What do you consider a good title?

xcomplex · Dec 2, 2009

According to me lol and many others title plays a very important role in a book, even with the queries. So how do you know when you have a good title or not? How do you know that others will like it, and what do you consider a great title?

I am thinking that alot of times one word titles are very catchy. What do you guys think?

What about titles like "The ..." or like "The truth" or something simple like that. What do you think of those types of titles?

Thanks guys and I would love to know what you all think!

Maxinquaye · Dec 2, 2009

Don't worry about it. Your agent and/or editor is going to be the one that determins the title of your book.

xcomplex · Dec 2, 2009

I am not only talking about the title of my book, I mean titles over all.

Maxinquaye · Dec 2, 2009

Besides...

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163618

Southpaw · Dec 2, 2009

Titles are everything. When I walk into a bookstore with rows and rows of literature, it’s the title and the cover art that will get me to pick it up. I went through my recent reads and found that the titles all conjured up some type of image. The only time I think this is not true is when I getting a new book from an author I already really enjoy. The title can be just so-so and I’ll still get it.

xcomplex · Dec 2, 2009

Maxinquaye said:
Besides...

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163618

my ? is different. I am asking what titles attract people.

AlissaC · Dec 2, 2009

Interesting question.

I usually pick up books based on recommendations, reviews, or past experience with an author, but I just looked down a list of the books I've read recently and pulled out some that I initially picked up to examine based on the title. The main theme, for me at least, is that I tend to pick up books whose title intrigues me because of an unusual combination of words or an unusual imagery associated with them. Examples: "Lovely Bones," "Dogs of Babel," "Jennifer Government." There was something enough out of the ordinary to make me reach out and grab it off the shelf to examine further.

On the flip side, I almost never pick up books with a title that is a character's name. Maybe the character is brilliant and awesome and the perfect title to a book, but it's more likely that I have preconceived notions about the name (boss I never liked, icky kid on playground in grade school) and I just tend not to reach for those.

I wonder what this says about me?

The Lonely One · Dec 2, 2009

A title is like the name of your product. I would think it has to do all the proper marketing things product names do, if your goal is sales.

So I guess if it's one word, a phrase, a combination of numbers...depends on your audience and what best represents your book. I think titles can be an art to themselves, and difficult to come up with at times.

I'm curious about the user who said "the agent or editor chooses your title." Is that actually correct? I know they have authority to change titles, but will they simply opt to choose whatever the hell they want without regard for your title? I had an editor that ALWAYS changed my headlines, but I think that's a little different, isn't it?

escritora · Dec 2, 2009

"the agent or editor chooses your title." Is that actually correct? I know they have authority to change titles, but will they simply opt to choose whatever the hell they want without regard for your title?

The publisher will have final say on the title. I can't remember the exact words of my contracts, but it's something like "We will choose the title, ask you how you feel about it, and if you don't like it too bad so sad."

Libbie · Dec 2, 2009

"_____'s Story" does not interest me, I can tell you that.

I also have a personal and very deep loathing for pun titles.

Plus, I am absolutely sick of "The ___'s Wife" and "The ____'s Daughter."

gothicangel · Dec 3, 2009

If I'm in a bookstore, a title needs to grab me first, I like it to sound gritty and dark. Current book I'm reading is called 'My Soul To Take.'

I've enjoyed Nicci French novels, but have never been tempted to pick up the title 'Killing me Softly.'

Ellefire · Dec 3, 2009

Libbie said:
Plus, I am absolutely sick of "The ___'s Wife" and "The ____'s Daughter."

Agreed. Although I did pick up one called 'The pornographer's poem'

Unusual titles are good. Books I've picked up on the title alone:
The tortilla curtain
One hand clapping
Once in a house on fire

If I see a title and think 'oh my, what is that about?', I'm more likely to read the blurb on the back.

KTC · Dec 3, 2009

Southpaw said:
Titles are everything. When I walk into a bookstore with rows and rows of literature, it’s the title and the cover art that will get me to pick it up. I went through my recent reads and found that the titles all conjured up some type of image. The only time I think this is not true is when I getting a new book from an author I already really enjoy. The title can be just so-so and I’ll still get it.

Yes...when the book is on the bookstore shelf the title does matter a lot. I have always been the victim of a good title. I can't tell you how many books I bought based on the title alone.

But before it's a book...not so important. You always have to be ready for a title change.

There is something to say about them being catchy enough to spike the first interest, though. When I was querying for one manuscript, I mentioned that I had another one nearing completion and I included the title...just as an aside to show that I was taking my writing seriously, etc.

