Titles

[bcomet]

Please tell me it isn't true that an author almost never gets to keep their own title!

[steve]

It's true.

There's a group, well, they prefer to be called a "fellowship", that serves as a titling cabal.

They decide titles, not you.

If you've written a thriller, a Renaissance or other Old World artist's name must be in the title.

If you've written a young adult novel, a made-up compound word will be in your title.

If you have a number in your title, it must be a number familiar to Masons and in line with the fellowships' numerology protocols.

If you've written a literary book, the word "piano" will be placed in the title, like it or not.

If you protest too much about the change, the fellowship will "take care" of you some other way.

[bcomet]

yeeoooow!

[Quill]

Please tell me it isn't true that an author almost never gets to keep their own title!

It's not about keeping. It has more to do with whether or not the original title survives the editorial/marketing process (aka "the fellowship") at the Publisher. If it is a great title, it probably will survive. Why wouldn't it?

I wonder what percentage survives. I'll guess 40%.

[Margo]

It is true that a publishing company will change the name of your book and/or the series title if they feel it doesn't work well. However, the authors sometimes help with the renaming of the book or the series. Sometimes writers end up writing their own back cover blurb, if they don't like the one the publisher came up with and can come up with something better. You can even try to get a bad cover changed, but don't count on it.

They don't do it because they are evil. Sometimes writers come up with horrible horrible horrible titles for very good books.

[Mira]

Yes, publishers can change the title, but you can also ask your agent to advocate for you, if you really like your own, or don't like the one they picked, you negotiate.

Or you can e-publish and hope you get picked up. E-publishing for no other reason than to keep your own title might be a bit extreme, but it's another option. :)

Btw, they pick the cover too. Just to make your day even happier. :)

[Moni12]

On the Pub Rants blog I came across a post about a book originally called the Pain Merchants. As soon as I saw the title I thought "I gotta read this". Here is another post on why the publishers chose to change the title.

http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2009/04/gu ... ay-on.html

[Claudie]

I, for one, am rather glad they take charge of the title. The ones I come up with are decent and they fit the work well enough, but I'm sure they can come up with something that packs more punch. I fail at naming things. ^^