I have an entire room full of books. As I browse the shelves I realize that not only does my own book need to eradicate misspellings, keep point of view correct, fix any tense issues and entertain, but it also needs a spiffy name and decent cover art. I have no intention of making money with my book, but now that it is written and the idea for the sequel is already percolating in my brain, I find I want to do something with it.
First, it needs a good title. I came up with a title, but it is very long and not especially catchy. Most of the books I own have two word titles. Jim Butcher even manages to come up with book titles that have two words (well, other than Changes, but duh, changes…) AND matching number of letters AND they are relevant.
How do these authors do it?! How do they manage to come up with really good names that are also relevant to their stories? Do they ask for help, do they come up with the names on their own, do they put a bunch of names in a hat and pull them out? Do their publishers or editors weigh in? It is one of those great mysteries of writing that we newbies can only hope to unravel.
Or…we could blog about it and ask our readers, who may also happen to be authors, how they do it. So good readers, what is your secret?
I can’t claim to come up with great titles all of the time but I have amused myself more than once with a blog title. As far as for books, I’d suggest asking people for ideas. You might not like any suggestions that you get but that could be as helpful in giving you your own idea for a better title.