My friend
and sometime marketing guru John Bakalian was visiting us a few weeks ago, and
the topic of discussion turned to book titles. John suggested that perhaps for
my next mystery novel, I should research the bestseller lists to find out what
words appear most frequently in the titles. Then, he said, I should come up
with a title that uses the most common words, regardless of whether or not it
has anything to do with the book.
The problem
with that, I countered, is that James Patterson could call one of his books Scrubbing Linoleum Floors, and it would
sell a million copies. Authors and books sell books — not titles and covers,
though they can help at the margins.
(On an
impulse, I decided to try out John’s theory by coming up with a title that
would meet his criteria, Death Lust for
Sex, and doing a search for it on Amazon. Nothing turned up, and I won’t be
using it myself, so feel free to appropriate it if you’re so inclined.)
Part of the Filtering Process
Ideally, of
course, a title should be catchy and memorable and capture the spirit of the
book. Three good examples would be Gone
With The Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, and A Farewell to Arms. On the other hand, you have to remember that The Great Gatsby was F. Scott
Fitzgerald’s worst title, but his best book.
In the
mystery genre, in which I work, a book title is probably first of all the
beginning of the potential reader’s filtering process. Mystery readers tend to
favor certain subgroups of books, and titles can help them sort things out. A
book called Dead Meat, with a cover
illustration of a meat cleaver dripping blood, is probably going to appeal to the hard-boiled action crowd,
while The Ellsmere Manor Murders, with
a pastoral image on the cover, would
likely appeal to readers of classic British mysteries.
When I’m
browsing, either in a bookstore or online, a title that catches my eye (and not
many do) will likely lead me to look at the cover, then the dust-jacket blurb.
Those three things, along with a glance at the first page to check for
fundamental writing competence, will typically lead me to a decision. The
title, then, is part of the filtering process, not the deal clincher.
Which Comes First?
Another
interesting question — and the answer varies from author to author — is which
comes first, the title or the book? In the case of my first two mysteries, I
had a title in place before I started writing.
Book one, The McHenry Inheritance, had a title
that suggests a legal conflict and characters of considerable wealth. Since my
mysteries are more traditional than hard-boiled, I felt that was a good choice.
The second
book, Wash Her Guilt Away, takes its
name from a famous Oliver Goldsmith Poem. I’d like to believe it suggests a
quest for redemption, a strong female character, and an emphasis on personal
moral responsibility, rather than corporate or organized crime.
With the
third book, it’s different. I’m well into writing it now, but haven’t yet
decided on the right title. I’ve come up with four candidates, and at the
moment I’m liking the fourth one. They’re all good titles, in my view, but each
conveys a different feel, and there’s the problem.
At times
like this, I envy Sue Grafton. All she has to do is come up with one word to
match a letter of the alphabet. Maybe that’s why she picked that title format.
