Titling a short story collection

Go with the title that makes me want to read the book.

My impression from other posts is that you're seeking trade publication; in that case, don't worry so much about the title because a publisher might change it.

If you're self-publishing, include something in the title that makes it crystal clear that it's a collection of short stories. I'd also suggest googling your potential title and looking it up on Amazon to see if there's a well-selling book with a similar title.

I always think of collection titles sort of like museum collections but get mad poetic with it. Instead of objects its themes. If there isn't something binding the stories together the centerpiece story would probably be best.

I have 2 short stories anthologies in the works, and they are following a theme.

One is titled "The mercenary's fate and other destinies", having two parts, "The mercenary's fate", centered on vignettes on the same character, and "Other destinies", which are other unrelated short stories.

The other is titled "The old antiquity seller's stories", centered on stories about people and things in the antiquity shop.

I am published with a small press and they never tried to change my titles.

I published a short story collection with a small press last year and have a fantasy noir collection coming out this fall from the same press.

My short story collection's name was derived from a review I had for the third short story, saying my works reminded her of "Lord of the Rings if filmed by Sergio Leone" because for three stories I'd never named or described my protagonist. So, I finished the series with my "Rogue with No Name" and the collection title just had to be "For a Few Gold Pieces More".

The fantasy noir collection I'm putting out this year follows a detective named Theron Chase, so I'm titling the collection "Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase. Each of the stories are named The X X Affair (ala The Sparkly Reaper Affair from this year's Sisyphus contest), but I wanted a title that would tie all the stories together, so I decided to play off of the lead character's name - not unlike how some TV shows are named.

Some sage advice offered here. All is good.

@Richard White:

Great titles! Nice!