A Rose By Any Other Name or How to Choose a Title

By Julie Daines

The big question: Does the title of my book really matter?

Everyone knows that when you publish traditionally, you get little or no say regarding the title of your book. Publishers have marketing specialists lined up to pick a title that will grab readers' attention.

As a writer, my job is to grab the attention of an agent or publisher. The title is my first opportunity to sell it to them. If they see an awesome title in the inbox, they are more likely to take a serious look at the submission.

There are three basic categories of titles (with a lot of overlapping).

1. Character Titles: Romana the Pest; James and the Giant Peach, Keturah and Lord Death; Julie of the Wolves; Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; Coraline

2. Plot Titles: The Hunger Games; Island of the Blue Dolphins; Princess Academy; The Lightening Thief; Speak

3. Mood or Subgenre titles (very popular now in YA): Paranormalcy; The Dark Divine; The Forest of Hands and Teeth; Daughter of Smoke and Bone; I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Some other things to consider while choosing a title:

Be Provocative Provocative titles (especially one word titles) are extremely popular. Just check the Amazon list of best-selling YA books. Choose words that elicit emotion or curiosity and phrases that make book browsers do a double take. The Perks of Being a Wallflower; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; To Kill a Mockingbird; Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; Marvin K Mooney Will You Please Go Now

Use Resonance Use words that bring to mind something evocative or reminiscent, and phrases that already mean something to the reader. Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Grapes of Wrath; Gone with the Wind

Create a Strong Visual The Color Purple; Where the Wild Things Are; Love in the Time of Cholera; Cry, the Beloved Country

Use Alliteration, Rhyme, or Repetition This makes the title catchy or memorable, like how we can remember a nursery rhyme we learned years ago as a child. Listen to the flow. I Capture the Castle; The Secret Circle; Maniac McGee; The Wind in the Willows; There's a Wocket in My Pocket 

Words that Contradict Beautiful Chaos; The Death Cure; Sacred Sins; Neverwhere

Above all, be true to yourself and your book. Go with what feels right to you. 

What are some of your favorite titles.

Query, Synopsis, First Chapter, Oh My!

By Julie Daines

With conference season coming up, it seems everyone is frantically working on putting together queries and first chapters and such. Here's a post from the past that might help.

Selling your novel can be harder than writing it.  So when it comes time to start sending your precious story off like a lamb to the slaughter, it pays to do it right.

Most agents request three elements: the query, the synopsis and the first chapter.  These are your tools for selling your book.

Here’s a basic guide that I’ve found helpful in preparing each of these elements.

The Query:  In the query letter you are selling the concept of your book.  It should identify the main characters and setting, and then a quick idea of the main themes, the conflict, and what’s at stake.  It should have a hook to grab the agent's attention and make them hungry for more.  

The Synopsis:  In the synopsis you are selling the story of your book.  The plot, what happens, the character arc, and how it all comes together in an exciting and wonderfully original, thought-out way.

The First Chapter:  With the first chapter you’re selling the writing of your book.  This is where you let them see your amazing style, the original voicing, and the way you turn a phrase just right.  With these pages you convince them that they can’t possibly live without reading the rest of your novel.

This is, of course, a general guideline.  Ideally, you want an overlap, letting each element carry a hint of the others. For example, the fact that you are a good writer should also be evident in the query. 

How Do You Come Up with the Title of Your Books with Author Alyce Joy

I try to find what I think is the most interesting words in the book, to draw the attention of the child. In my first book, the very first word and the last word is KA-BOOM! It seemed obvious to me the title should be KA-BOOM!

My next book is called, “The Snookered Snookerdoodles”. The Snookerdoodles are the bad guys and Sprout helps Kalynn, a frail challenged girl, have enough faith and trust in herself to single handedly foil the Snookerdoodles attempt to ruin the land of Bippenpook and its people.

To the Bippenpookers, Kalynn becomes a heroine because she snookered the Snookerdoodles. This all happens because of Sprout. To me, the title stood out like a beacon.

