The Perfect Title

When I first started with The Soul’s Mark Series, the title was the easiest thing for me. I just knew what the first book would be called, and I went with it. It didn’t vary. I didn’t over think it. The title just felt … right. But as I embark on new journeys with my writing, I’ve realized that this isn’t always the case.

A few weeks ago, I talked about how important the cover of your book is in the post: Your Book Cover is a Powerful Marketing Piece. Well, your title is just as important. After your awesome cover draws in your reader, the next thing they will see is your title.

There are many things about writing that can be, well … frustrating. Editing, outlining, the list could go on and on. It may surprise you, but finding that perfect title can be one of those frustrating things.

Think about this for a second … What if New Moon by Stephenie Meyer was called Bella is Depressed? Or if Fall of Night by Rachel Caine was called Claire Moves and Meets More Vampires?

Now these are quick and kind of silly examples, but the question is, would you still pick up the books?

So what does your title have to be? Well, for me, I want my title to describe the book but not give too much away. I want it to be catchy and spark a readers interest. This can be quite a task. A crappy title could potentially change a readers perception of your story. It could make them pass it up, put it back on the shelf, and not even bother to read the blurb.

Now perhaps the perfect title will just come to you. Maybe you had it before you even started writing the first draft, or maybe you're like me and you think it to death. For my current work in progress, I think I came up with about 50 options. It took a while, but when I settled on what I thought was the perfect one, I went out to my friends and colleagues and found out that not a single one of them liked it.

Of course, this put me back at the drawing board. I went over the storyline, basically pulling it apart and in the end, I came up with my top five titles. Once I had the list I went back out to my friends and colleagues. I provided them all with a blurb and a list of titles and thankfully I received a much better response.

So think about it. Run your options by a friend. Get feedback. Consider what others might think about it before you make that final decision. You may find out it’s an awesome title, or you may find that your target audience is not sure what to think about it.