gems. So the book is both about dragon lore and dragon lures, thus the title. Now like I said I started out with the title in that case, so it's kind of a cheat as an example, but you get what I mean, right?
Now I am sure that there are other things you could take into consideration but rather than go on and on, it’s time to cover some other relevant points.
The Business Side of Titles
Working titles. A lot of writers have what they call a working title in the beginning. It’s not really what they want for a final name, but it gives them something to reference when they are talking about it and something to name the file on their computer. It’s kind of like calling a baby or a pet “sweetie” or something cute like that until you get around to no longer bickering over what to call them. (unfortunately…my cat, Baby, got stuck with his pre-name). Of course, you might decide that you’re comfortable with your working title by the time you are done…or conversely, your publisher, in the end, may consider your final the working title and proceed to tell you what it’s actually going to be.
Will the Real Book Title Please Stand Up. Names repeat, whether they are for children, characters, or books. It just happens, hard to avoid with the combined volume of all three that exist in the world. Of course, with books you have a hope of minimizing any overlap. There is nothing saying a book can’t have the same title as another book but you want to be cautious and think through the ramifications. Do some research and see if there are other books out there with the same title. If it is an older title, I wouldn’t be too concerned, the way I would if it was a recent release. I definitely would think twice if the other book (or books) are in the same genre or have the same topic as yours because that is just asking for confusion among the reading audience…like I said, sometimes all they have is a title to go on so if you have two books with the same title and different authors, there is only a 50-50 chance they’ll pick the right one if they are after yours. The odds get exponentially worse if there is more than one already out there. I have a friend, L. Jagi Lamplighter, who ran into this problem. Her manuscript-which she had been working on for something like ten years-was titled Prospero’s Daughter. Somewhere in the middle of her working on it someone else released a book with her title. Both are fantasies. My friend eventually sold and released her book and while the publisher wasn’t too concerned about the title issue, my friend was uncomfortable with it and changed the name to Prospero Lost. Two more sequels have since released in this series…which brings me to my next topic:
Series Titles
Like sub titles, series titles help tell a bit more about books that are linked, if nothing else identifying that they go together. In the case of Ms. Lamplighter’s books her original title, Prospero’s Daughter, became her series title, thus allowing her to retain the title she liked and providing more information on the series, which are all from Miranda’s perspective (the books are based on the characters from Shakespeare’s Tempest).
I have several series that I am associated with in one capacity or another and the fact that there is a series title lets the reader know there are more books out there. For instance, Yesterday’s Dreams is book one in the Eternal Cycle series (followed by Tomorrow’s Memories and Today’s Promise). I have another novel, The Halfling’s Court: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale. In this instance the subtitle is also the series title, as subsequent books in the series will have the same subtitle. In addition to identifying them as a part of a series, it also links the books to their origins, which is the Bad-Ass Faeries anthologies.
Basically, creating a series is creating a brand. All the above applies, only it has relevance for all the books under that series title, so some forethought needs to go into the process. Of course, sometimes you don’t realize you are writing a series until after the fact, sometimes after the first book is already published. That’s when you roll with it and hope the publisher is willing to submit a corrected cover after the fact, otherwise your only recourse (short of getting a new publisher) is to link the books as a series on the internet so that a search of the first book turns up information on the subsequent books.
Summing Up
I could say more, but I am afraid I it would be difficult to cover everything in a reasonable space and time (besides…my lunch hour is over) so I’ll end it here and leave something to talk about another time…or in response to comments, should you be good enough to leave me any.
This article was a little hard for me to write. Coming up with titles is fairly easy for me. I discovered that explaining how to come up with titles is not. There are so many aspects that go into naming a book or story and it is such a personal process. I hope this advice gave you something to think about and at least a direction to forge in to allow you to sort this out for yourself. There is no one right way, after all.
As a bonus, here’s something extra to think about:
The Four Stages of Getting Your Book Read
Catch their eye - The cover makes them notice the book.
Make them curious - The title makes them wonder what it’s about.
Hook them - the back cover copy is tantalizing enough to inspire them to open the book to read a little further.
Draw them in - the story is good enough to draw them into your world and make them curious to find out what happens next.
__________________________________________
I was serious about the comments...leave them, I promise to answer :)
By Danielle Ackley-McPhail
©2011
You know, there are a hell of a lot of books out there.
(Yeah, I know…Duh!)
So, sarcasm aside, how do we keep them all straight? There is so much information associated with a book: the author’s name, the publisher, the ISBN, but first and foremost is the title. In the majority of cases that is the first, and maybe only bit of information your audience is going to know.
Guess it better be good, right?
This article was actually inspired by comments I received on a previous article, The Naming of Names, where I go in depth on naming characters. Well, books are a writer’s children just as much as any born from their loins-or imagination-and should garner a similar level of thought in naming so let’s get down to it, shall we?
