A look behind book titles: Part 1

Writing life: 62

After more than two years here on Substack, and more than 90 posts, I concede it is challenging to come up with new, fresh content every two weeks. And I don’t see that getting any easier. In a way, this post is evidence of that. I wrote just as an aside in my last Substack column that perhaps I might “one day” devote a post to book titles and the stories behind mine. Well, here we are. That “one day” quickly became my very next post, though I’ll look at the titles of my novels in two instalments. Read on.

Setting up…

Just how important are book titles? I’m not sure anyone can quantify with confidence, let alone certainty, the significance of book titles in a reader’s buying decisions. But I don’t think any fair-minded observer would argue that book titles aren’t important.

There’s certainly a clear consensus that book covers play a role in book sales. And when you consider a reader browsing in a book store, short of opening and reading a book, the only two factors involved in capturing their attention are the cover and the title (and, I suppose, the synopsis and blurbs on the back cover). So I’d argue that the title you give your book is an important decision. And marketers the world over will tell you that first impressions mean something, perhaps something significant.

My titles

Ideally, the title should grab the reader’s attention, pique their curiosity, give them a sense of the tone of the story, and even build some anticipation for the pleasure of reading it.

I don’t think all of my titles have met all of these goals. I don’t believe I fully appreciated the importance of titles earlier on in my writing life. But when you accept that titles are important, you also realize that good titles are difficult.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve come to like titles that end up taking on more than one meaning as readers make their way through the story. Again, not all of my titles follow this pattern, but several do. Let’s take a look at my titles, where they come from and how they work

Needless to say, I’ll tackle the titles of the remaining five novels (one not to be published until August 2025) in my next post.

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Wrapping up…

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be back in two weeks with Part 2 of this look behind the titles of my novels. Here’s hoping you’ll subscribe. It’s free and easy. Many thanks.