K.Z. Snow has posted on the very controversial topic of book titles and I’m sure there will be a lively debate. Here’s her view of the naming debate -
The Obscenely Rich Old Pervert’s Skank and Twink Menage. Silver Spurs and Golden Showers. Up Yours, Down Mine. Mobry’s Dick.
Titles. All books have them. Their importance goes far beyond convenient labeling, or should. Polls and blog comments have indicated how strongly covers can
attract or repel readers. But titles? Whoa, now we’re getting to the very stuff books are made of — words. Titles telegraph the content of books. More important, they influence perception of content, sometimes quite strongly. They’re nowhere near as superfluous as cover art. (By the way, the last title above is for my WIP, and it isn’t frivolous. It’s tightly bound to the storyline and has nothing to do with a real live peen.)
I came upon a stunning example of a title influencing perception of content in online reactions to Barbara Sheridan’s Beautiful C*cksucker and BC2: Such a Pretty Boy. Readers who liked the stories liked the titles, and vice versa. Readers who didn’t like the stories didn’t like the titles, and vice versa. I’ve yet to come upon a single reader who praised one element yet criticized the other. In fact, some people absolutely refused to read the books based on their titles alone.
In this instance, at least, title and text were inextricably linked in people’s minds, even if those people hadn’t so much as glanced at an excerpt.
As appalling as I find snap-judgments, I’m guilty of them myself. I can say categorically (no pun intended) I wouldn’t go near a Harlequin romance with certain words in the title, e.g., sheik or sheikh, virgin, billionaire, mistress, bride, baby, any possessive noun, or “the.”
First observation. If a title seems a perfect fit for a book yet has the potential for annoying people or stirring controversy, an author and publisher can either say “piss on it” and stick to their guns, or they can find synonymous wording that coddles rather than offends people’s sensibilities. That might not be as easy as it seems. To illustrate my point, I tried to come up with alternatives to Beautiful C*cksucker (sincere apologies to Barb Sheridan!)
1. I’m Pretty and I Give Good Head. Uh, no. Sounds like a personal ad on craigslist.
2. Fellatio Rulz! (Especially When Performed by an Attractive Individual). Nuh-uh, takes up too much cover space.
3. The Asterisk-for-O Book. Nope, skates a little too close to Winfreyland.
4. I Wrote This Story Specifically to Generate a Wankfest. See objection #2.
5. Go Down, Moses . . . After You See a Good Stylist. No, no, no. Literary types who revere William Faulkner would find that blasphemous.
So sometimes, authors and publishers just have to take the plunge. More often than not, the plunge pays off. I’ll bet Celia Kyle’s F*ck a Duck has done pretty damned well over at Changeling Press. (In fact, I’m thinking of titling a book using nothing but asterisks.)
Second observation. A good title accurately represents the book to which it’s attached. A better title piques readers’ interest. The best kind of title is so suggestive or even resonant, it’s almost a story in itself; it intrigues, charms, amuses, or startles enough to make a reader pull up short and do a little wondering. As far as I’m concerned, titles can’t be critiqued beyond those parameters, unless, of course, the titles contain errors. Value judgments are irrelevant to determining title strength or weakness. I’m sure plenty of people thought Abbie Hoffman’s title Steal This Book was morally reprehensible, but it was no such thing. It was both a stroke of marketing genius and a perfect representation of the book’s message.
Third observation. Authors should avoid trompe l’oeil (or “fool the eye”) titles. Know how you sometimes glance at a phrase, and the presence or absence of a single letter or small word trips up your cognition? That’s because your eyes are playing tricks on your brain, and it takes your brain a little while to catch on. Certain fonts can increase the risk of fooling the reader’s eye. In any case, this is not a good thing when it comes to book titles. For example:
“Ass Matters” is a provocative and versatile phrase. It might be an appropriate title for an exercise guide. Or a coffee-table photo book featuring male swimsuit models. (When, oh when, will such a volume appear?) It would be perfect for a story about a top with a spanking fetish. It could even describe a typical Friday on Wave’s blog.
