sometimes i know before, sometimes long after a book is finished, and sometimes it comes to me in the middle.
some books are harder to title than others, and I have one on sub that it's currently 'untitled urban fantasy'.
Sometimes titles get changed, it happens alot actually, usually if the title is too similar to something already on the publishers list, or there's another higher profile author with a book of the same title coming out.
Sometimes this is at the authors request, and sometimes it's at the publishers.
Sometimes titles get changed because they suck.
For example:
JKR - the philosophers stone was changed in america because it was assumed that americans wouldn't grasp the concept of a philosophers stone. (people can make really stupid assumptions sometimes)
Terry Pratchett - Nightwatch was originally entitled The Nature of the Beast, but was changed when Frances Fyfield published a book of the same title before hand.
Stephenie Meyer - Twilight was originally called 'forks' but this was changed on the publishers request because, well, lets be honest, forks is a bad title.
