What's in a Name?

Sorry about the really, really unoriginal blog title there, but I just couldn't think of a better one. Because I am blogging about the names of my books.

Did you know I'm the Author of In the Shadow of the Mountain, Home at Haven, Easterfield and The Honeymooners? No? Those are all the original titles of my first four novels. If you actually know the titles of my books you'll notice that all of them, except Easterfield, have been changed prior to publication.

The name of a book is very important. It might be the only part the bookshop browser ever sees, and, like a newspaper headline, it needs to be intriguing enough to catch their attention. Not only that, but it should also sum up the spirit of the book, perhaps evoke a feeling or even another book, and hint at the plot at the same time.

Publishers are excellent at choosing titles, and I particularly like the title they picked for Honeymoon Heist. My favourite of those they listed as possible options was The Getaway but having seen the finished article, Honeymoon Heist sums it up perfectly. (And I'm a big fan of alliteration.)

I have just renamed my work-in-progress for the second time. It was originally just called Emon and then I changed it to Emon and the Empire to hint at the fantasy content. I've now just changed it again, to Emon and the Emperor which is a fantastic title, if I do say so myself. It has some lovely alliteration, it puts our main character right out front and still hints at the fantasy content, and it also throws out a lovely plot "red herring" which hopefully will make readers gasp in surprise as they close the book and suddenly "get" the title.

If it ever gets published I expect the publisher will change the title again to something totally different. But that's fine, because they know best, and the new title will probably be even better.