A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Titling a Book
This week, we look at look at one of the most difficult tasks an author has, yet one that they belief is easy. Probably most authors know what they want to call their book before they even write it. Often, when an author approaches us with a book title, we feel compelled to discuss other options with the author. Here are some of the reasons (problems). Title Duplicative The title already exists. This is quite problematic when one of the books is better known. The new book will likely be overlooked. It is just a copy cat. It is very problematic when there are multiple books by the same title. One proposed title that had this problem was the book now called One Simple Text... The original proposal was for From Tragedy to Triumph . Take a gander for that title in Amazon -- many titles. How would the first-time author's book stand out among them? It likely would not. And if someone were looking for the author's book, that person would have to parse through a number of...