I don't have a title. I have written a novel, and I have no title. Should I be worried? After all, received wisdom says that the book's title is the most important marketing tool I have, important in the sense that it will encourage potential to readers to pick it up, browse through it and, perhaps, buy it.
I have read that most potential readers, browsing in a bookshop, make decisions about whether or not to pick up a book based on the title alone. This is certainly true of me. So - how about you? Below are the original titles from 4 very popular books before the titles were changed.
Tomorrow is Another Day
Atticus
All's Well that Ends Well
Stranger from Within.
Do these titles grab you? All these titles were later changed to: Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, War and Peace and Lord of the Flies. When choosing a title, received wisdom says that you might want to consider a title that says something concerning what the book is about. War and Peace for example, or Oliver Twist. Alternatively, your title might say something about when the novel takes place. Love in the Time of Cholera, for example. On the other hand, the book title could say something about where the story takes place. Bhowani Junction, for example or A Passage to India. Perhaps I should publish my latest offering with a title like, The Book with no Name, but a quick Google search reveals that this title is taken so that option is no longer available.
Finally, I would suggest that first impressions are not restricted to titles. I would also add the word first to: word, sentence, paragraph, page, scene, chapter. Why? Because a book has many ways of introducing itself and these are not restricted to the title. But I will write about these other "firsts" in later blogs.
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