March 27, 2006
A sad tale of title woe (ok, not so sad!)
Written by Anne Mallory in Our BooksIn this business you can have what you believe is the perfect title for your book - it encompasses the story, it has kick, it’s new…and there’s a very good chance the publisher will still utter the words, grammatically correct or otherwise, “What else you got?” 
The Viscount’s Wicked Ways (coming out tomorrow!) started out as book #3. It then got the less than ideal working title of Gothic Charm. Hey, it was a working title that encompassed the theme I was going for, leave me alone Robyn. But I knew that title was going no place at the publisher level so I came up with Pride and Patience. My heroine’s name is Patience, after all, so I thought I was being witty. Little did I know that titles are directly keyed into publishing synchronicity - the same ideas pop up everywhere at once. My editor at the time depressed the buzzer (*dzztt! wrong!*) saying it wasn’t the right title for the book and I went back to the drawing board. By that time Shana had her February title too — Pride and Petticoats — excellent book — so it was really a no go! 
So, back to playing with titles, which at times can be great fun and at its worst will give you trichotillomania. Titles such as Vomiting on the Viscount, Viva la Viscount and The Vigorous Viscount didn’t make the cut. And I didn’t want to go with an “-ing the lord” title because these characters are totally separate from my first two books - so something like Vexing the Viscount might make readers think it was part of the series.
Out of the list of dozens, I liked The Secrets of Blackfield Castle and The Thomas Ashe Affair the best. Both were descriptive and hinted to different parts of the story (Is the viscount, Thomas, creating a monster? Is Patience a spy? Best seduce her to discover the answer!). But I got the word back that neither were catchy or “popped” enough. So it was back to the drawing board again. My editor suggested Beneath a Wicked Sky and I snatched it up like a dying woman tossed a lifeline. I had a title!
The title went up on Amazon and everything was going swimmingly for a few weeks. Then came The Call. No, not the good one. This is the one where your editor says hi and then pauses. A bad sign for sure. She said, “Anne, we don’t think that title is strong enough either. And we’d like to work in the word Viscount somehow.” I said ok and asked if I should start working up another list. She paused again. “What about The Virgin and the Viscount?” I may have said something in response like, “I’m sorry, I thought for a second there you said The Virgin.”
Yes, I think that title would sell well, and I think my editor was right to suggest it. It has an older throwback, mellow feel. Was it the title for my book? I tried to imagine for a second my Grandmother or Dad telling people my new title and hit the brakes. Call me a chicken, I can take it. If Avon had pushed, that would be the title of the book that is coming out tomorrow. But they didn’t, and suffice to say we compromised on The Viscount’s Wicked Ways - one of the titles from the original list.
What all of this basically boils down to is — never get too attached to a title, have plenty of alternatives on hand, and work in something catchy. I had two dozen Earl titles ready for my fourth book in November. I didn’t get my first choice for that one either, but I got one of my other favorites - The Earl of Her Dreams. My first was The Curse of the Black Earl, and even though I was laughing when I put it on the list, I may have actually gotten it if The Earl of Her Dreams hadn’t been there. Shirley might get a kick out of that. Since my Earl’s last name was Black, and he is slightly cursed, it fit - but I had figured they would just laugh at me.
Onto the next book, the working title of which I think has a 30% chance of staying, if I sell it.
Are there any titles lately, or in the past, that have really resonated with you? They can be both good ones or bad!
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Shirley Karr Says:
::LOL::
Yes, I think Curse of the Black Earl is a *wonderful* title. Very evocative.
The Earl of Her Dreams is cool, too — love those verbal winks. But the title you ended up with is fine, too. Alliteration is always awesome.
RobynDeHart Says:
Hey, I still like Under the Wicked Viscount. *snort* Titles are sooo hard. I’ve given up. I’m submitting my next book as “Willow’s book” to see what happens. I have what I think is the perfect title, but I want to save it in case they’ll pick it up the second time around. We’ll see if my little trick works. I’m so clever. Mwwaaaaaaaa…..
Margo Maguire Says:
LOL - my next book is charmingly entitled “Book 13.” I guess I don’t want to get too attached to anything.
I love The Viscount’s Wicked Ways. Very evocative, Anne, and I can’t wait to read it.
Jennifer Yates Says:
Thanks for sharing these little tidbits. As a reader, I find them fascinating…does that make me odd? LOL
Haven Rich Says:
I’ve been semi-in-love with my working title but it will always be just a working title. I’m not going to hold my breath that “The Last Kiss” will actually see the light of day (or at least on my cover) but you never know. I’m still working on the whole getting published thing so first things first hehe.
BTW I love the titles. Your lucky you don’t end up with something like “Lusting after the Viscount” or something like that.
Shana Says:
Little tidbit–I haven’t come up with the titles of any of my books. Every one of my suggestions has been shot down.
For my next series, I have all the titles already. When we chose the title for No Man’s Bride, I made the editor choose related titles for the other contracted book in the series as well (The Reluctant Bride, The Wronged Bride, The Improper Bride). It has been so nice knowing the title as I write the new books (knowing that it will stay) because for the first time I can make references to the title in the book. I’ve done that before, but since the titles always go, the references go or don’t resonate. Or I’ve been asked to go back and make the story make sense with the added title (Pride and Petticoats).
Titles and cover art are the things we authors complain about most.
lacey kaye Says:
I think it’s great to know the little truths like this one. I won’t be in for a disappointment if I ever get published, thanks to you lovely ladies. Never won with a title, Shana?
On that note, I’ve always known my title is a ‘placeholder’ but I created it to catch the eye…even though it has waaaay to many words to EVER possibly fit on one of those tiny little covers. LOL. Suffice to say, I was encouraged by JQ’s On the Way to the Wedding–only one word less than mine. There’s still a little ray of hope out there…