Pat here, hosting this month's Ask-A-Wench...
How do the wenches choose their titles and are they as important as the covers?
I had so much fun reading your comments when I answered this question last month, that I asked it of the wenches to see what they had to say. Quantum, we owe you another book!
Let the other wenches speak for themselves:
Christina:
I think titles and covers are of equal importance and as I’m slightly OCD, personally I am drawn to the ones that match – Susanna Kearsley’s Sourcebooks covers are a case in point. (I liked them so much I had to buy even the ones I already had in another format!).
When my first book was published, I thought I had come up with the perfect title for it – The Tiger Gate. It was set partly in 17th century China and I envisaged a bright cover with a snarling Chinese tiger motif. Sadly, my publisher disagreed and instead chose Trade Winds. I trusted that they knew the market though, so for the two books that followed in that series I tried to find something similar and they became Highland Storms and Monsoon Mists. (I still think my original title was better though!).
My second trilogy, partly set in Japan, became The Scarlet Kimono, The Gilded Fan and The Jade Lioness. I loved the covers (particularly The Gilded Fan), but although the first one is beautiful, I would have liked if it had actually featured a scarlet kimono. (What do you think? Here’s a mock-up my daughter created next to the real thing). The next book I wrote was completely different, a time slip novel (and not a pure historical like the others). For this I wanted something reflecting the ghostly, atmospheric side of this sub-genre, and played around with various words like shadows, haunted, etc. Eventually I looked at old poems and found the phrase “The Silent Touch of Shadows” – bingo! Luckily my publisher agreed. There were three more timeslip novels after that, and for each one I kept to the same sort of “rhythm” of words. They became The Secret Kiss of Darkness, The Soft Whisper of Dreams and The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight.
Then I changed publishers and began to concentrate on the Viking era, so naturally my titles had to reflect that. My agent and her boss came up with Echoes of the Runes, which I loved, and I am carrying on with the rune theme. The second book will be The Runes of Destiny and very soon I’ll be able to reveal the title of the third. It’s great fun trying to think of something that will show readers that this is a series, even though the books are standalone, and I’m very much enjoying the process. I’m also really pleased that the covers match – can’t wait to see what the third one will look like!
Mary Jo saying TITLES MATTER!
for a writer who is established, the most important thing on the cover is the author's name, but one always wants to reach new readers, so the cover image and the title are really important. If the cover image is good, it should be clear that the book is a romance, but titles are tricky because there's only room for a few words. Ideally, the essence of a story can be described and made to sound enticing (as in "Pick me up! Pick me up!") in just a few words. This ranges from “difficult” to "crazy making."
In general, experienced editors have a better feel for this than new authors. For my first book, my working title was "The Musical Lady," which sounds vaguely Regency-ish. Then a friend suggested "Lady of Note," a mild pun on the heroine's passion for music. When the book sold, my editor suggested a phrase used in the book: The Diabolical Baron. It was certainly more interesting than my suggestions, and that became the book's title even though there were not actual demons. <G>
Sometimes a book is hard to name, and author, editor, and office assistants all try to figure something out. That's how I ended up with Petals in the Storm. I added that phrase to the book, though I wasn't blown away by the title. But I hadn't a better suggestion that time.
Series are easier after you come up with a theme. For my Rogues Redeemed, I came up with the "Once a…." start and then just had to add a relevant noun. Hence Once a Soldier, Once a Rebel, Once a Scoundrel, Once a Spy--and coming up soon, Once Dishonored. I was several books in before I realized that in each book, the hero was at a point of transition, working toward becoming something else--and sometimes being called back to a previous place in life, as happened with Once a Soldier and Once a Spy.
The downside of a series is if the titles all start to sound alike! It's a constant struggle to come up with a title that captures the essence, and friends are frequently press-ganged into helping. Susan King is particularly good at titles; she gave me The Burning Point for my first contemporary over lunch one day. Pat Rice keeps lists and then plays mix and match. Poetry can provide some great choices. I sometime go for an object that resonates with the story, like Shattered Rainbows or One Perfect Rose.
And like writing itself, finding good titles never gets easier!
Anne’s bit:
A good title is a wonderful thing, but is often hard to come by. Sometimes while I'm writing a book a title will jump out at me, and in my head, that's what I'll call it. But in traditional publishing (ie: with big publishers) the final decision is made by the editor, sometimes with input from the marketing dept. In my experience a lot depends on the editor. Mostly I've been lucky in that the editor and I have similar views on the title and we come to an amicable agreement.
Generally with my titles I try to signal that they're part of a series, as well as indicating something about the story. But you have to be careful with that — some titles are very easy to get mixed up. One of my books was a finalist in an award, and the coordinator emailed me to tell me, and wrote the wrong title — the previous title. And I didn't notice! LOL.