But look out! This is definitely a potential trompe l’oeil phrase. If, at first glance, a reader’s eye misses that final consonant, s/he is going to see “Ass Matter.” Whoops. Flush that story’s appeal down the toilet. Then again, there’s always Literotica.
Fourth observation. Different strokes for different author folks. Well-known authors seem to prefer fairly straightforward, psycho-emotionally neutral titles that represent their stories well but, in and of themselves, provoke no particular response in the reader. Makes sense. When the author’s name is the moneymaker to be shaken in front of the public, why overshadow it with a distracting title? Writers of historical fiction also seem to favor understatement. That, too, makes sense. Transgressions and Insubordination, for example, would not be well served by titles like Wallowing in Sin and Defiant Studmuffins. They kind of ruin the cachet, y’know?
What m/m titles have snared my interest? Well, I’m a real sucker for unique, evocative titles, especially the kind that add a little bit of extra dimension to their stories. I admire and covet them. I get all oogie over them. Here’s just a partial list, in no particular order:
Maltese’s one-worders
Edward, Unconditionally
Ghost Star Night
The Elf and Shoemaker
A Roof for the Rain
The Witch’s Boy
Bashed: A Love Story
(and while I’m on Rick Reed, but not literally, needless to say) NEG UB2
Hemovore
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (Yeah, I know, classifying this as m/m is a bit of a stretch, but I really love the title!)
Blue Ruin
Palace of Varieties
Call Me by Your Name
Rough Canvas
Drag Queen in the Court of Death
Channeling Morpheus
Cooking with Ergot
If All the Sand Were Pearl
What’re yours? (I apologize for all the titles not being italicized. Wave says WordPress requires buckets of HTML to insert italics, and since she and I both have empty code buckets…oh well.)
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K. Z. Snow’s latest work, co-authored with her doppelganger, Castanet Feldman, is Eat Me Before I Spoil, about the sexual misadventures of three wacky cougars spending their summer vacation in an Airstream park in south Florida. ;-) To Be Where You Are, the sequel to InDescent and something KZ wrote herself, is coming November 9 from Liquid Silver Books. Book 4 of the Utopia-X series is coming January 5 from Loose Id. Jude in Chains,which focuses on the ex-gay movement, is smoking a lot of cigarettes and eating from vending machines as it waits in some f*cking queue in an editor’s computer.
K.Z. SNOW’s busy blog
http://kzsnow.blogspot.com
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To be quite honest, I have never despised a title as much as I have “Beautiful Cocksucker”. The author and the publisher can claim whatever they want, but anybody who has had that word used against them in a threatening manner (or, man, it doesn’t even have to be threatening) will find it uncomfortable and even exploitative.
Now that being said, great m/m titles? “Death of a Pirate King” and “Attack of the Theater People” always tickled my fancy.
Sean
I’m with you on the title of “Beautiful C*cksucker”. I think it’s demeaning – it’s like using the “N” word in the title of a book and saying that it’s freedom of speech – only someone who has experienced the humiliation of this word can understand.
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But, having said that, it’s an author’s (and publisher’s) choice whatever title they choose and they have to hope like hell the readers understand their message.
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From my perspective, the cover art is in no way “superfluous” – it makes a statement about the book, and when it’s crappy many readers, yours truly included, pass on a lot of books. We all say, “don’t judge a book by its cover” but most of us definitely do.
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A title I like is Mind Fuck I’ve been promising myself to review this book just for the hell of it, but also because all of the reviews I have read so far give it an excellent rating.*g*
I’ve got Mind Fuck in my wish list at TBD. I’m waiting for some spare cash so I can splurge on it!
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Funnily enough it wasn’t available at my local library
Jen
I wonder why it wasn’t available at the library?:-D. I actually have it in my amazon cart but I was hoping to get it as an ebook because the print can be adjusted.
I’m actually a bit title blind. I often focus more on the cover picture than the title so I only really see the title if it’s just that bit different from the norm – like Beautiful C**cksucker or your title Bastards and Pretty Boys. Other than that I often find myself discussing books by saying ‘you know, that one with such and such where such and such happened’. Or ‘that one with the great picture of the kangaroo on it’ or something similar
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What really irritates me is when authors have a string of books with similar sounding titles. Then I’ve no hope of distinguishing between them and have even accidentally bought the same book twice because I got the titles mixed up. I hate that.
