Author Confessions: The Trouble with Titles
A title is the first thing people see or hear about a book. Interestingly enough, they are not copywrited. The story is but not the title. Probably a good thing since they contain so few words it would be challenging to come up with a nice sounding title for any book.
Just because you have a working title for your book doesn’t mean that is what it will still be be called by the time it’s published. I’ve had a few stories that had title changes:
- Whitney’s Vow was originally Whitney’s Redemption
- Fragile Blessings was originally titled A Wisconsin Christmas Blessing.
- Sugar Cookies and Street Lamps was originally Sugar Cookies and Street Crossings
- A Tangled Christmas was once A Christmas Tangle
As I’ve worked with other authors there have been times before contracting them when I told them I would want to change the title. Sometimes the Editor-in-chief will decide that after the book has been contracted. Usually the title doesn’t change before then. When I’ve worked with authors on brainstorming titles I will come up with absurd and ridiculous choices but sometimes when you have a lot of those and some decent ones mixed in, one will rise to the top.
Once or twice that process went on without me and all of a sudden I’ve discovered an author has a different title after the editor-in-chief contacted the author directly. That’s totally fine! The reality is for us it is a collaborative process but that is not necessarily true for other publishing houses.
One of the things I am known for is my use of alliteration in some of my titles. It stared with my Gothic Regency Series: The Baron’s Blunder, The Virtuous Viscount, Lord Phillip’s Folly, Sir Michael’s Mayhem, Lord Harrow’s Heart, and The Captain’s Conquest. I also did that with my contemporary Orchard Hill romances: Pesto & Potholes, Salsa & Speed Bumps, Feta and Freeways, Root Beer and Roadblocks, Bratwurst & Bridges, Donuts & Detours, and Truffles & Traffic. I do have more possibly to write in that series but being locked into that alliteration as well as them being metaphors makes it challenging! I also try to not repeat a letter combination in a series to help keep them straight. Not all my titles are alliteration however so it’s not something I obsessively feel I need to do except in a series where I’ve already started with that.
Brainstorming a title can be fun and most of the time a publisher good about leaving a title alone but authors need to have a loose grip because that title might change after you’ve signed that contract and whether they include you in the decision making or not, it is the title you will have for your masterpiece.
Sometimes an author will have a book go out of publication with another publisher and decide to republish it. This not only involves a new round of edits but often a title change and new cover to give it a fresh appearance. Sometimes in the description it might state that it was originally published under another title. It’s not like we’re trying to do a bait and switch but sometimes even a fresh title suits the story better than the original did. Usually, that first story was published long enough ago that perhaps fans of that author would enjoy the new improved version.
One of my favorite titles of an author I’ve worked with is Murder of Crows by Anita Klumpers. Delicious title! Not an original one but unique for Christian suspense. Her first novel, Winter Watch has a title I love as well but it was not the original. I can’t remember what the original was!
Coming up with a title that will capture a reader’s attention as well as encapsulate in a few words the feel of a book is not an easy task, but it can be a fun process if the author can have a loose grip on their working title. If you can’t let that go traditional publishing might not be for you. When you self-publish you can title a book whatever you want. The trouble with titles, however, is trying to come up with something that will stand out and sometimes a team is a good way to get there.
What are some of your favorite book titles of author’s you’ve come across?
