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Naming your book can be harder than naming your first born. For a child, you can go to sites like Behind the Name or Baby Names; but besides the occasional random title generator you might stumble upon, there is no easy way to slap a good title to your writing.
This is the part where I say, “Or is there?” Ahem. There isn’t really, but here are some methods that might help:
Your title should give the reader a small taste of what to expect from the book without giving everything away. Reread some of your favorite books. Think about what made you pick them up in the first place, then study the titles. How do you think the author came up with it? Is it obvious like The Phantom of the Opera? Or a little more imaginative like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?
Play around. Don’t commit to anything at first, but don’t throw anything away. Usually your first idea isn’t The One—sometimes it is, though, so don’t discard it. Write at least five things down before settling. Then sleep on it…literally. Think about it before you go to bed, keep a pen and notebook on your nightstand and jot down anything that comes to you throughout the course of the night.
Naming your book may be as tough as naming a child, but at least with books, you have time to change it before publication. And if you go with a traditional publisher, you might have less say in the title than you expect. So no worries. Have fun with it, and good luck naming your baby—I mean book.
If anyone on CC wants to brainstorm titles with me, go ahead and send a private message and I’ll see what I can do. I LOVE brainstorming titles.
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