A Trip through Titles

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

From time to time, I enjoy browsing through the latest book titles to observe current trends in titling. This time around, I thought it would be timely to focus on the 158 books that appear in the brand new 2017 Southern Writers Holiday Catalog.  

Often, I break titles down into about four categories. For this exercise I chose seven categories, to get even more specific but also because it makes for a colorful pie chart.

As is often the case, the titles chosen by most authors (54 in this case) come under a non-specific GENERAL category. These are books that give a sense of what's inside without giving too much away, yet still establish the right mood. Here are just a few examples.

A SITUATION is implied in the second most popular category. We learn just from the title such things as that a murder has taken place or that Cupid will be flinging some arrows.

Then you have titles that are poetic or ambiguous and evoke curiosity. They sound thoughtful and erudite, in the order of Gone with the Wind or Of Mice and Men.  Let's call these SYMBOLIC.

The MAIN CHARACTER can be identified by name or by their role in the story, sometimes suggesting the plot.

Or the title can get SPECIFIC about an important object or setting in the story.

There are, of course, NONFICTION titles that speak to the purpose of the book.

And a title can also be a STATEMENT unto itself.

Clearly, there are many roads that can be taken when coming up with a title for your book. The most important thing is to make sure your title is different from other books already out there and that it conveys something, preferably something that will grab attention and interest your potential reader enough to buy it.

If you enjoy browsing titles as much as I do, you'll enjoy thumbing through all 158 in the 2017 Holiday Catalog, which you can do right now by clicking on the cover to the right, or by visiting http://bit.ly/SWHC2017

Happy holidays and happy reading!

Great Minds Think Alike

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


You may have heard the expression "Putting the fun in dysfunctional."  It's a phrase that's been around for years and shows up from time to time.  I'm proud to announce (trumpet fanfare) that I came up with that very slogan. Yes, it's true. The only thing is, so did a thousand other people.  It seemed original to me when I first thought it up, but within a short time I was hearing it on TV and reading it in magazines.  Apparently it was a phrase whose time had come, and obviously not just to me.

I had a similar experience this very weekend, recalling the children's chant "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream."  (Full disclosure: I have never actually screamed for ice cream, but I've come close over a Chocolate Stampede at Longhorn.)  Anyway, it occurred to me that I Scream, You Scream would make a perfectly clever title for a novel. Out of curiosity, I checked to see if any books by that title already exist.

 
Well, fine.  I wasn't planning on writing that book anyway.  But it got me wondering whether some other well-known phrases that might make a catchy book title are readily available. How about "In your dreams"?

 

Strike two.  Apparently my muse gets around.  Not to be defeated, let's try again with a different phrase, maybe even something a little positive like "It's nothing personal."

Alright, I'm ready to say nasty things about my muse, but not out loud, because she's elusive enough as it is.

Maybe a different approach altogether is in order.  Surely a song title like "Can't Buy Me Love" hasn't been turned into multiple books.

By now you get the point.  You could spend a hard day's night going down that long and winding road, trying to come up with a common phrase that hasn't already been taken.  Rather than risk getting lost in the shuffle, you may be better off creating a title that's never been done before. The more original, the more memorable, such as How Come Boys Get to Keep Their Noses?  (Yes, that's actually a book.)

Not to suggest that there isn't value in borrowing a phrase that's already in the public consciousness, since the familiarity factor could pay off in extra recognition for your novel.  But if someone else should use the same title, remember ... it's nothing personal.

How to Give Your Book a Classic Title

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

Every author wants a book that will hold its own against the 300,000 new books that are published in the U.S. each year.  To give it a fighting chance, it has to capture the reader's interest instantly, and a solid title will help make that good first impression.

As always, we learn much from the ones who've gone before.  Let's consider some of the classics of literature, and see how the pros did it:


THE MAIN CHARACTER

• Dracula
• Jane Eyre
• Moby Dick
• The Great Gatsby

What could be easier than simply naming your book after its lead character?  That said, don't do it.  These books were written in a different era, when it was in vogue to to do.  Robinson Crusoe and Anne of Green Gables sound classic to us today because they are classic.  In this day and time, it's unlikely that a new book called Regina Thornbush or The Adventures of Wallace Hampton would attract anyone's attention.

If you must hone in on the hero, these days it's more popular to keep things faceless and generic, like the titles of these current New York Times bestsellers: 

• The Girl on the Train 
• The Murderer's Daughter

THE SETTING

• The Arabian Nights
• The Jungle Book
• Little House on the Prairie
• Treasure Island

This approach, immediately answering the question of "Where?" still works as long as the locale happens to be intriguing or evocative, like in the above examples or, more recently, The Great Zoo of China. John Grisham's Gray Mountain and Sycamore Row say little as titles, but hey, he's John Grisham, and his fans will buy anything he writes.

