I know most authors say your titles will be changed you don’t need to think too hard about them. But according to agent, Jessica Faust of Bookends Agency, that is the first thing that grabs her about a manuscript and will keep her reading. The title.
She says it should evoke the feel of the story and grab the reader’s attention. Granted most titles get changed when they are bought by a publisher, but if you have a good one, it will grab the attention of your first reader-either an editor or an agent.
So, I’ve been anguishing over the title of my historical western mystery. I had planned to use colors in the titles, but so far no one has liked the titles I came up with. Then I thought I’d just go with Mae Simon, Pinkerton Detective: Vanishing Heiress. To keep the series influence the Mae Simon, Pinkerton Detective would be on all the manuscripts with a title for each book. But that doesn’t grab the reader. Then I thought of “Au Revoir Esther” since at the beginning of the story the heroine throws off her old persona “Esther”, and she pretends to be a French Prostitute. But this doesn’t tell you there is a mystery involved in the story.
Faust also said your title should let the reader know a little about the story genre.
I need something that says historical, western, romance, mystery…
The title of a book, usually comes to me just like the characters and the premise, but for some reason this book isn’t jumping out at me with a title. Here are some of my other ideas. Any thoughts?
Improper Pinkerton
Chasing Dead Ends
Posse of Two
Cloak and Colt .45
How hard do you work to get a title that suits the book? Or do you just name it your character’s names and figure it will get renamed when it is bought? What is your method for finding the right title for your story?
