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Help Choosing a Title
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An ebook I read a while ago was similar in subject matter although it was one married woman finding hot sex with her husband. That book is What Wendy Wants by Nikki Sex. Maybe that'll give you an idea or two? Titling can be difficult. The title for my first novel is The Binding because the Binding Ceremony features prominently though the entire story. That said, I do have "alternate" titles - The Bonding, which is another prominent "feature" of the story; and Mehlee'an, which is another word for those who are bonded together. There's also The Prophecy and/or The Promise Kept. The prequel WIP has a temporary title, that of the main character, at the moment because I haven't settled on something better. A Legend is Born/Birth of a Legend are in the running but are a bit cliché so...not at the top of the list. The sequel WIP is titled Journeys since it's the journey of the main character from toddler to adulthood. The companion story WIP was originally titled Cuinn's Story (not very original) and has been changed to Choices since every choice the main character(s) make changes their lives. (And in today's Fussy Librarian email is a book by Michelle MacQueen titled - Choices. (Can I cry now?)
In the past I had a novella epublished which consists of four parts - Conception, Transformation, Redemption and Revelation. I've called it my "-tion" series because in each part you'll find the title of the other three somewhere in the story and they all end in "-tion." When it was published, it was titled simply Emach's Story. Emach is the main character in the first two parts, and prominent in the other two parts. I've been searching ever since for a better title - something which ends in "-tion" and with a little rewriting I can work into all the parts. I may have found something but I'm not settled on it yet. This BTW is the only thing I've had published other than a few short stories.
Maybe this gives you some ideas? Hope this helps.
1. The Marriage Bed.2. The Pursuit of the Happy Wife
Sandy, thanks for the pointer to What Wendy Wants. Married sex seems a subject seldom discussed in novels. Sandy and Mary, what I really want here is some help with the principles. Are Jeff's goals applicable? Or are there more novel-specific ones?
Absent principles, it's impossible to judge titles. Seems that getting found by readers searching for your content is good. (My first working title was A,L,M, initials of my heroines, which is, by Jeff's rules, a worthless title.)
Sandy, thanks for the pointer to What Wendy Wants. Married sex seems a subject seldom discussed in novels. Sandy and Mary, what I really want here is some help with the principles. Are Jeff's goals applicable? Or are there more novel-specific ones?
Absent principles, it's impossible to judge titles. Seems that getting found by readers searching for your content is good. (My first working title was A,L,M, initials of my heroines, which is, by Jeff's rules, a worthless title.)
If by principles you mean these -1) Explain the book.
2) Meet the customer's needs.
3) Get found on search.
The first is probably the easiest, and most difficult. It's also, in my opinion (for what it's worth) the one to use. Your title is what's going to "catch" the reader. The most difficult aspect of "explaining the book" is going to be distilling the story down to one or a few words. Take a look at the books you've read on your book shelves. How does the title relate to the story? Is it person, place or thing?
Person can be the main character's name or description of the main character(s). Example - My Champion, Jake, etc.
Place can be a location, as precise or as vague as you want - The Shores of Tripoli, Lichgates, etc.
Thing can be...whatever's not included above including actions - Claimed, Scandal, The Lost Highlander, etc.
Meet the customer's needs - Your book/story is going to do that. Your title needs to catch their attention and entice the prospective reader to open the book and sample the pages. Example - Browsing a bookstore's shelves (or Book Bub, etc.) the first thing with catches my eye is the title and the front cover. Next is the blurb/write up. If it's a bookstore, I'll start flipping through the book reading small sections to confirm my interest. With Book Bub and the Fussy Librarian, I'll click on the link which takes me to the blurb/write up on Amazon. Once I've confirmed my interest...I purchase the book. That's my process, but the title is the first hook. The only exception would be for the very few authors which are on my "To Buy" list, but that's a relationship which develops over time.
Get found on search - That's a hard one. Speaking only for myself here. I don't search for books by genre, subject or title online UNLESS I already know from the start that I'm searching for a specific book or author. Again speaking for myself, I find browsing books online difficult. I'll browse in a bookstore (or wherever I find books) going left to right, shelf by shelf. Online I let Book Bub and Fussy Librarian do the browsing, then pick and choose what catches my interest. And once again - the title is the hook.
So to sum up those three principles and remember this is just my opinion - the last two are more applicable to manuals. Example - Windows for Dummies. It explains the book (it's about Windows), meets the customer's needs (explains how to use Windows) and gets found on search (you're looking for a book about Windows).
Then again one can always go the way of the absurd. While I was writing this the "title" The Mechanics of the Marital Bed" kept popping up. Sounds like a manual but...doesn't have to be. LOL
Hope this helps a little.
Thanks, Sandy. I'll give my own question a bit of a go.2) Meet the customer's needs.
A bit software specific. More broadly, education specific. (In my case, customer wants to get better at a particular corner of software writing). I think that changing 'needs' to 'wants' makes it more novel-relevant.
I'm having trouble separating 2) from 3), tho. I assume that browsers looking for, say, historical fiction have keyed 'historical fiction' into some search box.