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Titles I like? Erm, well the titles of Jet Mykles’ Heaven Sent books were distinctive: Heaven, Purgatory, Hell, Faith, Genesis.
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My mind’s gone blank now! I may have to come back later when I can think of some more
Well, I’m not sure this deserves a “congratulations” or a “I’m sorry” but Beautiful C*cksucker is the vote leader in the Good Reads Listopia poll for “Humerious, Strange or Downright Shocking Titles”, just ahead of Back Door Friends 2: Rear Deliveries and Tickle His Pickle: Your Hands on Guide to his Penis. I personally don’t care for the title, but it has certainly garnered attention. When you make the top of a list (negative or not), it’s going to make people curious enough to buy the book.
Great post.
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I think having a negative association with a name is normal. You love the book you tend to at least be okay with the title. Just like people. Sometimes a name will be forever associated with a jerk from your past and no matter how nice a new person is you just can’t get past it.
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Some of my faves? Hard question but one that is calling my name (or maybe it’s the cover or both) is “Immortality is the Suck”. It just makes me kind of smirk in response. Hmmm. I love “Striking Sparks” by JCP but then it is because I loved the story that I love the title or is it just because I love the title? Arrgghh. Chicken or egg? “Str8te Boys”, kind of a cute little play on the number/letter thing. Probably some people hate it because of that. Addison Albright’s short “Cow Pie Bingo” (brownie point for anyone who knows what that is and hasn’t read the story) got my attention because of the title and it was a cute little story. Okay, based on this list it appears that I like something quirky that grabs my attention. “Hell Cop” – sounds so masculine and alpha – hear me roar.
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Oh and you really should do a title in all asterix(s?), but throw in a few random commas as well.
I don’t demand much in a title, only that it be clever, memorable, intriguing, appropriate to the story and not so obscene that I’d be embarassed for people to see me reading it on the train. Not a lot to ask is it?
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Sometimes an obscene or controversial one is appropiate of course, but there’re also times I think it make the author look like they’re just trying too hard. “Look at me! I’m so naughty!” Kind of like when a small child is doing something they know they shouldn’t and keeps looking at mum to see when she’s going to react. There really should be better ways of attracting interest in your book than by giving it a shocking title simply for the attention it will draw.
JFM
“There really should be better ways of attracting interest in your book than by giving it a shocking title simply for the attention it will draw.”
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I agree with you 100%. The content should be what makes the reader sit up and take notice, not the title. If the writer needs a title that smacks the readers in the face or is humilating to a particular group of people, I always wonder if it’s all advertising because the book’s content leaves a lot to be desired. Did the writer think of the impact, other than it being “cute and attention getting”?
Jen, I’m pretty much with you on this one; I’m more or less “title blind,” except in cases like the ones I mentioned. They snare my interest and make me wonder, “Now what could that possibly be about?”
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Tam — Cow Pie Bingo? Cool! Haven’t heard of it. I agree about Str8te Boys — ingenious and eye-catching.
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Wave, of course it’s ultimately content that readers are after, but something must persuade us to take an interest in the content. Covers and titles are like people’s faces: we’re drawn to some, intrigued by others, sometimes indifferent, sometimes repelled. This may be one of the more unfortunate facts of publishing, but it’s a fact nonetheless.
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I really, really didn’t want to focus on Barb’s books, except as an example, but those titles have, it seems, done their job. As Tam said, they’ve obviously garnered plenty of attention.
Uh-oH. Correction. The “no pun intended” within parentheses, in my mention of Harlequin above, was supposed to go after the word “categorically.” Get it? Hahaha. *groan*
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That’s what I get for futsing with an article after it’s been written.
Hi KZ
I made the change so I hope it’s in the right place now.*g*
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As you say, a writer needs something, a hook, to draw readers to a book – in my case the cover attrracts me (or not). In someone else’s case it could be the title. Some books I never go near because the name (or the cover) repels me. When a writer gives a book a controversial name they take a calculated risk that there will be readers who won’t buy the book, and I’m guilty of that. But if it has a great cover I’m very tempted to check out what’s inside.
