What’s in a Name?

Choosing the name of your book is rather stressful. Well for me it is. The title must be short (preferably), not too gimmicky but not too serious (boring). I ask myself, what about an image on the front cover? What colours or should it be monochromatic? Should the title include a word or two that reflects the content, or should it be something totally unrelated? What font will portray my message? At this point you might say does it really matter!

Oh yes it does because in cyberspace, those search engines are working overtime responding to global queries about books and authors. You don’t want to get mixed up with a title that may be about erotica or other - unless your story is that genre and you don’t mind! Whatever genre you choose ensure you have a point of differentiation – this is where a great image or unusual use of font might get the reader to turn to the back cover to read the marketing blurb. I am proud to call fellow author, Jenny Old a friend; her biography is a riveting tale set in the Australian outback. No wonder her self-published book was snapped up by a traditional publisher with the new title, “Back of Beyond”.

One final thing – author name. How difficult can that be? It’s your name, right? Not necessarily so. I thought Marisa Parker would be quite original, so I only checked the proposed titles of the first and (now) second book. If only I had spent a little more time because there is a German author called Marisa Parker - you can see from the photo we have quite a different view of what a front cover should look like!

Marisa Parker - Author www.marisaparkerauthor.com