Book Title Hell

A sure sign of author burnout is when they're going crazy just trying to come up with a decent book title. Shoot, it's two or three words, at the most. How hard can it be?

This is my twelfth book, and only once before was I at a complete loss trying to find a title. That did not turn out well, in hindsight. 

Part of my issue, I think, is that this novel has already had two different titles. I became attached to the first title, but came to realize that no one understood its symbolism. The next iteration was worse. So, it went from The Apple to What We Conceal. I don't know; maybe starting a title with "what" is clunky. The proper grammar would be "That Which We Conceal". Can you imagine? English teachers would probably give it a gold star, but they still wouldn't buy the book. And for sure, no one else would, either.

It's not as if I don't know what I need to do. I just can't seem to execute it.

Since this is a women's fiction novel (I guess), the title should convey emotion. Scratch that--I think any genre's title should convey some type of emotion, but especially women's fiction. 

Then there are genre-conforming expectations. For example, a fantasy novel would ideally be titled, "A ___ of ___ and ___", mimicking, of course, the George R.R. Martin model. 

A quick scan of Amazon's women's fiction best sellers reveals that 99.9% of the titles begin with "the". 

Example:

 

I could include more, but I'm not here to push other authors' books. Trust me; they're almost all like this. By that token, maybe I should go back to The Apple (kidding, I think).

The title also needs to hint at the story's theme. It might help me to compose the book's blurb, because while I think I know what the overall theme is, maybe I'm wrong. If someone were to ask me what the story is about in one sentence, I'd be tongue-tied. Not really. "A woman who grew up with a criminal father sinks into online crime, while her family falls apart." Or something. Sure, there's a murder, but that's more of a plot device to show how everyone reacts. 

When I've been stuck on a title in the past, I've tried:

• AI for brainstorming only. Occasionally AI will include a word or two that I can build on. Other than that, its title suggestions are awful and nonsensical.
• Online book title generators. There are a lot of them, most AI-focused, so no use doubling up on efforts there, but those that aren't can be useful as a starting point.
• Song titles around a specific keyword. 
• Famous quotes.
• Alliteration, which I'm a big fan of ("of which I'm a big fan")

Right now, every time I think of something that might work, I'm emailing it to myself. I have about 13 currently, but none of them have been a bullseye. Maybe a title is like a cover image--I'll know it when I see it.

So far, all my ideas center around either shadows (not good--I used "shadow" for one of my novellas), broken, tangled, shattered, whispers (again, I already used that). I liked "briars" until I learned that the word is used way, way too often, and not for women's fiction, but generally for fantasy. I also took a detour and came up with "The House Down the Block". That would necessitate changing my cover image, though. And I really like my cover image. Yet, I gotta say...it's probably my best idea so far. (And an added plus: it starts with "the"!)

An important note about titles, in case you don't know: Titles can't be copyrighted, which is why there are so many songs with the same title. However, when you do find a title you're fond of, it's a good idea to check if any other books share it, because a) you want to be unique; and b) your book might be confused with a really good one or a really bad one. 

Formatting my novel for paperback is a difficult process to complete without a title. Or I could just keep the placeholder, "Book Title". Bet no one's used that before!

As you can see, this project is moving very slowly. 🐢 I'm fine with that. Really, all that's missing is the title (of course), the blurb, the cover, the editing. Shoot, it's almost ready!

Unlike with a paying job, I can procrastinate as much as I want.