Covers however are much more the luck of the draw, and will depend a lot on the editor, as well as the cover art dept. Here is what I consider my worst ever cover — To Catch A Bride. I tried to have it changed, but my editor liked it. This was a story partly set in regency-era Egypt, and apart from the romance there are crocodiles, slavers, cats and more — none of which made it onto the bland and uninteresting cover. The story was listed in Library Journal's Best Books of 2009 but it has the worst sales of any of my books, and I blame the cover. However thankfully there was a change in attitude for the next book —
The Accidental Wedding — and the result was one of my nicest covers. Not only that, but my sales bounced right back up, and my career was saved.
Don't let anyone tell you that covers don't matter — they really do.
Susan says:
I love playing around with titles, my own and while title-storming with friends (most often Mary Jo and Pat), or just making lists of titles. So I have more titles than I have books at this point—for each book, I'll spin out a dozen or more titles, and then have to choose one. When things go well, the title pops right up and sticks. Other times, the book will be called one thing, then another. Sometimes the title is one of the first things to emerge and helps create the tone of the book. And sometimes the publisher has a better idea for your title, even if you don't particularly agree. Most of my titles are my own, and there are some I'm very fond of, including Laird of the Wind, and the series that includes The Stone Maiden, The Swan Maiden, and The Sword Maiden. For me, those titles work well, evoking a sense of the story and the atmosphere. A few of my titles are publisher titles, not my idea, and I was glad for a chance to change them when I could convert them to e-books and edit and retitle the new editions.
One book in particular went through a series of titles between author and editor. Lady Macbeth began as just that, but the publisher was a bit nervous about The Scottish Play, and wanted something different, so I suggested The Last Celtic Queen, which some liked and others said maybe we shouldn't have King (me), Queen (book), and Crown (publisher) on the same cover. So we came up with Rue of the Sorrows (her short name in the novel is Rue, and it echoes Deirdre of the Sorrows). That one lasted through the writing and final edits and even cover proofs--until the editorial committee decided what the heck, let's take a chance, and we were back to Lady Macbeth: A Novel.
Queen Hereafter, the sequel about Margaret of Scotland, came in quickly, just a play on Shakespeare's "king hereafter" quote in Macbeth. Now, when I need to find a file from Lady Macbeth for other projects, I have to sort through files with different book titles, though it tells me if it's an early or a late draft!
Nicola here:
I think titles are hugely important. As a reader I am definitely influenced by a good title. If I don’t like the title of a book it won’t necessarily put me off buying it but it might make me less keen. As an author I try to bear that in mind when choosing the titles of my own books. The problem is that I don’t have the final say – my editor and the marketing team are the ones who make the final decision. The process can sometimes be a bit contentious but we all compromise at times! This doesn’t mean that I think the titles are bad, just that in my mind I may have called the book something else when I was working on it.
I called my very first Regency True Colours in homage to Georgette Heyer. Lord Greville’s Captive, my 17th century-set romance was my own choice of title as well. Many of my others have been adapted in some way. Miss Verey’s Stratagem became Miss Verey’s Proposal. The choice of title is often heavily influenced by the fashion at the time a book is being published. I started off writing sweet Regencies and the titles reflected this: The Larkswood Legacy, Lady Polly… Later on, when the books became sexier, so did the titles like Desired and Forbidden. The Scottish books, of course, focused on the word “Laird.”
With my timeslip books, the intention has been to give them all slightly-spooky sounding titles and covers to portray that particular genre as well as indicate something of the story line. The US and the UK marketing teams have taken different angles on the cover art but have kept the same titles. One interesting change with these books was The Woman in the Lake; for whatever reason, this book simply did not sell in the UK. Then we changed the title to The Woman in the Golden Dress and the cover to show a woman in a golden dress, and it sold much better!
Titles and covers . . . echoing the other Wenches in agreeing that they are VERY important in selling books. The trouble is, it’s often not easy agreeing on a “good” one of either. I think all authors have horror stories of being stuck with awful ones by their publishers. (Just so you know, authors have surprisingly little say in the final choices for either title or cover. Example: “Ummm . . .but there is no tiger or garden in the book!” an author says, looking at a cover that shows a tiger lying on a bench in an exotic garden. “”Oh, but it’s such a pretty image” responds the editor. “Readers will love it!” The book is printed with a tiger cover.) But often it’s a give and take.
Pat again!
Now that you have just a very tiny insight into the melodrama behind the scenes of our titles and covers, do you mind quite as much when the faces don't match the description inside? And keep in mind, we're experienced authors with lots of clout, so we know how to shout and kick our heels when a cover isn't right. But input from editors, marketing, and yes, even bookstores, make the final decision in traditional publishing. Do you have a favorite cover or one you think should have gone back to marketing?