Titles…
I’ve seen some original and interesting titles lately just browsing through Amazon or bookstores. Many authors have learned that titles and covers are eye-catchers.
As examples, let me consider some from my fellow writers (you can email me and critique mine): Sins of the Sister, Waiting in the Shadows, Rose Scented Murder, Reciprocal Evil, Dead Shrinks Don’t Talk, Last Gasp…the list is long. These are all eye-catchers.
Consider Sins of the Sister. Don’t you just want to know what sins the sister committed? (I’m reviewing that book tomorrow, by the way.) Or Reciprocal Evil—who’s reciprocating with whom? (I already reviewed that book.)
Dead Shrinks Don’t Talk grabbed me too. It’s a tautology, of course, but it’s funny—a lot of shrinks talk a lot, drilling down on their patients with questions to discover the origins of their neuroses. Maybe a patient doesn’t like that too much? (Again, see my review of the book.)
Last Gasp didn’t tell me too much, but it did tell me someone was going to die. Who? How? Why? Those kind of questions generated by a title can attract readers to the book too. (See my review.)
Pundits say titles should be short. That’s malarkey because length isn’t a criterion. Whether short or long, titles should grab the reader’s attention. It’s hard to be original in a few words, but originality always helps—a variant on someone else’s title doesn’t cut it for me. Titles in a book series that are A, B, C,… + Is for Something? That’s been overdone. Gone Anything and Girl on the…—they’ve been overdone.
Maybe I’m weird or jaded, but I want title, cover, blurb, and “peek inside” to get my attention when I’m browsing for a book (the “peek inside” might be a physical one in a bookstore and the blurb on the back of the book). On Amazon, I don’t care about the book’s reviews either. (I only care about my own because they provide excerpts useful for promo purposes. A hearty thanks to all reviewers, though, no matter whose books you review. You’re helping both readers and writers.)
I can get by a bad title if I like the cover, blurb, or “peek inside.” I need at least two of the four. Big Five covers are often terrible, especially when they’re abstract art that should be on floor tiles and not the front of a book. It seems they’re often saying, “We’re the Big Five, so we don’t have to have great covers.” Their titles often aren’t that original either, so the blurbs and “peek inside” better grab me. (I don’t care who the author is.)
While I’ve read some books that have turned out okay once I’m into them (mostly when I’m doing my official reviewing with Bookpleasures), for R&R reading I have to be without another book to read to keep going sometimes with a book that just doesn’t work for me. The tests I mentioned above help avoid that.
The title, though, is the first thing I or any other reader sees, especially if we’re in the bookstore or library just examining book spines. Maybe that’s one thing Amazon has over a bookstore or library: the browser sees the title and cover, and, with one click, s/he can see the title, cover, and blurb, and with another “peek inside.” Efficient with one book, but less efficient because of the number of books on Amazon—finding a book to read is easier in a bookstore or library. Or electronically via a small press’s catalog where the reader’s eyes don’t glaze over with information overload.
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Comments are always welcome.
“Detectives Chen & Castilblanco Series,” the NYC novels. In The Midas Bomb, terrorism and Wall Street excesses go hand-in-hand, with an evil genius lurking in the wings. In Teeter-Totter Between Lust and Murder, Castilblanco is out to prove that Chen is innocent of murder. In The Collector, the detectives find that sex trafficking and stolen art provide an unusual mix. And in Family Affairs, Castilblanco helps some family members who are in trouble. All these ebooks are available on Amazon and Smashwords and the latter’s affiliated retailers (Apple iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.). Current, pithy, and exciting, this is great summer reading!
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
