Fascinating post, Phoebe, thanks for all the info.
And thanks for lifting a weight from my shoulders: I’m working on my first novel and have a growing list of possible titles, headed by a couple of current favourites. I expect I’ll continue to add to it occasionally, but will no longer consider it important. Thanks for saving me from that busywork.
Thank you so much for this insight Phoebe. It's useful to have a range of places to research titles and to hear your process. I imagine the right title could also attract literary agents and help to push a book up the slush pile?
It's so interesting to hear about what goes on with book titles. I've seen it happen with my co-written novels. A WW2 saga where she's a plane mechanic and he's a pilot started off with a title that had "sky" in it somewhere, which evolved into "Spitfire Sky", and then the editor added the cherry on the top so that it became "Under a Spitfire Sky" - perfect!
I did smile at your list of saga titles... Our next saga has "orphans" in the title! I hadn't realised that saga fans deliberately search for books with that in the title, though, so now I know!
I've been lucky with two 'first book in a series' titles, as they're both very much in the vein of 'does what it says on the tin' (The Dog Sitter Detective and Can You Solve the Murder?) and so my original titles made it through. That's definitely not always the case, though, and every other DSD book has had its title changed before publication.
Ironically, the one I've just handed in had a near-perfect title that everyone loved… but now we're having to change it for marketing reasons because the book's setting is changing, and I doubt I'll ever be able to use it again 😭
Another great post and such an interesting and, dare I say, fun topic. My first novel with HarperCollins was called Fingers and Pies while I was writing it (because a nosy, bossy character had her finger in many pies). My agent changed it to Safe As Houses and HarperCollins published it as The Perfect Neighbours. It was an ideal title for a domestic thriller as it contained two keywords for the genre. I agree with you that the author can sometimes be too close to see what kind of title works best. I'd have never thought of such an apt title.
Very interesting Phoebe, thank you. Re lyrics, I had one of my characters think of a song line but a writer friend said you can’t use song lyrics without permission, which usually costs a fortune. Does the same not apply to book titles, or is it a question of a few words being okay but not, say, two lines? TIA
I'm not a lawyer (!) but as I understand it copyright also simply doesn't apply to titles of creative works. This is how you can have multiple different songs called The Power of Love, for example.
I hardly ever get the title I propose on a novel so have given up suggesting them. One example was a Peter Davison Doctor Who novel long ago which I wanted to call Metempsychosis, which is very in keeping with the Davison era story titles on TV. BBC books changed the title to Empire of Death which felt far too on the nose (the book is about Queen Victoria’s army attempting to invade the afterlife for her after the death of Prince Albert).
The irony is last year’s finale of new Doctor Who starring Ncuti Gatwa was called - you guessed it - Empire of Death! BBC Books has just published a novelisation also called Empire of Death. So, it’s a popular title even I still don’t like it
Love hearing the reasons and rationale behind book titles. I absolutely hate the title of my book, told my publisher, but he used it anyway. Feedback is that the title and cover do not resonate and are hurting sales of this literary fiction, but the publisher will not change anything. Most frustrating
As a writer, I find titles extremely difficult - am delighted to hear that there’s no need to worry about them because publishers will often change them anyway!
Fascinating post, Phoebe, thanks for all the info.
And thanks for lifting a weight from my shoulders: I’m working on my first novel and have a growing list of possible titles, headed by a couple of current favourites. I expect I’ll continue to add to it occasionally, but will no longer consider it important. Thanks for saving me from that busywork.
Thank you for reading Nick! Good luck with your first novel :)
Thank you so much for this insight Phoebe. It's useful to have a range of places to research titles and to hear your process. I imagine the right title could also attract literary agents and help to push a book up the slush pile?
It could, but agents will often change titles too so it’s not the be all and end all!
It's so interesting to hear about what goes on with book titles. I've seen it happen with my co-written novels. A WW2 saga where she's a plane mechanic and he's a pilot started off with a title that had "sky" in it somewhere, which evolved into "Spitfire Sky", and then the editor added the cherry on the top so that it became "Under a Spitfire Sky" - perfect!
I did smile at your list of saga titles... Our next saga has "orphans" in the title! I hadn't realised that saga fans deliberately search for books with that in the title, though, so now I know!
Under A Spitfire Sky is a great title!
It's gorgeous, isn't it!
I've been lucky with two 'first book in a series' titles, as they're both very much in the vein of 'does what it says on the tin' (The Dog Sitter Detective and Can You Solve the Murder?) and so my original titles made it through. That's definitely not always the case, though, and every other DSD book has had its title changed before publication.
Ironically, the one I've just handed in had a near-perfect title that everyone loved… but now we're having to change it for marketing reasons because the book's setting is changing, and I doubt I'll ever be able to use it again 😭
Love those titles you mention!
Once in a while – not often, but once in a while – I get it right ;)
Another great post and such an interesting and, dare I say, fun topic. My first novel with HarperCollins was called Fingers and Pies while I was writing it (because a nosy, bossy character had her finger in many pies). My agent changed it to Safe As Houses and HarperCollins published it as The Perfect Neighbours. It was an ideal title for a domestic thriller as it contained two keywords for the genre. I agree with you that the author can sometimes be too close to see what kind of title works best. I'd have never thought of such an apt title.
It did so well!
Very interesting Phoebe, thank you. Re lyrics, I had one of my characters think of a song line but a writer friend said you can’t use song lyrics without permission, which usually costs a fortune. Does the same not apply to book titles, or is it a question of a few words being okay but not, say, two lines? TIA
Yes exactly - different rules for the amount of words used, and some phrases are common parlance and therefore not exclusive to song titles.
I'm not a lawyer (!) but as I understand it copyright also simply doesn't apply to titles of creative works. This is how you can have multiple different songs called The Power of Love, for example.
Great intel!
I hardly ever get the title I propose on a novel so have given up suggesting them. One example was a Peter Davison Doctor Who novel long ago which I wanted to call Metempsychosis, which is very in keeping with the Davison era story titles on TV. BBC books changed the title to Empire of Death which felt far too on the nose (the book is about Queen Victoria’s army attempting to invade the afterlife for her after the death of Prince Albert).
The irony is last year’s finale of new Doctor Who starring Ncuti Gatwa was called - you guessed it - Empire of Death! BBC Books has just published a novelisation also called Empire of Death. So, it’s a popular title even I still don’t like it
Haha! So interesting - thanks for sharing.
Love hearing the reasons and rationale behind book titles. I absolutely hate the title of my book, told my publisher, but he used it anyway. Feedback is that the title and cover do not resonate and are hurting sales of this literary fiction, but the publisher will not change anything. Most frustrating
I’m sorry - that sounds frustrating. Can your agent help?
As a writer, I find titles extremely difficult - am delighted to hear that there’s no need to worry about them because publishers will often change them anyway!
Well exactly!