I got a reply asking to see the other manuscript if and when I completed it...because the agent loved the title. I got a request based on a title.

bearilou · Dec 3, 2009

I was going to say that titles don't affect me much until I realized I picked up some of my favorite books (The Black Company, Witchhunter, Orcs)* based on the title alone (and fell in love with them but that's another tale for the telling).

*I do recognize it may also be the subject matter of the books as referenced by the title that drew me to them, which I think explains why the title was so important to this reader!

ChaosTitan · Dec 3, 2009

The Lonely One said:
I'm curious about the user who said "the agent or editor chooses your title." Is that actually correct? I know they have authority to change titles, but will they simply opt to choose whatever the hell they want without regard for your title?

escritora said:
The publisher will have final say on the title. I can't remember the exact words of my contracts, but it's something like "We will choose the title, ask you how you feel about it, and if you don't like it too bad so sad."

Actually, marketing usually has the final say. But this is not an absolute, and the answer really is "it depends."

Is it important to have a good title while writing the manuscript? Not really. Is it important to try and come up with something unique and eye-catching before you start querying agents/editors? Absolutely yes. Agents notice titles in queries. I know of several authors recently (debut authors) who were able to keep the title they queried with (myself included).

If someone along the food chain wants a new title (marketing reasons, someone else has a book with the same/similar title, etc...), good editors will consult with author and help you brainstorm a replacement. The idea is to come up with something you can both live with.

/end minor derail

In terms of being a book buyer, yes, titles are important to me. If it's a book I've never heard of and it's spine-out on a shelf, the title is going to draw my eye first. It needs to hint at what's on the pages.

CaroGirl · Dec 3, 2009

I don't generally read much genre, so I like a title that tells me what I'm going to get and isn't too misleading. If it's called The Quest of X'Ornith, I know it's likely a fantasy and I can decide whether that's the kind of book I'm in the mood for. Likewise, Lily's Passion (romance), Murder in the Morgue (mystery), The Final Conspiracy (espionage), and so on.

I'm far more intrigued by mainstream/literary titles like Fall; The Book Thief; Come, Thou Tortoise; The White Tiger (these are some titles I've read this past year), and I'd be far more likely to pick up a book with these titles. If I started to read a book called A Cascade of Weather (for example) and discovered it was actually a fantasy or science fiction, I'd be disappointed.

Lady Ice · Dec 3, 2009

Southpaw said:
Titles are everything. When I walk into a bookstore with rows and rows of literature, it’s the title and the cover art that will get me to pick it up. I went through my recent reads and found that the titles all conjured up some type of image. The only time I think this is not true is when I getting a new book from an author I already really enjoy. The title can be just so-so and I’ll still get it.

Same here. A good title should evoke emotion in you- whether that's excitement, laughter, sorrow, or whatever- which prompts you to buy the book.

I like titles which look like they'll be tragic and also titles which allude to other works.

Sevvy · Dec 3, 2009

I think The Sound and the Fury is one of the best titles ever. It just works so well, and it's so powerful. I've never read it, it's not my kind of book, but the title is spectacular. I wish that I could write a book titled that.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is also a great one. And Paradise Lost.

Lady Ice · Dec 3, 2009

Sevvy said:
I think The Sound and the Fury is one of the best titles ever. It just works so well, and it's so powerful. I've never read it, it's not my kind of book, but the title is spectacular. I wish that I could write a book titled that.

Maybe because the title's from Macbeth:
'It is a tale told by an idiot
Full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing'

Jamesaritchie · Dec 3, 2009

The only importance a title has for me is that I have to have a title I like before I start writing. The title itself generates not only the idea for the book, but guides me through the book and keeps me on course.

I won't say title is unimportant for a published book, but there sure are a God-Almighty lot of bestsellers with bland, nothing titles.

entropic island · Dec 3, 2009

I don't like "The (One Word)" titles. But that's my opinion. Other people don't read anything else.

Slushie · Dec 3, 2009

Just to back up JAR's point, here are some titles currently on the NYT Harcover Fiction Bestsellers:

Ford County
The Help
The Wrecker
True Blue
The Lacuna
The Gathering Storm
The Last Song
Heat Wave

All of those titles fall flat in me. The names behind some of those titles are what's selling. Most of the titles #16 and below are more inventive. Weird.

It's so subjective. I love the title A Passage to India, but I'm sure a lot of people would skip right over it.

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