avatarRoz Warren, Writing Coach

Summary

Roz Warren, a writer and editor, emphasizes the importance of crafting a compelling title for stories, which should convey the subject and tone, and ideally be clever or engaging, to captivate potential readers.

Abstract

Roz Warren, who wears multiple hats as a writer, writing coach, and editor-for-hire, stresses the critical role of a story's title. She argues that a title must clearly indicate the story's content and emotional tone, and if possible, be clever or captivating to stand out. Warren admits her own experience with title success and failure, citing her book "Our Bodies, Our Shelves" as an example of a successful title, and "Just Another Day at Your Local Public Library" as less effective. She encourages writers to invest effort in title creation, suggesting collaboration with others if necessary. Warren believes that even though some writers naturally excel at titling, any writer can improve with dedication, and a strong title is essential for attracting readers.

Opinions

  • Warren believes that writers often undervalue the importance of a good title, rushing to publish without adequate consideration.
  • She suggests that a title should not only inform readers about the story's subject but also hint at its tone, whether it be serious, humorous, informative, or entertaining.
  • Warren acknowledges that a title can sometimes compensate for not strictly adhering to the two main criteria if it is particularly clever or engaging.
  • She points out that a poor title can negatively impact a book's success, as evidenced by the differing sales figures of her own books with good versus mediocre titles.
  • Warren encourages writers to seek help from peers, friends, or even social media contacts when brainstorming for the perfect title.
  • She maintains that with persistence and possibly collaboration, any writer can craft an outstanding title for their work.

ASK AN EDITOR

Your Title Sucks

Here’s How to Fix It

Photo by Shubham Dhage on Unsplash

I’m a writer, but I’m also a writing coach and editor-for-hire. I work with beginning writers and accomplished writers, and every kind of writer in between, on projects ranging from 500-word humor pieces to 500-page novels.

One of the most useful things I do for my writers is stop them from publishing good stories with crappy titles. Writers screw up titles all the time. Why? They get impatient and send their work out into the world before they’ve found just the right title for it. Often, they fail to recognize that a title they’ve fallen in love with is actually second rate.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Here are the Rules

Titles aren’t rocket science. A title has to do just two things:

(1) Tell the reader what the story is going to be about.

(2) Tell the reader what the tone of the story will be.

That’s really all a title really has to do. But you definitely get bonus points if

(3) The title is also clever, entertaining, amusing or otherwise attention-grabbing.

In fact, if the title is fun and engaging enough, you can get away with breaking both rules one and two. But this is rare.

I am impressed by how often writers want to give their stories titles that they believe are clever, but which don’t give potential readers a clue about the subject of the piece, or whether it’s going to be a serious read or a funny one.

My Mistake

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised because I’ve made this mistake myself.

A few years ago, I published a book with a terrific title — Our Bodies, Our Shelves: A Collection of Library Humor.

I feel comfortable saying that my book had a great title because I didn’t come up with it. My writer pal Risa Nye did, after I asked my Facebook friends for title suggestions.

What’s so good about that title? It both tells you exactly what you’re about to read (essays about library work) and the tone (they’re funny.) Plus, it’s a pun on the title of feminist classic Our Bodies, Our Selves, which earns it extra bonus points for being clever.

The collection I published after that, had, alas, a mediocre title. Just Another Day at Your Local Public Library: An Insider’s Tales of Library Life. It meets the first criteria but not the second. It’s descriptive but it doesn’t tell the reader whether this book is going to be funny or serious. And it falls down when it comes to that bonus third criteria in that it’s neither interesting nor clever.

Both books are collections of essays and humor about library work. But the first collection has sold over 2,500 copies and the second just 500. I suspect that blah title had a lot to do with it. Why am I sharing this title fail? So you can learn from my mistake.

Here’s What You Need To Ask

Before you publish your next piece, ask yourself:

(1) Does the title tell a potential reader what this piece is about?

(2) Does the title signal the tone of the piece — whether this piece is serious or light-hearted or informative or entertaining?

and, if at all possible

(3) Is the title clever and engaging? Fabulous and unforgettable?

If not, then continue to tinker with the title until it meets those criteria.

Tinkering with your title

You’re bad at coming up with good titles? No problem. You can always crowdsource or ask around or brainstorm with a fellow writer. I’ve published fifteen books and I only titled five of them myself. Other people gave me great titles for the other books, from friends and family to the receptionist at my first publisher, who when asked to come up with a title for a collection of cartoons by women about men, responded with, “How about Men are from Detroit/Women are from Paris?”

Some writers are better at coming up with good titles than others. They just seem to have a knack for it. (I’m looking at you, Roxanne Hale.) But any writer can get better at coming up with good titles if they’re willing to put in the effort.

And if you can’t? There’s no shame in asking around. Despite the myth that writing is a solitary pursuit, the truth is that we all ask each other for help. Sometimes it takes a village to come up with the perfect title.

Still, you might surprise yourself. I work with my clients to transform solid first drafts into terrific stories. But I won’t let them publish those stories until their titles are as good as they can possibly be. And when I encourage my writers to keep trying? They often come up with terrific titles.

You too can — and should — come up with a perfect title for your next story. You might have to push yourself a little harder. You might have to ask for help.

But a kickass title is definitely worth the trouble.

Writing Coach and editor-for-hire Roz Warren, who writes for everyone from the Funny Times to the New York Times, can help you improve and publish your work. Drop her a line at [email protected]. (That’s Ros with an “s,” not a “z.”)

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