I try to make my titles and first page reach out to the child and grab his or her imagination right then. KA-BOOM! could have been called, “Sprout the Fairy” or “The Queen’s Favorite Fairy”. I don’t feel it is fair to Sprout to send her story out with a lukewarm title and beginning.

The lessons from these stories are as good for me as they are for the children. KA-BOOM! has a lesson for everybody. Never give up. The lesson in “The Snookered Snookerdoodles” is also one we all can use. Have faith and believe in yourself.

I actually don’t have a lesson in mind when I’m writing my story. When my story is finished and I’m reading it over, the lesson pops out at me and I say, “yes-s-s, that’s what I mean.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alyce Joy was blessed with four children for whom she composed bedtime verses every night. That inspired her to publish a children’s book of prayers, entitled, “Priceless Gems.” When her children were grown, she began to write stories for her grandchildren.

Always fascinated with arts and crafts, she taught herself the art of pyrography. This fired her imagination, and she started burning life-sized pictures of wildlife onto all the doors of her home. Her wood burnings are scattered through the U.S. and Canada.

After deciding to put away her burning tools and torches, she enrolled in, and graduated from the Institute of Children’s Literature.

Alyce Joy hopes every child who reads her stories will look forward to each new adventure, as her favorite fairy becomes entangled into many, outrageous happenstances.

Follow Alyce Joy at

Website http://alycejoy.com

Publisher http://www.halopublishing.com/bookstore/Ka-Boom

Alyce Joy's book KA-BOOM! is about a little fairy named Sprout that runs into trouble quite often. She has a shoe fetish, but is one of the queen’s favorites because in the end she gets the job done.

Get a sneak peek of the book at http://youtu.be/Hq9sfmzH0-w  

Available wherever books are sold and online.

 

The World of Ink Network & Halo Publishing, Int. is touring author Alyce Joy’s fantasy adventure children’s chapter book, Ka-Boom! throughout August 2012. You can find out more about Alyce Joy’s World of Ink Author/Book Tour at http://tinyurl.com/8q5vw74 

A Rose By Any Other Name or Does the Title of my Book Really Matter?

By Julie Daines


Everyone knows that when you publish traditionally, you get little or no say regarding the title of your book. Publishers have marketing specialists lined up to pick a title that will grab readers' attention.


Your job is to grab the attention of an agent or publisher. The title is your first opportunity to sell it to them.


There are three basic categories of titles (with a lot of overlapping).


1. Character Titles: Romana the Pest; James and the Giant Peach, Keturah and Lord Death; Julie of the Wolves; Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; Coraline


2. Plot Titles: The Hunger Games; Island of the Blue Dolphins; Princess Academy; The Lightening Thief; Speak


3. Mood or Subgenre titles (very popular now in YA): Paranormalcy; The Dark Divine; The Forest of Hands and Teeth; Daughter of Smoke and Bone; I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You


Some other things to consider while choosing a title:


Be Provocative Provocative titles (especially one word titles) are extremely popular. Just check the Amazon list of best-selling YA books. Choose words that elicit emotion or curiosity and phrases that make book browsers do a double take. The Perks of Being a Wallflower; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; To Kill a Mockingbird; Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; Marvin K Mooney Will You Please Go Now


Use Resonance Use words that bring to mind something evocative or reminiscent, and phrases that already mean something to the reader. Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Grapes of Wrath; Gone with the Wind


Create a Strong Visual The Color Purple; Where the Wild Things Are; Love in the Time of Cholera; Cry, the Beloved Country


Use Alliteration, Rhyme, or Repetition This makes the title catchy or memorable, like how we can remember a nursery rhyme we learned years ago as a child. Listen to the flow. I Capture the Castle; The Secret Circle; Maniac McGee; The Wind in the Willows; There's a Wocket in My Pocket 


Words that Contradict Beautiful Chaos; The Death Cure; Sacred Sins; Neverwhere


Above all, be true to yourself and your book. Go with what feels right to you. 


What are some of your favorite titles.


Visit my blog: juliedaines.blogspot.com