Inside Scoop on Babysitters Paperback

Some readers have said that they found the title "The Babysitter Murders" misleading. (They expected a murder mystery when the book is an exploration of mental illness, media ethics, and my culture's attitudes towards illnesses it doesn't understand.)

Well, readers and friends, brace yourselves, because Atheneum told me early this week that the paperback edition is most likely going to have a NEW TITLE as well as a new cover design and an author's note about how I decided to tackle this subject matter.

Changing a book title, my editor said, is unusual "but not unprecedented." For curiosity's sake, I may do some homework about which other books have had title changes after being published. (Yes, I know all the stories about Hemingway's titles, but that was pre-publication.)

Anyway--and this does not constitute investment advice--it's looking like the version of Babysitter that's out now will have a limited run. If you love this book, you may want to own both copies!

As for the new title, I think I'll keep that to myself for a while. What do YOU think it should be?