Overall, it's better to play it safe with some of the following titling strategies:

AN INKLING OF THE PREMISE

• The Call of the Wild 
• Kidnapped
• Little Women 
• The Scarlet Letter

Giving your reader insight into the subject matter gets their imagination going.  Or perhaps you'd like to get specific:

LITERAL

• Around the World in Eighty Days
• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• The Old Man and the Sea 
• The Time Machine

Identifying the main premise simply and directly may help your reader determine on the spot that it's something of interest to them.

INTRIGUING

• Lord of the Flies 
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 
• The Color Purple
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Would you have any idea what these books were about from the title alone? Unlikely, but their vague sense of importance conjures curiosity.  As with 2015 bestsellers Go Set a Watchman and Secondhand Souls, a thought-provoking title demands extra consideration.

And then there are titles whose very wording suggests an air of greatness:

POETIC

• For Whom the Bell Tolls
• Gone with the Wind 
• The Grapes of Wrath
• Of Mice and Men

Again, the premise is unclear, but the overall feel of erudition commands a certain respect.  All the Light We Cannot See is a current example.  You feel smarter just saying it.

Choosing the right title for your novel is one of the most important things you'll do, but it needn't be the hardest. Find the title that is an inviting reflection of what makes your book unique, and you'll have your reader at hello.

In Search of Titles

by Gary Fearon, Southern Writers Creative Director

Choosing the right title for a book can be as agonizing for an author as how to start the first paragraph. With an infinite pool of possibilities, how can you narrow it down to the most fitting, most irresistible title?

As always, it helps to take a cue from the pros.  In reviewing book releases from 2013, titles can be sorted into four categories:

• Simple Nouns
• Descriptive Nouns
• Situations
• Statements

Excellent examples of each can be found in our own Southern Writers Bookstore, where you'll find every author who appears in the magazine.  Let's look at a few:

SIMPLE NOUNS
A single evocative noun or nouns, conjuring curiosity.
Partholon by D. Krauss
Dollface by Renee Rosen
The Scroll by Miriam Feinberg Vamosh
Wink by Eric Trant
Moonrise by Cassandra King
Shattered by Rita Schulte
Sick & Tired by Kimberly Rae
Unseen by Karin Slaughter


DESCRIPTIVE NOUNS
Getting more specific, narrowing in on a particular subject.
Song of the Meadowlark by Sherry Wilson Johnson
Starry Night by Debbie Macomber
The Wishing Well Curse by Lynn Donovan
Shug's Place by Bob Strother
The Tempest Murders by p.m. terrell
Millie's Treasure by Kathleen Y'Barbo
The Gentleman Poet by Kathryn Johnson
Two Little Girls in a Wading Pool by Sara M. Robinson
Relative Danger by June Shaw
Tinseltown Riff by Shelly Frome
Glimpses of Glory by Peggy A. Keady
The Parchman Preacher by Michael Thompson


SITUATIONS
Identifying the central premise in the story.
Murder on the Orient Espresso by Sandra Balzo
Breach of Power by Chuck Barrett
Falling for the Lawman by Ruth Logan Herne
Taming the Sheriff by Cynthia Hickey
Being Santa Claus by Sal Lizard
Murder at Castle Rock by Anne Marie Stoddard
Quest for the Nail Prints by Don Furr
Last Chance for Justice by Kathy Macias
Looking for Me by Beth Hoffman
Death of a Dowager by Joanna Campbell Slan


STATEMENTS 
A complete sentence alluding to the idea behind the book.
Mama Was the Queen of Christmas by Linda J. Gilden
Mama Was Trashed by Deborah Sharp
The River Is Home by Patrick D. Smith
Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams by W. Terry Whalin
Murder Has Consequences by Giacomo Giammatteo
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Ron Rash
Sometimes a Light Surprises by Jamie Langston Turner
March with Me by Rosalie T. Turner
Give the Lady a Ride by Linda Yezak

So which seems to be the most common choice?  Scanning the latest releases of the 511 different authors who've appeared in Southern Writers magazine, the percentage of those title categories breaks down into the following pie chart:

At 44%, nearly half of the titles are descriptive nouns, identifying the subject of the book up front.  That's not to suggest that one choice is better than another, but it may be a trend to consider if your current work-in-progress has a unique character, setting, or issue you can capitalize on when naming your noble novel.

Fortunate is the author who finds just the right title and never has to look back.  But you can make Christmas shopping something you won't have to second-guess by visiting the aforementioned Southern Writers Bookstore, powered by Amazon. Not only will you find the right titles for everyone on your list, you'll discover a few you can't live without either.  Happy holidays!