book title

Will Yours Be One of the 800,000?

Posted on by Brenda Poulos
The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: screenshot-2023-07-07-at-7.11.48-am.png

Fiction authors, did you know there were 800,000 NEW TITLES published last year?

Just like singers and actors who think up things to make them stand out in a sea of their contemporaries, we must find ways to do the same.

I’ve received this advice this week: Target the right demographic, then focus on your book’s TITLE. Consider your book’s contents and then: 1) Write one that communicates the promise of your book, 2) Make it intriguing, 3) Be concise, 4) Create tension.

Last week, a few of you “voted” for your favorite (among three) title for my new book.

Since there was no clearcut “winner”, I broke my own rule by consulting AI. Here’s AI’s title, which I personally don’t like but realize it just might fit the above criteria: The Baby Between Us. 

Please weigh in on this one, if you’d like.

In addition to your input, I am going to visit a website that was recommended to me to test my title. It is called PickFu.com and I will let you know next week if it was helpful. I know there is a free trial available, but can’t seem to find the cost of joining this. (Not sure if it would be cost effective, either, since how often does one choose a title–once or twice a year?

      

Would You Like to See Your Name in Lights?

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

6802192827_1dc0b5dd9b

 

Perusing through a quaint bookstore in Bellingham, Washington last week, several book titles caught my eye. (I tend to pay attention to ones that are unusual in some way, either by font, color, or wording.)

However, this time what caught my eye was the size of the authors’ names. Some were downright HUGE—much larger than the titles.

Hmmmm. Authors like JAMES PATTERSON, MARY HIGGINS CLARK, AND TOM CLANCY have enormous audiences who are lined up to buy each new book as it comes out. Their readers follow their NAMES.

I asked myself this question: Is it the quality of the writing that makes certain authors “worthy” of elevating their name to a print size larger than the title?

After all, it seems that the author’s name in large print is akin to having one’s name in lights on the Las Vegas strip or a theatre marquee or a highway billboard. So, wouldn’t it make sense that the writer has achieved some sort of writing status?

Are the days gone by in which clever titles and unique covers draw the reader in?

If the author’s name is LARGER than the title, should that be a clue to the reader that the story is just incidental?

Are big name authors counting on FAME, rather than quality of writing, to sell their books?

Is the size of the author’s name a fair judge of how well their career is going? Or have they simply found a clever way to make readers THINK they are better writers than the actually are…

I wondered if there could be some “rule” about font size.

Researching the subject, I have found no evidence of any such rule. Size seems to be totally unregulated and, thus, completely arbitrary.

One thing I do know is this: if you want to promote your writing, make the TITLE the largest print on the cover. 

If you want to promote your name—or have a recognizable name, already—perhaps you’ll want to use a larger font for it.

Understand that you are in the business of selling books.

Turn the consumers’ attention to that aspect of your book cover that will boost your sales, whether it be your name or the title of your book.