And I'm having trouble with names. 'Huckleberry Finn' suggests a main character who may not be a college graduate? 'Pride and Prejudice' doesn't scream 'classic, HEA romance' to me. '50 Shades of Grey' sold pretty well, but the title says?
On topic? I asked Amazon Books to recommend 'novel marital romance'. It inquired if I might have meant 'novel martial romance' (I didn't) and then listed:Out of the Valley
A Girl's Guide to Moving On: A Novel
Room for Hope: A Novel
The Mistress of Tall Acre: A Novel
The Dance (The Restoration Series Book #1): A Novel
Poldark Season 2 1977 [note: video, not book]
Nightingale Way: An Eternity Springs Novel
Mr. Maybe
Heartache Falls: An Eternity Springs Novel
The Ex Files: A Novel About Four Women and Faith
I am sure Ballantine (three titles, all ending 'A Novel') must know something. Not sure what.
Try rearranging/changing your search key words.Suggestions off the top of my head -
marital romance fiction
fiction marital romance
married couple romance
married couples romance
married couple romance fiction
married couples romance fiction
fiction married couple romance
fiction married couples romance
married romance fiction
etc.
I think you catch my drift here. The problem, if you will, with the word 'novel' is that it can mean a fiction story or something new and/or unusual (a novel idea). Search engines cannot distinguish between the two which gives you mixed results. Try using book or story along with fiction.
This is pretty much why I don't use a search engine to browse. I have more things to do than spend hours at the computer sifting through...stuff. When I search it's for something specific, whether on Amazon or using Google.
Thought just crossed my mind - check out the tag words for the books your search found which are relevant. Make a list and search adding (or removing) those tag words.
Commenting on '50 Shades of Gray' -
Gray is a main character. (who)
50 shades (what) - People have more than one 'facet.' Even the shallowest people have some depth to them.
What the title is telling me is that this person Gray has 50 shades (or facets) to him. My next question would be what kind of facets? It makes me think he (or she because just by the title alone we don't know one way or the other) is an interesting person. Why? The title hooks you, making you want to know more. Plus it's a play on words - gray is a color which can have many shades. It alludes to the story. It's very much a metaphor.
I don't know if I'm explaining it very well.
Mmm maybe:-The wedding bed
-Love Knot (As in tying the knot and also a play on the word not. Can they have great love (sex) or not)
-The Intimacy of ___ (insert name of character/town)
Geez. Principles, please. A good title will...1)
2)
3)
And then we look at a suggestion and we have a measuring stick.
Stan, your suggestion fits nicely with what one of our heroines calls Thing One. And, (hint) all my beta readers are women, so far.
I like 'arousing' Barbara. How far have you gotten?
S., your name is a tease. Or maybe knot. (One of my heroines learns to tie a clove hitch. In her bedroom. Another hint.)
I'll finish tonight.1) a good title makes curious, intrigues, sparks interest
2) is easy to pronounce and remember
3) gives a hint about the genre (erotic, mysterious, non-fiction...)
Look for'd to your feedback, Barbara!Is 'pronounce and remember' one thing or two?
Let me expand this with a bit more thinking. If you look at 'novel' in my search example, you see that books with 'novel' in the title OR SUBTITLE are favored.One can let the title tease (for those who are browsing) and lard the subtitle with likely search terms.
Now, who can tell me how to guess the search terms? Any database of most-frequently-searched at Amazon?
1) "pronounce and remember" as meant as one2) I can't imagine anybody searching something good to read by googling "novel".
I guess most people go by genre if they are not looking for something specific (e.g. an author). Or, on amazon and also here on GR, there are always the "recommandations". Browsing the recommandations it will be the title combined with the cover that makes you take a closer look.
When you search on amazon with "search terms" other than genres the first results always are non-fiction.
3) Important are the title as a hook, the cover as eye-catcher and the genre you put your work in. Search terms are not important for novels.For those who participate in this discussion and havn't read Martin's book: it's very entertaining, not a first draft (he clearly put a lot of work and editing into it) and it needs a male beta reader!! (And a title that would catch male readers too)
Think Amazon search in books, Barbara. Or Barnes and Noble. Genre is a search term. And I use 'novel' in Amazon books to get rid of (most!) short story collections, poetry, ...Thank you for your kind words. And make that plural: male beta readers. (Ladies, you are invited to share with your SOs.)
Just published with an excellent pro editor, who says the title should
1) Explain the book.
2) Meet the customer's needs.
3) Get found on search.
(Jeff, editor for my book on JavaScript object programming, disclaims any knowledge outside his professional area: software.)
I'd like to discuss titles for my book, but first I wanted insights into the objective(s) of a good title. Are the objectives Jeff listed transferable from software to a novel? Or ...?
The title is becoming important as title for the book, URL for the website, for the Facebook page, for Goodreads, other social (Linkedin, Twitter, ???).
How do you name yours?
Aside: more beta readers very much wanted! MartinRinehart at gmail dot com.