Help with book title please? Construction/length/copyright

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Manny

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I could use some help from you folks on a couple of issues relating to my title.

This will be a self published 'how to' guide for men seeking marriage with a woman from Russia or the FSU. I am thinking the title must be rather keyword rich to be found on Google and Amazon etc in the future. Having this morning perused the weak competition on Amazon, this reveals with some searching fanciful titles such as 'from nyet to da', 'understanding russian women', 'love letters from Russia' and 'how to survive an international marriage'. All very nice but not the terms people will search for which will be 'Russian women' or maybe 'mail order bride'.

So the front runner up to now on my notebook is:

A Guide to Russian Women
How to meet, court and marry a lady from the Former Soviet Union

I may have preferred 'Russian Women Guide' but that is a popular phrase used by a big US based dating website called rwguide.com and is splattered all over their sites. I recall there is no copyright in book titles and indeed rwguide do not own the domain name russianwomenguide.com so can they claim ownership of the phrase 'Russian Women Guide' or not? May it be a registered trademark in the US and how would one find out?

Moreover, in my title above I use 'women' in the main title and 'lady' in the sub title. That somehow doesnt look correct to me for some reason? But I feel I shouldnt use the word 'woman' when I have used 'women' already - but again I am undecided.

I need to commit to this as the cover photographer I have talked into creating the book cover in the correct format etc also, and he wants to get on with it, as do I.

Its just one of those times when you need another opinion. Any thoughts?
 

Manny

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Having just read the post again I am inclined to think the top main title is OK. And who needs passing off accusations?

I am still torn between:

A Guide to Russian Women
How to meet, court and marry a lady from the Former Soviet Union

and:

A Guide to Russian Women
How to meet, court and marry a woman from the Former Soviet Union

And is the above capitalised correctly?
 

Maryn

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I agree, the word lady in the subtitle feels wrong, and repeating woman does, too.

Would it be too cheesy to consider something just a bit catchier, Manny?

A Guide to the Russian Bride
How to Meet, Court, and Marry a Woman from the Former* Soviet Union

Maryn, hoping this helps

*There's no reason to capitalize former unless you're using Title Caps, like I did. If you choose to treat it like a sentence, former isn't part of the proper noun.
 

jst5150

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A lady, according to the AP Stylebook, implies a certain kind of pedigree; schooling, etiquette and so forth. Specifically, "Lady may be used when it is a courtesy title or when a specific reference to to fine manners is appropriate (and here comes the key phrase) without patronizing overtones."

Maryn, as usual, nailed it.

And did I mention how much I LOVE the AP stylebook? Oh yeah. Lerve it. :)

Jason, who wishes he'd had Maryn's signature style before she did. ;)
 

Manny

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I am all for catchier and new ideas.

I capitalised 'Former' as everyone tends to do that as (FSU) 'Former Soviet Union' tends to be regarded as a name.

However, I just looked it up on Wiki and it is written there as:

Wiki said:
the former Soviet Union, the nations of Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. These countries, except Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, now form the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

So you may be right.
 
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Manny

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A lady, according to the AP Stylebook, implies a certain kind of pedigree; schooling, etiquette and so forth. Specifically, "Lady may be used when it is a courtesy title or when a specific reference to to fine manners is appropriate (and here comes the key phrase) without patronizing overtones.

Well one reason guys go to Russia is because the vast majority of women are schooled to degree standard; men go there in search of ladies as per your definition.

Other book titles tend to capitalise 'former' in the phrase 'Former Soviet Union'. Should it be treated as a sentence as regards title caps or not?
 
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