June 2020 edition of the Peschel Press Newsletter
We have a winner! Two winners to be exact. Marjorie and Sharon submitted great titles that we combined into a single, wonderful new name for Peschel Press’s monthly newsletter.
It is (drumroll please) The Peschel Special: Pieces from Peschel Press. Thank you, Marjorie and Sharon! We couldn’t have done it without you and honestly, we couldn’t. I’ve been mulling over a better name for the monthly newsletter almost since I started writing it lo, those many months ago and I got nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
Some things really are better crowd-sourced. So congratulations to Marjorie and Sharon and I’ll be getting your prizes of cloth market bag, fashionable facemask, and torrid novel bookmark in the mail.
If I ever run another contest, I’ll probably use the same prizes so remember folks: you can win so don’t be shy. The cloth market bag, fashionable facemask, and torrid bookmark won’t be what anyone else wins in any other contest since each is unique, but they’ll be well-made, sturdy, and useful. What can be better than that? Well, shopping bags of money, but I don’t have any of those laying around loose.
So that’s our new name: The Peschel Special: Pieces from Peschel Press.
Names are important, whether you’re talking about the name of a character or the title of the book. In the April 2020 edition of The Peschel Special: Pieces from Peschel Press I discussed chapter titles. A good chapter title lures in a casual reader. What is going on? I want to find out!
So does a good title.
An intriguing title can attract attention, just like a good cover can. A good title gives an idea of genre, location, theme, and events. A bad title tells you nothing or it duplicates a dozen other books. Look how many books are titled A Marriage of Convenience. As with your pen-name, always double check your title before settling on one to see what else is out there.
One word titles are terrible. Think of a title like Noir. What does that say? It’s dark? It’s French? It’s a …. thriller about French existential films of the 1950’s? Does this title say comic crime caper novel set in 1947 San Francisco? It should, because that’s what this Christopher Moore novel is. Bad title. Good novel, but bad title.
I have no idea if Mr. Moore came up with the title or his publisher did. Either way, bad title. Perhaps the publisher was assuming that because Christopher Moore’s name was on the cover, they didn’t need to put any effort into the title. His name would do all the heavy lifting. As a micro-publisher, I can tell you this was hubris on the part of Mr. Moore’s publisher. Mr. Moore’s publisher assumed that potential readers already know who Christopher Moore is and thus they do not need to put any effort into marketing. Sadly, I would estimate the overwhelming majority of readers have never heard of Christopher Moore and a title like Noir won’t draw anyone new into the ranks of Christopher Moore fans. A better title, implying comic capers in 1947 San Francisco, might lure new readers.
Here’s a good title, also a comic crime caper novel: The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin. You can guess right away that this book isn’t going to be like anything else you’ve ever read (unless you read Robert Rankin) and you’d be right! It is unique; a unique vision of a unique world and you’ve never read anything like it. Moreover, a title like The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse does double-duty. It alerts readers that if they don’t like the weird and offbeat, then they won’t like this novel. They don’t waste time or money on something they probably won’t like. They may take a risk-free flyer on The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse at the library and become Robert Rankin fans, but they have been warned.
I put a lot of thought into my titles. Some of my books actually have two; the working title and the finished title. I have to have a name for my current project and thus the working title. One of my backburner novels (already at the 50,000-word mark) is called Shop Girl. I won’t use this title for the finished book. I like it, it describes Sabine Maccay (our heroine) and it’s almost unique on Amazon (also important) but it doesn’t say Steppes of Mars or science-fiction romance. If I were to expand that title to Shop Girl of Robinsin, that might work. With this title, we get an idea of our heroine (a salesclerk) and her location (the town of Robinsin and series readers will recognize the location). I’ll work on this title and it will get better.
But I need still more.
A good title in conjunction with a good cover will speak volumes. I love the cover and the title of The Bride from Dairapaska. It says so much. You have a bride and she’s from some strange place you never heard of and yet the woman on the cover has green skin and a baby. Possibly other kids as well, indicated by shadowy figures in front of the cover woman. Brides don’t have babies, they don’t have other kids, and they don’t have green skin. The cover people are also out in the middle of nowhere with a science-fiction background. This is intriguing.
This title and this cover image work together to say there is more here than just another bride romance. Second chance at love? Yep, implied by the kids. Science-fiction? Sure, look at that sky. Running from something? That’s there too, because why else would a woman take her kids out into the middle of nowhere?
We put together a similar title and cover for the second Steppes of Mars novel: The White Elephant of Panschin. The title has a strange image (white elephant) set in a strange location (Panschin). It has a similar sound to The Bride from Dairapaska. It solidifies the pattern I’ve developed for the Steppes of Mars: someone or something in a strange location. The cover gives more information. The setting is inside some sort of dome and there are four characters who are isolated from each other. They have green skin and one of them is formally dressed. What do they have to do with each other? Hopefully, a potential reader is intrigued.
As many of you know, I’m nearing the finish line with The Vanished Pearls of Orlov. I love the title. It fits the format of the earlier books. It has the strange location and a hint of a mystery: missing pearls. We have a decent temporary cover using Dear Daughter as the hand model, green food coloring, press-on nails, and all the fake pearl jewelry I could scrounge up. We’ll get the great cover from our cover artist, Jake Caleb. He developed both of my other covers and I know he’ll deliver another gem, suitable for this novel. I’ll debut that cover in the newsletter a few months from now. This cover, combined with the title, will say Steppes of Mars.
If you want to see more of what Jake can do (or contact him for a great cover for your own book) pay him a visit. My two covers are buried in there somewhere.
Next month, in the July edition, I’ll talk about character names. It’s an important subject for a writer and for a reader. Names should be evocative and I have a lot to say on the subject.
Thanks again for subscribing to The Peschel Special: Pieces from Peschel Press. We appreciate each and every one of our readers. Without readers, books don’t exist.