Comments on: Your Title is Bad, but You Can Fix It (Part 2)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:57:21 +0000

“Memento Nora” is probably a reference to (or similar to) “Memento Mori” which I’m pretty sure translates to either ‘a reminder of mortality’ or ‘remember you are mortal’ (I’m too lazy to look up what ‘Nora’ means)

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:25:25 +0000

David said: "Besides, if titles are meant to tell us about the plot of the book and such, we wouldn’t need the bit on the back, now would we?"
Actually, most authors need both an interesting title and a blurb (either on the back-cover or the dustjacket).
At any given time, there are usually hundreds or thousands of novels on a fiction shelf. Readers literally do not have the time to read the back-cover for all (or even most) of the books on the shelf.
Generally, a reader checks the title and cover before deciding whether to read the backcover blurb. If the title is bad, he probably won't bother pulling it off the shelf. (You might be saved by an awesome cover, but that's beyond your control so you shouldn't count on it).

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:18:30 +0000

HG said: “And while I agree that titles are an important part of selling or buying a book, I have to say that a certain serious of books entitled, “Harry Potter and the…”, seem to be doing pretty well, despite their boring, redundant titles.”

Personally, I hate titles with character names. However, I think that books that are part of a series have a bit more latitude to use character names. That helps make it easier for readers to look up the next book even if they don’t remember the title. They can just go to one of the bookstore computers and type in “Harry Potter” or “Indiana Jones” or whatever. However, if you do a title like “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” make sure that the part of the title that comes after the character’s name is interesting.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:15:04 +0000

Right, Ragged Boy. None of these titles have gotten published yet. We gathered them from submissions to a writing review site.

By: Ragged Boy

Ragged Boy — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:22:37 +0000

“Let’s face it, you can say these titles are bad, but fair’s fair, they are published and are probably selling well.”

Actually, I think most of these titles are from unpublished works. I could be wrong, though.

By: H.G. Milton

H.G. Milton — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:11:15 +0000

“Dogs in Clogs” ? I would so read that! And while I agree that titles are an important part of selling or buying a book, I have to say that a certain serious of books entitled, “Harry Potter and the…”, seem to be doing pretty well, despite their boring, redundant titles.

By: C. S. Marlowe

C. S. Marlowe — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:13:18 +0000

I think ‘Wednesday’s child’ might be referencing an old nursery rhyme called Monday’s Child. Dunno if you know it or not. ‘Wednesday’s child is full of woe.’