Eye Catching Book Titles

[Laerten]

I have decided to put this thread here instead of under Aspiring Writers as I think it has more relevance to this section.

Question: What makes an eye catching book title and how much does it influence your purchase of a book?

I feel that even the working title of my book lacks something and I feel that the correct title will give me more inspiration/incentive to get it finished.

 

[DeepThought]

For some reason like books with titles;

A Song of Ice and Fire
A Song of A Song for Arbonne
A Song of Troy
Song of Kali
...

Not that I read these novels/series owing to the titles, but I admit they are eye-catching to me. Perhaps because it was born out of the misguided notion that such books promise lyrical prose (which is obviously not a truth in anyway). But coincidently these books are beautiful both prose and story wise.

Cheers, DeepThought

 

[DeepThought]

Oops! sorry about that Laerten, I had initially glanced at the thread-title of your post and posted in haste without actually reading your post (serves me right). Obviously an author or a published person can answer this question better. but for what its worth, I wouldn't buy a book just because of a cool title though it could prompt me to pick it up and have a look inside.

Cheers, DeepThought

 

[Quokka]

Greg Bear's Songs of Earth and Power was another good song series . It was a combination of the title and cover for Jordan's The Dragon Reborn that made me pick the book up for the first time to have a better look, where as The Eye of the World was nowhere near as eye catching in title or cover.

I think in the end it's whatever feels right to you but it doesn't hurt to give some indication as to the style of writing, there's readers who like to try anything different and there's also readers who like certain types of stories and you want to convince them that you're book has what they like. A Song of Ice and Fire sounds like epic fantasy, A song of Troy historical fiction (it is isn't it?) and Mission of Gravity sounds like space exploration sci-fi. They're giving the type of reader who may like the story every reason to pick it up and have a better look.

Having said that something like The Lefthand of Darkness and Flowers for Algernon has very little meaning until you read the book but are imo still great titles but from what I've read in other threads recently also keep in mind that the decision may not even be completely yours if you're published.

Edit: Similar to Deep Thought published authors will likely have better advise and I'd never buy a book on title alone but sometimes it does prompt me to pick one up and have a better look.

 

[the smiling weirwood]

I'll give my thoughts on browsing titles. When I look through the shelves I immediately ignore things with titles like "Witch-daughter of the Forest" or "Dragon Queen" or "Hero and Wizard" or what have you. Even if in the context of the novel they are very accurate and derived titles, they sound cliched and unimaginative.

I'm not sure what qualities you should strive for in a title, but some examples of particularly eye-catching ones for me were: The Lies of Locke Lamora, A Game of Thrones, Onion Girl, A Night With the Courtesan.

 

[Clansman]

Titles, I suppose, are a very subjective thing. Every author wants a title that grabs the reader. How the grab is achieved is the thing. Some are lyrical, some evocative, some punchy, but a good title must pique the interest of the reader.

I agree, the hackneyed and cliched will turn me off.

The real difficulty is summing up a book of hundreds of pages in two or three words. The series get to cheat a little, as they can use two titles:

A Game of Thrones, Book 1 of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, or

The Ships of Merior, Book 2 of THE WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW.

Steven Erikson I think has great titles, because they all finish with "A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen". The series name just evokes death, honour, deceit, betrayal, loyalty... it is really wonderful.

I think that balanced titles work well, such as The Object of A Place (The Ships of Merior) or A thing of Something Else (A Game of Thrones) or A Person of Something (The Lord of the Rings) Speaking the words aloud gives you the idea. The title has a cadence, or even a lilt.

I have always thought that The Dragonbone Chair was a great title.

Titles are perhaps some of the most difficult things to come up with. However, some authors know their titles in advance of writing the book (probably because they have planned out what they intend to write). Janny Wurts, for example, has the next two books of The Wars of Light and Shadow already named, and she is only part way through the first of those. She also names the story arcs in the series (e.g. Initiate's Trial, Book 1 of Sword of the Canon, (book 9 of The Wars of Light and Shadow)), which, if the publisher is not on the ball, can cause confusion. GRRM knew the title of A Dance With Dragons a couple of years ago, and it is set to be released this fall (AS IF!).

For me, titles are the hardest things to create. I have only written one semi-fictional piece, and coming up with a title was the hardest part, and I mean that literally. I eventually submitted myself to a committee to name the darn thing (and I am still unsatisfied).

 

[the smiling weirwood]

it is set to be released this fall (AS IF!).

I know....

*sigh*

 

[Clansman]

Yes, I'll believe it when I see it, and not a moment sooner.

 

[GOLLUM]

The titles don't make that much of an impact on me unless I know they're relating to something of interest eg tribute collection like Tales From Zothique

 

[Connavar]

Titles makes an impact on me. I have impulse bought several books just cause the title drew my attention.

I think the best titles are the ones that sounds so original and as rare as possible. Only the greatest writers can cruise by with the most clichè titles, Immortal or Asssain here and there.


If you want to create an interesting title, check out the names of Elmore Leonard books. Even though i knew his name and legendary status his title is what drew me to his books.

Here is why several examples :

City Primevil
Split Images
Cat Chaser
La Brava
Stick
Freaky Deaky
Killshot
Rum Punch
Cuba Libre
Pagan Babies
Tishomingo Blues

 

[Laerten]

This is the problem I am having - creating a good title that has something to do with my book that doesn't sound too cliched.

The trilogy is going to be called 'The Setara Prophecy' but I have been through several versions of the first book name, currently I am on 'Awakening' (a big theme in the book is the awakening of the main characters powers!).

 

[Nesacat]

Titles matter especially when all I can see in stores are the spines of the books on the shelves. It may not matter so much if I'm heading for a particular author but if I'm browsing then the title is the first thing I see. There has to be something there that makes me want to pull the book off the shelf and read the blurb or even look at the cover.

Perhaps it is different if the store has books places face-forward on shelves but that is a rare occurrence and is usually confined to latest arrivals and/or bestsellers. There may be some books placed face-forward but the bulk of them will show only their spines. All I then have to go on is a title and in whole rows of books, titles become very important. They need to tweak my interest enough to draw them out.

In this case the title is a lot more important than the blurb or the cover art since all of that is only seen much later.