What’s In a Name

T is for Title

Kathleen Coddington

As authors we often spend hours wracking our brains for the perfect title that will not only grab the reader’s attention, but will also best exemplify our story. In the end, as is often the case, after all our hours of agonizing over just the right choice, our publisher weighs in. They either change the title or assign us that task, which is exactly what happened with my second book. Originally titled Love’s Tangled Web, after I submitted it my editor informed me that I had to find a new title because the company already had a similarly named novel. After days of crumbled paper filled with possibilities, Mistress of Deception became the new choice. All that hard work got me to thinking about titles in general. Titles and covers help sell books, so here are a few helpful tips to keep in mind when selecting your next title:

Make sure the title fits the tone, theme and genre of your story.
Keep it short. Use descriptive nouns and short words with lots of punch. Taken, Defiance, Signs—there’s a reason why movie makers and publishers use titles like these.

Consider alliteration or tried and true words with a twist, like Pride and Prejudice, Miss Understanding, Mythalliance, Made of Honor.

Shoot for something original. Run a search on Amazon.com. If you get lots of hits, it might be wise to choose a new title. On the other hand, titles can not be copyrighted, so if the absolute perfect title for your book has already been used, feel free to use the same title.

Brainstorm. List a bunch of possible choices, then list some more. Look to poetry, folklore and fables, Shakespeare and the Bible for ideas.
Look to your book for ideas. Focus on the stories theme—revenge, forgiveness, justice, etc…One of those words might do the trick. Or perhaps a line of prose or dialog holds the key to the story and hence to a fantastic title.

Have a backup in case your publisher doesn’t like your first choice or has just bought a book with the same or a similar title.
Reserve a page in a notebook for possible titles. Sometimes the best ideas come in the middle of the night, even from a snippet of a dream so keep a pencil and the notebook handy. Or set up a file for titles as I’ve started to do. I often query my critique partners for words they would use to characterize my story or to help select those titles that most resonate with them

On a lighter side, according to the list of titles up for 2008’s Diagram Prize (a prize awarded by the British publishing magazine The Bookseller for the oddest title of the year) there are a few authors out there who obviously have very different ideas about choosing titles. Among my favorite entries: I Was Tortured by the Pygmy Love Queen, If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start with Your Legs and Cheese Problems Solved. Of course it’s hard to beat the catchy title of the first prize ever awarded in 1978, Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice. Apparently mice have a whole other life we know nothing about.

First impressions are important so give your next title the attention it deserves.

Kathleen Coddington writes paranormal and historical romance. She currently has three books published with Cerridwen Press. To find out more about her, visit her website at www.kathlelencoddington.com or go to www.jasminejade.com.