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You indicate that you didn’t mean to focus on Barb’s book, but the mere fact that it’s mentioned a couple of times in the post, and it was already controversial, inevitably draws attention to it. That title has done its job, for good or evil.
K. Z., this is a great post. I’m totally fascinated with titles. My favorites come from fiction and nonfiction and all over the place, and I’ll buy on title alone. Some of them include:
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Apocalypse Now
Atlas Shrugged
In The Electric Mist With Confederate Dead
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Neuromancer
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
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I’ve got to agree with Tam on “Immortality is the Suck” though I haven’t read it yet. That’s a great title! And I’ve got to agree with Jenre on those irritating generic titles that some authors get that are so interchangeable that you end up buying the book a couple of times. I’ve especially done that with ebooks before.
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Titles that make me gripe include those I have no idea how to pronounce (The Mixquiahuala Letters) and titles that are just a single proper name, which conveys absolutely nothing. And, K.Z., I know what you mean about that trompe l’oeil thing. We’ve got a fantasy book in the bookcase by the front door and its title is the made-up proper name “Paragaea”. Every single time I see it, I read it as “Paralegal” and then it makes me hesitate, trying to figure out its fantasy context, ha, ha!
“A title I like is Mind Fuck I’ve been promising myself to review this book just for the hell of it, but also because all of the reviews I have read so far give it an excellent rating.”
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Yes and YES. ^^
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Personally, I avoid sugary titles, because I do associate the titles with the books and I don’t like bleeding hearts, flowers, pets & children in my romances. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I read m/m romances. XD Romantic – yes, but oh-so-sweet that I need to go to the dentist – NO.
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I don’t mind provocative titles as long as they do something to do with the content of the book.
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It’s hard to explain what attracts me to the book title. Honestly, I don’t know. So, I better give the example. If I wasn’t Richard Stevenson’s fan already, I would have bought On The Other Hand, Death because of the title alone.
Wave,
Have you read Mindfuck? It’s one of my favrourite m/m future dystopia sado masochistic stories. Lol. The series is one that I think you have to be able to read between the lines of. Not so apparent in the first stories but as you get to know the characters you learn to judge between what they are saying/doing and what they are actually feeling/meaning. I hope you’ll write a review.
Hi Leslie
“A title I like is Mind Fuck I’ve been promising myself to review this book just for the hell of it, but also because all of the reviews I have read so far give it an excellent rating.*g*”
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This is what I said about Mind Fuck at the very beginning of the comments.
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I actually bought it a few hours ago when I first thought of it as the type of book I would like to read, regardless of the title,:) but it is a great title!
Confederacy of Dunces is one of my all-time favorite titles.
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I’m surprised to see a few of my titles here! Striking Sparks was funny, it seemed like every few lines, a new and totally killer title suggested itself. (And damn, I wish that happened all the time.)
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Channeling Morpheus titled itself right away too. I get a lot of people asking me what it means, but I think it’s catchy enough that they remember it even if it doesn’t evoke a specific mental image. In a way it reminds me of Confederacy of Dunces. You might not get it, but it sticks in your brain.
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Hemovore was a story that took years to write, and it had more titles than I even remember. I’m a lot happier with the final result than I would have been with my earlier titles: Chiaroscuro, V-Luvv, Vampire Kisses, Shades of Black.
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What a fun post, K.Z.! I’m sure I’ll totally psych myself out the next time I need to title something
Hey, Jordan! Yes, yes, poor John Kennedy Toole’s book! I remember when I first saw that title; it stopped me dead in my tracks.
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You’ve been singularly blessed by the Title Fairy, I think. But that doesn’t surprise me, given the uniqueness of your stories. (I agree on Hemovore — best choice you could’ve made.)
I understand, Wave. That’s why I mentioned Barb’s book. When it comes to that title, readers are either “fer it” or “agin it.” And I do appreciate the sensitivity of gay men to the phrase.
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Excellent choices, Val! (I just tried to concentrate on m/m stories.) Yes, the generic-sounding titles tend to give me a ho-hum moment — unless, of course, the books were written by authors I particularly admire. It’s entirely possible and certainly beneficial for writers to come up with somewhat imaginative titles.