Getting it Right
You know, some parents will be outraged at this next comment, but I dare say it is more critical to get the name of your book right than it is those of your children. Why? Well…a child might hate their name, but there is always the option of a nickname, or should you truly cock it up, legal name changes. Basically, your children have options. Your books, not so much… Once you release a book it is very unlikely any significant change will ever be made in the title (unlikely, not impossible, before you protest, but I’ll get to that later.) So, why do I assume that the title is the first-and possibly only-aspect of your book your audience is going to encounter? Well, if you should be fortunate enough to have your book shelved on a physical bookstore shelf the majority of books are spine out. If you don’t make it into a brick-and-mortar store you have to consider that many internet or database searches do not often display with images, or when book sites do return images they are often of a size that doesn’t really do justice to the cover. That makes a good title even more vital. Because of this it is very important that the title stand and represent. Here are some points you need to consider when thinking about potential titles:
- Is it catchy? The best corollary to a book title is a jingle from a commercial. Short, sweet, and clever ones tend to linger in a person’s memory. Because of this many (but not all) titles tend to be four or less words (counting articles) and they tend to “pop” as they say in the industry, for example: White-Trash Zombie, Bad-Ass Faeries, A Series of Unfortunate Events (Lemony Snicket). All of those are attention-getters or have some sort of shock value that imprints them on people’s brains.
- Is it easy to remember? Titles shouldn’t be too complicated or long because those aspects increase the potential for a person to either forget them or to remember them incorrectly. Since many of us depend on word-of-mouth to expand our audiences, facilitating those talking about it getting the title correct is vital.
- Is it relevant? What does the title say about the book? You have to think about the title as your one-floor elevator pitch. It needs to catch your audience’s attention, catch it quick, and hold it. If the title doesn’t intrigue the audience you have lost your first, best opportunity to inspire them to consider the book further. You want them curious enough to pick it up and read the back, or in the case of the internet, click on the link to read further. To that end, the title should reflect something of the tone and subject matter of the book. It doesn’t have to be overt…sometimes subtle works really well in making a book intriguing…however, there can be an extremely fine line between intriguing and confusing. (Make sure you know which side of the line you’re on.)
- Is it distinct? Like I mentioned there are a lot of different identifiers for a book that should make it simple for a reader to be sure they have the one they were after-preferably yours. However, you can’t assume your audience is going to have all those details when they are trying to find your book. After all, we are depending on human memory here, in many cases, or idle references made on internet blogs or such, where those making the post may not see a need to be thorough with including certain details.
So…I know what you’re saying now. How the heck does that help me come up with titles? Fair enough. Believe me these points are relevant once you have a few ideas on the table, so to speak. Just keep them in the back of your mind while I go into some of the approaches you can take to the task.
Theme - Determine the theme of your story and try to incorporate that into a title. For my first novel, Yesterday’s Dreams, sacrifice and self-discovery were two overriding themes for the book. The title referred to a key location in the book, a pawnshop, but it also referred to the sacrifices the main character made for her family. That is the first relevance. It also referred to the character coming into her own when she feared there was nothing left for her. So dreams let go and dreams achieved.
Another example from my work is the series Bad-Ass Faeries. This meets all of the above bullet points quite handily but in relation to theme we started the series to bring the popular perception of faeries back to the roots of the legends where the fae were malevolent, mischievous, or warriors…not cute and fluffy. When you read the title you know you aren’t going to be reading about faerie princesses…unless they are also warriors.
Genre - which one are you writing in? This is relevant for two reasons. One: if you are writing genre you are generally writing to a very narrow target audience and there are often certain conventions in titles you might want to take into account. Doesn’t mean you have to follow them, but you should be aware. Two: genre writing has distinct characteristics that the title should reflect that way the readership is more likely to recognize that your work is what they are looking for. My example for this is my recent anthology In An Iron Cage: The Magic of Steampunk. This one we have to pick apart a bit. The “In An Iron Cage” part is catchy and intriguing but doesn’t really tell you what the collection is about. The subtitle “The Magic of Steampunk” makes it very clear this is a steampunk anthology and that the stories include magical elements, which identifies the book as both steampunk and fantasy.
Tone - Is your story or book serious or humorous? Is it full of drama or romance? It seems obvious enough, but this is very important to sort out, after all, you don’t want a joke title on a serious book because the audience is going to expect the title is a reflection of what they are going to read. For example: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglass Adams. With a title like that you expect the contents of the book are humorous. By contrast The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson (yeah…I had to look it up too…) tells you right up front that the story is frightening.
Concept - is there some defining idea in the book that would be interesting to the reader that you can allude to in the title? I’m working on a science fiction story at the moment that involves theoretical travel beyond known space. In doing my research I ran into a bit of information in a Dark Matter article about a reference ancient map makers use to place on their maps for areas that were unknown: Terra Incognita. That was a fun fact and given the concept of my story and that fact that it had to deal with space travel I had to name the story Astra Incognita. Not everyone will get the historic reference I'm alluding to, but they will-I hope-be intrigued enough to read on! And hey, for those that do get the reference, they are going to be thrilled and feel like they are in on a secret, and again-I hope-eager to see where I’m going with it.
