This topic of this week’s MFRW 52-week blog challenge is “How I Choose a Book Title.”

And there is no easy answer to the question.

Each book is different. I’ve found some that lend themselves easily to a title while others are harder to pin down. When Anne Farrell and I wrote a contemporary romance together we went through several titles. Out of Control was our original working title, but when we sold it to Zebra for the Precious Gems line, they wanted to call it Dear Heart. Could anything be more generic? We suggested several other titles, and we all agreed on Private Affair. When Anne and I reissued the book, we changed the title to Worth The Risk to reflect the hero’s occupation as a race car driver. I think we ended up with a very cool cover, thanks to cover designer Lex Valentine.

In choosing a title, you obviously want it to have some connection to the story. But what you don’t want is a title so popular that everyone else is using it. I usually go to Amazon and look up titles I’m considering to see how often they have been used and by whom. I wouldn’t want to duplicate, say, a Nora Roberts title. Everyone would think they’d already read it!

Readers, what do you look for in titles? Or is the cover design more important. We authors would like to know!

Linda

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