Book titles

You'll change it as needed, and then the publisher will change it again. If you think that your title is the same title that will be on the book, think again. However, the title you choose should be something that catches the industry's eye and makes the novel stand out. Sometimes shock works, and sometimes it's just a matter of being different. Mario Acevedo, whose book appears in March of 2006, catches the eye with shock treatment. The title is: the Nymphos of Rocky Flats. If that title doesn't make you want to see what it's about, nothing will. Interestingly, it's a vampire novel.

Titles

Jewel101 said:

What is the likelyhood of keeping my current title? Is it best to change your title several times?

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It's best to put a title on your book that you like, and then forget about it. The publisher may or may not change it. I've now kept eight out of nine titles, but I think this is pretty rare.

I'd bet if the publisher's like a film studio, the title of your book will get tossed around like Kirsten Dunst at a frat party. Reasons? Marketing, sale-ability and testing against focus groups (if it gets that sort of treatment).

Go in with a title you like. Have some other suggestions handy. Then, when they start monkeying with the title, and change it to something you already have written down, you can smile and move on. ;-)

None of my titles have been changed, even though in a couple of cases I would have welcomed it. If you come up with a good title, you probably have an even chance of keeping it.

- Victoria

I had a working title for my first project. When it came to packaging it, an author friend told me it was quite cute, but not appropriate for suspense. I slept on it and came up with a new one -- a phrase that was buried within the novel itself. The publisher loved it, too. I lean towards titles with no more than three words. It makes it much easier to remember them. ;o)

I was at a reading by a well-known science fiction author a couple of weeks ago, and someone in the audience asked about titles. He said that his books almost never end up with his preferred title. After having titles changed by the publisher a number of times, his method now is to give the publisher a list of acceptable titles, and the publisher almost always picks the title from his list that he likes the least.

Philip Pullman's "Northern lights" (cool) -> "Golden Compass" (stupid)
JK Rowling's "Philosopher's Stone"(cool) -> "Sorcerer's Stone" (stupid and nonsensical)

It seems to me that publishers can do what the hell they want with the title. It's not as if you're going to say "If you change the title I'm not letting you publish it" !