How To Title Your Book - Rachelle Gardner

Lately I’ve been coaching several of my clients through the process of coming up with a good title for their book, so I thought I’d share my tips with you.

Let’s start by acknowledging a few things. The publisher is usually responsible for the final decision on title, and in the query stage, it’s not that important. In fact, some agents have said they don’t pay any attention at all to titles. But at some point, you’re going to want to think seriously about this. Your title is part of the overall impression you’re creating about your book. It can set a tone and create an expectation. Whether you’re pitching to an agent, or your agent is pitching to publishers, I think you want to have the strongest title possible.

Think of it this way: the better your title is, the better your chance that the publisher will decide to use it, rather than changing it.

So here’s what I recommend when you need a title, for either fiction or non-fiction.

First, make sure you know the genre of your book, and identify what kind of feeling or tone you want to convey with the title. Write it down. This is important, as I’ve seen humorous books with dead-serious titles, contemporary books whose titles say “historical romance,” novels that sound like self-help books… you get the picture. Be clear on what your title needs to instantly communicate.

Time to start brainstorming:



→ Find twenty books on Amazon that are in the same genre as yours and whose titles you like. Write down their titles. Try to get a feel for what works with your genre. What do you like about the titles? What don’t you like? Then put the list away for awhile.

→ Sit with a pencil and paper (and maybe your critique group and a white-board) and free-associate, making lists of words related to your book. Put them in columns: nouns, verbs, adjectives. If it’s a novel, list words that describe or suggest the setting. Then think about each of your major characters and write down words that relate to them. Think about the action in the story and write down verbs that capture it. If your book is non-fiction, list words that capture what you want your reader to think, feel or do after reading it. And words that describe what your book is about.

→ Nothing is off limits—write down anything you can think of that conveys anything about your book. Use visual words that suggest a scene. Other words that evoke an emotion. A sensation. A location. A question. You should have at least 100 words.

→ See if any of the words would work as a single-word title. Then start experimenting with different word combinations. Adjective-noun, verb-noun. Keep a thesaurus handy and look up other words. Write down as many word combinations as you can. Try not to self-censor at this stage.

→ From these lists, come up with at least 20 possible titles. Then put them away for 24 hours. Two things will happen: your subconscious may still be working on it; and when you come back to your list, you’ll have fresh eyes.

→ Go back to your title list. Add any new ideas you’ve had. Then narrow it down to three to five possibilities. Run them by a few people. (This may or may not help, depending on if there’s a consensus or the opinions are all over the map.) Take a little more time before narrowing it down to one. If you can, wait another day or two.

→ Remember your list of titles from Amazon? Go back to it. Ask yourself if the title you’ve chosen would fit the list—without being too similar or generic.

A few more questions to ask about your title: Does the tone of the title match the tone of the book? Does it convey the right genre (including time period if applicable)? Would it attract attention? If the book were spine-out on the shelf (so the cover and sub-title were not visible) would it still attract attention? Would a reader have any idea what the book is about just from the title? (Sometimes important for non-fiction.)

Once you’ve made a decision—celebrate!

Q4U: How have you decided on titles for your books? Do you find yourself emotionally attached to the one you’ve been living with since you first thought of the book?

Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent

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Laying Down Tracks - Rachelle Gardner

Guest Blogger: Kathi Lipp

When I first started writing, I took advantage of every opportunity to find time to write and to learn the craft. I spent some of my lunch breaks with my writing journal, jotting down ideas for future projects. While waiting at the doctor’s or dentist’s office, I read writers magazines instead of People magazine. While driving to and from work, I listened to CDs about the writing process instead of the Top 40 station. While my kids swam at the community pool, I outlined articles and researched magazines I would like to write for someday.

When my kids were asleep, I wrote. It may have been only two sentences or an idea for something that I wanted to do someday, but I wrote. I knew that I may not finish an actual article, but I also knew it was important to lay the groundwork for the career I was dreaming of.

Was it selfish to yearn for writing time when I had so many other things going on in my life? Many people may think so. I saw it as honoring the dreams God laid on my heart.

One of the biggest challenges we have is assigning importance to our dreams. We figure, why spend the time now when the things we want to accomplish are so far off?

Invest



We need to make the commitment to invest in ourselves. If we have a passion to do something, whether it’s open a business, write a book, or learn to dance, what is one little thing that can get us closer to accomplishing that goal?

It’s time to invest, time to lay down the groundwork, so that when the season comes to live your dream, you are ready.

In one of my favorite movies, Under the Tuscan Sun, there’s a scene where the lead character, Francis, is kicking herself for buying a villa in Tuscany. It’s a big, beautiful house—perhaps too big for a woman who is single and has no children. She cries to her friend and real estate agent, Martini, “I bought a house for a life I don’t even have.”

I will never forget the words Martini encourages her with: “Signora, between Austria and Italy, there is a section of the Alps called the Semmering. It is an impossibly steep, very high part of the mountains. They built a train track over these Alps to connect Vienna and Venice. They built these tracks even before there was a train in existence that could make the trip. They built it because they knew some day, the train would come.”

That is the kind of faith we need for our dreams. To know that someday, the train will come. To know that someday, we will have time to live out our dreams. To put down visible, tangible signs saying, “This is the life I’m going to lead. I am preparing the way for what is going to happen. I know that God is faithful to finish what He starts, and He is faithful to complete this in me.”

Laying down track looks different for each of us. It may mean signing up for a class or subscribing to a magazine related to your passion. For some people, it is just admitting to a friend (or even to themselves) that they do have a dream, and that they want to see it become a reality.

What is the next length of track you need to lay down?

Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent

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