Play on Words - I develop a lot of anthologies from concept to completion. With those I often start with just an idea and a title, or sometimes a piece of art that inspires a title. One of those collections is Dragon’s Lure. See, I have a couple of books on my table with dragons on the cover, but no dragons in the story (don’t ask). That made me realize I had a market for a dragon book if I could come up with an idea. For something different I figured it would be good to explore the concept of why world mythology attributes certain things as lures for dragons…like virgins and the moon or nests of gems. So the book is both about dragon lore and dragon lures, thus the title. Now like I said I started out with the title in that case, so it's kind of a cheat as an example, but you get what I mean, right?
Now I am sure that there are other things you could take into consideration but rather than go on and on, it’s time to cover some other relevant points.
The Business Side of Titles
Working titles. A lot of writers have what they call a working title in the beginning. It’s not really what they want for a final name, but it gives them something to reference when they are talking about it and something to name the file on their computer. It’s kind of like calling a baby or a pet “sweetie” or something cute like that until you get around to no longer bickering over what to call them. (unfortunately…my cat, Baby, got stuck with his pre-name). Of course, you might decide that you’re comfortable with your working title by the time you are done…or conversely, your publisher, in the end, may consider your final the working title and proceed to tell you what it’s actually going to be.
Will the Real Book Title Please Stand Up. Names repeat, whether they are for children, characters, or books. It just happens, hard to avoid with the combined volume of all three that exist in the world. Of course, with books you have a hope of minimizing any overlap. There is nothing saying a book can’t have the same title as another book but you want to be cautious and think through the ramifications. Do some research and see if there are other books out there with the same title. If it is an older title, I wouldn’t be too concerned, the way I would if it was a recent release. I definitely would think twice if the other book (or books) are in the same genre or have the same topic as yours because that is just asking for confusion among the reading audience…like I said, sometimes all they have is a title to go on so if you have two books with the same title and different authors, there is only a 50-50 chance they’ll pick the right one if they are after yours. The odds get exponentially worse if there is more than one already out there. I have a friend, L. Jagi Lamplighter, who ran into this problem. Her manuscript-which she had been working on for something like ten years-was titled Prospero’s Daughter. Somewhere in the middle of her working on it someone else released a book with her title. Both are fantasies. My friend eventually sold and released her book and while the publisher wasn’t too concerned about the title issue, my friend was uncomfortable with it and changed the name to Prospero Lost. Two more sequels have since released in this series…which brings me to my next topic:
Series Titles
Like sub titles, series titles help tell a bit more about books that are linked, if nothing else identifying that they go together. In the case of Ms. Lamplighter’s books her original title, Prospero’s Daughter, became her series title, thus allowing her to retain the title she liked and providing more information on the series, which are all from Miranda’s perspective (the books are based on the characters from Shakespeare’s Tempest).
I have several series that I am associated with in one capacity or another and the fact that there is a series title lets the reader know there are more books out there. For instance, Yesterday’s Dreams is book one in the Eternal Cycle series (followed by Tomorrow’s Memories and Today’s Promise). I have another novel, The Halfling’s Court: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale. In this instance the subtitle is also the series title, as subsequent books in the series will have the same subtitle. In addition to identifying them as a part of a series, it also links the books to their origins, which is the Bad-Ass Faeries anthologies.
Basically, creating a series is creating a brand. All the above applies, only it has relevance for all the books under that series title, so some forethought needs to go into the process. Of course, sometimes you don’t realize you are writing a series until after the fact, sometimes after the first book is already published. That’s when you roll with it and hope the publisher is willing to submit a corrected cover after the fact, otherwise your only recourse (short of getting a new publisher) is to link the books as a series on the internet so that a search of the first book turns up information on the subsequent books.
Summing Up
I could say more, but I am afraid I it would be difficult to cover everything in a reasonable space and time (besides…my lunch hour is over) so I’ll end it here and leave something to talk about another time…or in response to comments, should you be good enough to leave me any.
This article was a little hard for me to write. Coming up with titles is fairly easy for me. I discovered that explaining how to come up with titles is not. There are so many aspects that go into naming a book or story and it is such a personal process. I hope this advice gave you something to think about and at least a direction to forge in to allow you to sort this out for yourself. There is no one right way, after all.
As a bonus, here’s something extra to think about:
The Four Stages of Getting Your Book Read
Catch their eye - The cover makes them notice the book.
Make them curious - The title makes them wonder what it’s about.
Hook them - the back cover copy is tantalizing enough to inspire them to open the book to read a little further.
Draw them in - the story is good enough to draw them into your world and make them curious to find out what happens next.
__________________________________________
I was serious about the comments...leave them, I promise to answer :)