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LadyM and LesleyW, you’ve really ramped up my interest in “Mind Fuck,” which I hadn’t heard of until now. I definitely have to look into it! (That’s a SUPERB title, too.)
KZ,
Thanks for listing a couple of mine in there, but I can’t help but be amused as I think I suck at coming up with titles! LOL
(I am a bit proud of Blue Ruin as far as the series name goes, but it should be noted that each individual installment of Blue Ruin steals, I mean, um, borrows, an 80s song title…)
Hi, Katrina. I’ve always though “Blue Ruin” was wonderful. Nothing wrong with borrowing song titles, either, as long as they’re appropriate. I’ve, uh, been known to do that myself (cough *LookingforSomeTouch* cough *HoochieCoochieMan*). Damned shame we can’t pilfer . . . er, pay homage to . . . lyrics as well, eh?
FYI, you can still read Mind fuck for free online. So no need to wait.
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As for the titles I also like “the ghost wore yellow socks” but one of my all time fave’s is “Dune”. It such a simple title (even the dutch equivalent is only 4 letters “Duin”) but it covers so much.
Ingrid
Now you tell me after I bought Mind Fuck.*g* Please send me the link.
I thought I mentioned it before. It must have been somewhere else *g*
Anyway here: http://www.mannazone.org/zone/admin/index.html
Lots of stories, few longer ones and shorts. It’s preferable to read them in order.
Here it is (sorry, Ingrid, but Administration Series is one of my favorite topics): http://www.mannazone.org/zone/admin/index.html
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Wave, you did the right thing. I’ve read the entire series and now I absolutely MUST have it in print. It’s on my wish list on Book Depository (yes, after I’ve complained here, they’ve included my country. They must be reading this site. ~_^)
Oh, it’s a Manna Francis story! Then it has to be great.
Thank you for discussing the importance of titles! I’ve always been way more drawn to an evocative title than to even the most gorgeous cover (which is not to say that I don’t love a beautiful cover, because I totally do
). I think I mentioned this in the discussion on cover art, but Stranger In A Strange Land has always been one of my favorite titles, and it ended up being one of my favorite books after the intriguing title made me pick it up and got me interested in reading it.
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Other titles I love:
The Stars, Like Dust
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (my favorite book AND title in the Hitchhiker’s Guide series *g*)
Desertion
In The Hills, The Cities
The Winter Of Our Discontent
Heart of Darkness (I have my problems with the book, but LOVE the title)
Hemovore (I need to read that!!)
Where The Wild Things Are
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I know there are others but I’m blanking out, and I don’t particularly want to go dig through my double-row shelves and the piles of books by my bed looking for my favorites so that’ll do for now *g*
I remember you saying that, Ally. I thought, Yeehah! I’m not alone!
You picked some good ones, too. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is classic, but I stuck to m/m titles for the very reason you mentioned — there are just too many stellar ones out there. The Virgin Suicides. Fahrenheit 451. The Scarlet Letter. We Have Always Lived in This Castle. The Illustrated Man. Yikes, this post would’ve been eight pages long!
At LEAST eight pages. LOL.
Right now I think Hemovore is my #1 favorite m/m title. It packs a lot of interest into that single, fascinating word, IMHO.
Other m/m titles I love:
Wild Hunt, by Willa Okati
Cooking With Ergot (totally agree on that one)
You Can Leave Your Hat On, by Lena Matthews
Lola Dances, by Victor Banis
A Note In The Margin (someone said this, right? another one I agree on)
Achilles’ Other Hell, by Tulsa Brown
There’s a bunch of others already mentioned that I agree with, these are just some of my particular favorites
Ally
You mention some of my favourite books – The Restaurant At the End of the Universe; The Winter of our Discontent; Heart of Darkness (the book and the movie); where the Wild Things Are.
