Judging a Book by Its Title
We often get asked about our book titles and we do have some fun with them. The Sparkle Abbey books sport titles such as “The Girl with the Dachshund Tattoo” and “Fifty Shades of Greyhound” and the Mary Lee Ashford books, “Game of Scones” and “Risky Biscuits.” As with most traditionally published authors, we had no guarantee that the publisher would keep the titles we’d created but in almost all cases they did.
Still, in this new world of hybrid publishing and ever more complicated methods of discoverability, we got to wondering about how much impact a title has for readers in finding the books they like to read.
Over time there have been different trends such as the X Y format – two word titles – “Demon Copperhead,” “The Maid” or “Gone Girl.” And then there’s the really long book titles. For example: “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” or a children’s favorite of ours, “Alexander’s Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day.” Or the lovely, “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.” There also seem to be some new trends with cross-genre type titles and a surge of retro-sounding titles. Though some of these are specific to particular type of books or sub-genres, most seem to cross the lines.
And as with all things in the publishing world, title trends are ever changing. So we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Do particular types of titles appeal to you? And how much impact does the title of a book have on whether you would buy it or maybe at least stop to take another look?
Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series.
They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don’t tell the other neighbors.)
They love to hear from readers and can be found on social media or contacted via their websites:
I’m a sucker for good pun, and I often employ them in my own titles. Yours are great!
Thank, Lois! I do love a good pun, too. 🙂 And you have some great ones!
I love your titles. They are beyond clever. I dislike trends they make it harder and harder to remember book names or authors for that matter because they all sound alike.
Thanks, Donnell. We do have fun with them! 🙂 I agree on the trends, there have been several instances lately where someone recommended a book and then when I went to look for it there were so many that sounded the same.
A catchy title will definitely have me picking up the book. I love a good play on words and puns. Is humor a love language? It’s mine. So if not, it should be! Keep up the good work!❤️
Stacey – I agree! Definitely should be a love language. 🙂
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I’m so glad you wrote about titles, because I’m in the throes of picking one now. Would love your input.
Saralyn – Always a fun challenge. Happy to give input anytime. I always have ideas. Can’t promise they’re good ones…but sometimes a bad idea can spark a good one. 🙂
I think the color of the book… the cover…maybe the title, all play into my shopping. Once I find an author though, my biggest concern is that I’m not buying a book I already own/read.
I love your titles. So clever, and they promise such fun to be had in your books.
Gay – Thanks! That’s the hope anyway… 🙂
I too think so , perfectly indited post! .
Can’t you just hear the Kentucky Derby race announcer enthusiastically shouting, Risky Biscuit is leading the pack!
Your titles are so clever. I’m always amazed at Jeopardy contestants who can remember those incredibly long book titles.
Marianne – I am too! I’m actually amazed at all the correct responses. I’m sure I’d forget my name let alone any knowledge or facts. 🙂
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