I've been trying to rename a book I wrote a couple years ago. I've been going through it, doing some edits, and one thing it has ALWAYS needed is a really good name. I'm not good with titles in general, at least not my own titles. So this is something that plagues me every time I write something new.
And I know, for me at least, a title really does make a difference. I've chosen to read or not to read books on their title alone. I just finished a book in fact that I bought several months ago (I had a new Nook and the ebook price was cheap) :) but I hadn't really had an interest in reading it because of the title. The description sold me on it, but every time I saw the title in my library, I just passed it by. It has a really bad title that really has nothing to do with the book now that I've read it (and it turned out to be a pretty good story, one that has me wanting to read the many, many other books in the series).
So I'm curious, do you have a hard time naming your books? Do you stress over your titles? And do you ever judge a book by its name?
12 comments:
I have a hard time naming books.
Can't remember the site's name, but there's a place you can enter potential names of books and it will tell you the strength of the title.
OMG! It took three years to come up with it. The other titles weren't stinkers...but they didn't work as well. Good luck.
I always dread it when people ask me to come up with a title for their book after I've read it. I SUCK at coming up with titles. Sometimes they come easily for me with it's my own, but never when it's for someone else's book.
Titles are important for me, but not as important as the cover. Some books I can't even remember the name of it, but I remember the cover. Which, btw, isn't very helpful when you're trying to look it up online and don't remember the author's name, either. ;)
It took three years to come up with a great title, not that the others were stinkers, they just didn't rock.
Some titles have just popped into my head, and others have taken longer! I think titles are so important. I've definitely judged a book by its title!
I'm struggling with this right now with my current WiP. I cannot come up with a good title and it's driving me nuts. I've never had such a hard time titling a book.
An interesting title will make me grab the book off the shelf while a ho-hum or downright awful title will make me pass it right by.
Titles are everything to me. SO important. They set the tone before you even read the blurb...<3 your newest follower
Used to struggle to find names for sequels, now just use the same again..
Candle Dark sequel will be River Dark and so on..
I kind of obsess over titles and change them on a whim when I don't like them. My first book only had two titles, but my third one had four. It actually helps me know which draft was written when. :)
I'm with you on the frustration of it, though. If you open goodreads.com or amazon.com and look up every title you think of, you usually find a million other books with the same or similar title, esp if you're trying to keep with the one-word theme! It's tough!
I definitely judge books by their names. I'm afraid to give my WIP a working title because I'm afraid it won't be good enough. When I do get around to titling a book, I spend days at it, usually coming up with horrible titles before finding one I really like.
For the second book in my VICTIM OF PROPHECY series, the title SECONDHAND HEART kind of jumped out at me from nowhere. I wanted the title to have something to do with a heart (because of a birthmark the MC has) but wasn't sure where to go from there. I can't tell you how many bad titles I chose before stumbling upon this one. Now I'm struggling to name my new WIP, and nothing's come yet. I guess patience is a virtue!
With two of my WIPs I knew what the names were immediately. With my first one, though, it took me a year. Ugh. A YEAR!
Apparently, titles are difficult for me too. I entered my novel in a writing contest. When I received a critique on the first 45 pages of it, the main problem the author had with it was my title. If you have a good title you're not going to use, please let me have it. I need one.
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