I can’t believe how much I read.*g*
Hey, reading is good *g*
I read The Winter Of Our Discontent in high school at my mother’s urging. I was surprised by how much I liked it. It sucked me in and didn’t let me go until I was done. Must really re-read that one day…
UPDATE. Without getting into specifics, it appears my m/m contemporary, Bastards and Pretty Boys, did fairly well for itself at Liquid Silver Books. There’s no doubt in my mind the title had a lot to do with that, since LSB isn’t generally known for its GLBTQ fiction. (Of course, having names like Chase and Lanyon on its author roster doesn’t hurt!)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Any of LKH’s titles – you have to admit, she has great titles
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
going blank here
I’m notorious for being crap at remembering titles. Books, songs and movies; it’s generally all a blur.
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I’m that annoying person who will ring you up completely out of the blue, usually at ungodly hours, to ask ‘what was that song that went *humming*’, ‘you know, the one that has the lines that go like this *singing*’.
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Needless to say that I’m much hated at those times. LOL.
PS – I am pretty good at remembering books in a particular series however.
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For example if you were to say to me which is the book in the Adrien English series when Jake was a complete arsehole, I’d be able to answer ‘all of ‘em’.
Kris
“For example if you were to say to me which is the book in the Adrien English series when Jake was a complete arsehole, I’d be able to answer ‘all of ‘em’”
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You’re a very bad girl.*g*
“Wallowing in Sin” and “Defiant Studmuffins” are going on my list of titles to write next time. *giggles*
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I like intriguing titles, someone mentioned DUNE and that’s right on the money. We have adverts here about varnishing products and the slogan is “does exactly what it says on the tin.” and DUNE does that, in spades. It’s entirely vague if you hadn’t a clue what it was about, but once you start it, it sums up the entire book, and no just because that’s the nickname of the planet. Same with KES. It means nothing, but then, becomes everything, and is never forgotten, once experienced.
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Other titles which have drawn me to them because of the intrigue are things like “Mortal Engines”, “The Wasp Factory” “Clockwork Orange”
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I dare say eventually (when I’m dead) we will see a line of gay romances along the line of:
–The Albanian King’s Captive slave-boy
–The Mediterranean Tycoon’s Irrepressible Prince
–The Nordic Landowner’s Reluctant Poolboy
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But I shan’t be reading them.
Funny you mention A Clockwork Orange, I just read that a couple of days ago. Definitely a striking title.
Cute.
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J L Langley plays on the category romance style titles with “His Convenient Husband” and I like the cleverness of that. At first sight it seems conventional, until your brain goes “wait… HIS?”
Yep, jfm, it’s that little stutter in the brain that makes some titles stand out more than others. It means our attention’s been caught.
Erastes, I’m not averse to accepting donations for my suggestions.
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Gawd, the day m/m titles mimic HQN titles is the day I go back to playing bassoon — on street corners. (I’m not too far away from that now.)
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Ooo, you came up with some good ones!
Great post. And speaking of titles, “Sniveling Emo Snot-Monkeys” got me over here pronto.
I think a title is a book’s very first hook. Ideally, it should raise a question in a potential reader’s mind, and title and cover art together should convey the promise that the answer will be worth finding out.
My first m/m with Loose Id did quite well and I think some of that had to do with the title, since not many people knew anything about my work on the whole. It was Virgin, and in an m/m context, that is a direct appeal to fans of the horny male virgin motif.
Hiya, Jessica! I was hoping to drive my point home with the post title; guess it worked!
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You’re likely right about Virgin. Now I’m curious about it too.
Titles are always a sticking point. I love a good title:
-Repent Harlequin said the Tick-Tock Man
-R is for Rocket
-Strange Wine
-I have no mouth and I must scream
-Jack the Bodiless
-Abaddon
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But a bad or generic title will draw me in too.
-Manwich (Seriously)
-The Highwayman (a Silhouette Nocturne)
-The Johnson Obsession
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I have one publisher who always hates my titles.
“Burning for Eight Days” became “Eight Days Ablaze.” “All in the Merry Greenwood” ended up “Heart of A Forest.” (It came too damn close to being “Naughty in Nottingham”)
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A good title will encourage me to buy a book. A bad title makes me glad I carry an e-reader.
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Just so you know, I would totally buy “The Rich Old Pervert’s Skank and Twink Menage.” I mean, I’d know exactly what I’m getting.