Some who write books, have titles in mind from the start. I almost never do. I often change my mind on possible titles before the book comes out. Those are the lucky times. For my Oregon historical romances, their first published titles worked and continue to work for me. That happens sometimes but not always.
The Arizona historical romances have been less fortunate. I started out looking for a title for the first one after it was written. Keep in mind that marketing is in the essence of what titles and covers are about. Finding a title and yes cover that work for a trope is what helps to find readers.
What should a title say about the book? Something about the theme, maybe the characters, or the essence of the story. Location works for some books as it might be central to the rest of what happens. What about when it's not?
With the book that had its first title as Arizona Sunset. I thought not only did it give the location but also the possible dire end of a life through the plot. Of course, since it was a romance, not a love story, that dire end wasn't really possible. That book went through assorted other title possibilities and nothing really dealt with the story itself. Nothing worked for readers or even me. When we got to the last one, Impulse, it was the biggest failure. Yes, impulses were important to the impetus behind what happened, but what did that tell a reader?
I've written before about what we went through once we found out that we could not again change titles, due to rule changes. What it led to was pulling the series, and a full year of working on how to bring the books out again, as I still love the stories and their characters. These books were set in Arizona and related to each other, with some characters carrying through them. Sam, hero of the first book, was such a strong character that he ended up in most of them as a secondary character.
For me, as a writer, this year probably didn't look like much was happening, but it was. Not so much the plots or characters but editing to improve the writing (something most authors will have happen if they keep writing).
The question remained, what title would give these two protagonists a fair exposure to what their journey was about. Then we came with the concept, both were on broken roads, going where they did not want to go. What changes that trajectory was bringing their energies together. It's not just a broken road but what can come beyond it.
This title worked, at least for me. It better, as I will try never to change another title given all we went through with this one. Although, I have learned a lot about those books and what the titles meant for their journey.
Plus universal distribution at UBL: https://book2read.com/u/4jED5o
If you read the book, consider leaving a review, as it lost them all when being pulled and republished. Reviews mean a lot to other readers to help them decide on what to read next. They are also good for the writers *s*
1 comment:
Great post. Titles and covers are very important. It's often the way I choose to buy a book. I keep it in mind as I'm writing as well. I'll purchase and review. Your website is beautiful.
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