Title Help (Avoiding Potential Harry Potter Reference?)

[T.Hollingsworth]

Hi, everyone! My manuscript is called "The Half-Blood Horticulturist." I've had two readers tell me I might want to avoid the Harry Potter reference, given the publishing world's feelings about J.K. Rowling now. To me, however, the word 'half-blood' isn't exclusive to Harry Potter, it being a real word that existed before "The Half-Blood Prince." It's akin to using other words that are associated with the series' titles, like "Goblet" or "Hallows." While not the most ubiquitous, they're not fully, 100%, just a Harry Potter thing.

I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts were, because if enough people are turned off from it, I would definitely change it.

Thank you!

[Rebecca]

I am not turned off by the reference, but I would associate it with Harry Potter. I could potentially see publishers suggesting a new title to purely to avoid confusion. Perhaps a similar title like Half-Horticulturist would solve it?

[Jessica]

I used a Harry Potter reference in my last query and was worried about the same thing. I still got plenty of full requests, though one agent did respond that she was put off by the reference. I can’t know if some of the form rejections I got were due to that or not. But, it obviously wasn’t a deal breaker for the most part.

But, I agree with Reba that the title definitely reminds me of Harry Potter, and I personally wouldn’t use it just because that makes it kind of confusing. I know that’s annoying advice when the title has a nice ring to it as is.

[J.R.]

Are you trying to come up with a title to pitch the manuscript to agents or is this an indie book you're publishing yourself?

If it's the latter, who is the target audience for your book age-wise? I just ran that title past my parents (both of who are in their 60s) since I'm home right now. Neither of them associated the title with Harry Potter. Neither could tell me who wrote Harry Potter let alone tell me anything about J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter just isn't something on their radar or that they care anything about.

(I'm a late Gen-Xer, and I also didn't make the connection to Harry Potter because I've never read any of the books. I also wouldn't make a connection to Lord of the Rings, or Game of Thrones either as I'm not into fantasy. But I would certainly make a connection to Star Wars, classic Simpsons, a Pearl Jam/Nirvana/Soundgarden song, etc. So I think it really depends on your audience.)

But if you are trying to approach potential agents, then yes, I think it's going to be inevitable they associate that title with Harry Potter.

[Darya Silman]

I suggest trying the title on Amazon. Just type in your title, and see how many half-bloods there are. Even if readers do not associate the title with Harry Potter, it might get lost in Harry Potter books' editions.

[Nicole-Mary]

You make a perfectly good argument, with 'Half-blood', however, I think it would be best to find a different way to say it.

I can imagine it would be a pain since it's obviously an important part of your book, but do you really want to be washed with the same brush as JKR? It's a double-ended sword, to be honest.

[T.Hollingsworth]

Thank you for your thoughts, everyone!

[Nick]

When Alan Coren was looking for a title for a collection of essay type pieces he'd written, his publisher told him that it would sell better if he had written about golf or cats --- hence Golfing for Cats :-)