The importance of titles

I saw a new book being advertised on Facebook, a while ago now. It was being advertised by a large independent publisher, but offered no links apart from to the publisher's website. I opened Goodreads and searched for the book...

Oh dear. It was not the only book with that title. In fact, after three pages I gave up - I hadn't found the book. I imagine there were even more books with the same title - or close enough to it - if I'd carried on searching.

(Yes, I know I could - should - have searched for the author, but by the time I got to Goodreads I'd forgotten both the author and the publisher!)

Surely the point of a book is to stand out. Yes, it might be a great title but if at least 60 other books have the same title - across many different genres - then it's not the best title for your book.

When I come up with a title, I search for it before I write it down (because as soon as I write it down, it becomes a fixed point in time). Even now, after one, two and three years, if you search for them on Goodreads, they are the only books with those titles. And yes, if there had been others with the same title, I would have changed them, no matter how much I loved them. Because I want people to hear my titles and immediately think of me - not wonder, "which one is it...?"

What random thoughts are occupying you on this fine Saturday?

Guest posts and a new story

To celebrate the release of Our Beautiful Child in paperback, I've been hanging out at a couple of other blogs this week...

• I'm over on Between the Lines sharing Five Books I've Read More Than Once
• and explaining why I think Novellas are Awesome at Beck Valley Books.

Thanks to both Cathy and Sharon for inviting me to their blogs.

That Sadie Thing sneaks into paperback

So, today was a strange kind of day. I published the paperback version of That Sadie Thing. It kind of just slunk into existence. I was expecting some big display of celebration from Amazon, but there wasn't even a 'Publish Now' button... it just happened.

I got a hug from my mum though, so that was nice. And, I should warn you, if you know her, you will be getting my book as a birthday present!

This is the very excitable picture I posted on Facebook a couple of days ago when the proof copy was delivered!


And this is the copy in close up. Isn't it pretty? I honestly spent half the time I should have been doing the final proof read just flipping through the pages.

Long before POD publishing, I was the person who used to format my Word documents into book size and shape just to see what it would look like. It was a rather surreal experience when I was doing it for real.

And finally, here's a picture to convince you that you really need to buy a copy of this book - just look how good it will look on your book shelf...

My sunny summer, and an announcement

I'M BACK!!!

It's been roughly three weeks since my last post, I took time off to enjoy the summer and relax with my kids. And what a fantastic summer it's been in the UK. We had sun! Lots of it. I got a tan, and I haven't worn trousers in weeks. In the end though, my kids found numerous ways to entertain themselves... so I was actually very productive.

I sent out my WIP to three critiquers. And then nervously waited for their comments. I am not good at having people read my work - usually I pace, but it's hard to pace for three weeks straight. This story is a huge departure for me (I mentioned in the last IWSG post that I might need to release it under a pen name), and I was worried how people who've read my other work would respond. Luckily it's be positive so far.

To take my mind off the wait, I dusted off an old WIP (again I mentioned this last month - it's the very depressing one) and tried to figure out what the heck was wrong with it. I stared at it for a long time, then woke up one morning last week and - boom! - it was obvious. However, I now need to cut a lot of it, which is a lot of work. I'm currently slashing huge swathes of text and laughing rather maniacally.

And, finally, I had one more idea... (if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, or if you've visited my website recently you'll know this already)...

That Sadie Thing is going to be a paperback! And it includes three brand new stories.

Eek!

It was an almost spur of the moment decision - I only signed up to Createspace eleven days ago - but I'm already waiting for the proofs in the post. It helps that most of the editing was done for the ebook version, but there were some interesting formatting issues to get my head around. And then, I managed to wipe all the headers and footers while trying to change something else entirely.

I want to say a huge thank you to Rachel Morgan at Morgan Media for taking my 2D Kindle cover and making into an awesome book cover - it's exactly how I would have done it myself if had any kind of design skill.

I've added the book to Goodreads, with a release date of 1 October, but I'm hoping I'll be ready earlier than that. There won't be any tour, because I did all that when I released the Kindle version in February, but if you want to mention it to your non-Kindle-owning friends, I won't stop you xx

Reflecting on the A-Z Challenge

Yay! I did it - I completed the challenge! Phew. It was hard. The hardest part was checking out all the new blogs as they kept clocking up in Google Reader. Just when I thought I was getting on top of them, I'd find new blogs to follow and the number of posts would increase again.

I didn't get as far through the list as I'd hoped, so I hope - over the next few weeks - to stop by a few new ones. Finding new blogs is a fantastic experience!

I had almost 3000 page views last month which is double what my blog usually receives (apart from a very anomalous March which got a random 4600 views ???), I've gained 46 new followers and I'm following roughly 60 new blogs. That's not bad, is it?

My theme was the books that have inspired me, which I thought was a good theme for my first time - pretty easy. I also assumed everyone would know the books I was referring to - how wrong was I!

Apparently the books and authors I've taken for granted, the books and authors that I've known about almost by osmosis since I was a very young wannabe author are books and authors that lots of people haven't heard of before.

Few people had heard of Fay Weldon; fewer still knew that Daphne du Maurier wrote short stories. Even Margaret Atwood and Toni Morrison were new authors to some - and I thought they were standard! Quite a few people were astonished at the variety of my choices, and I learnt a lot about my own reading habits, as well as everyone else's.

I don't know if this is the correct use of the reflections post, but I thought I'd explain how I choose new books and maybe inspire you to read slightly outside the genres you're used to.

• Avoid bestseller lists and award winners
• Visit a bookshop if possible. Browsing on Amazon inevitably leads you to the same authors and genres, especially with their recommendations list based on previous purchases
• When you're in the bookshop, look at the covers - choose a cover that doesn't look like any of the others (you'll recognise the covers of books in the genre you usually buy, avoid them)
• Be curious about unusual titles
• Look for authors you've not heard of before. First time authors are you in a year's time, you now, or you five years ago. Wouldn't you love the thought of someone stumbling across your book without prior knowledge and be drawn to buy it?
• In the UK, Waterstone's employees hand write recommendation cards which are useful. Is there the same scheme at Barnes and Noble maybe? 
• Give yourself a time limit. You want to buy a book, you've got the money in your hand - look around for ten minutes and then pick one up. Do not second guess!
• Read the last book your partner/best friend/sibling bought. 

This isn't an exhaustive list - I've been known to smell books, surreptitiously of course; I've even read over people's shoulders on buses and made a note of the book if I've enjoyed that snatched paragraph. I particularly try to avoid series, I'm just not keen on them, I prefer standalone books - but this also means I only have more than one book of five or six authors on my bookshelf!
 
I would love to hear from anyone who tried a new author based on my A-Z posts. I'd also love to hear if you go out tomorrow and buy a new book. Mostly, though, I hope some of you enjoyed the books I recommended!

I'm really looking forward to next April! 

N is for Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller (a rant)

The Goodreads entry

I read this book once. I thought, "Not bad, quite good". I took it back to the library and thought nothing more of it. I assume you are all book-lovers, so you'll recognise how insipid this reaction was. But, read on...

This post isn't really about Notes on a Scandal. As I was struggling for an N post I picked on this book, but in truth I could have picked any number of books.

Today's post is actually about books that are made into film. Now, I maybe in the minority here - and I do love going to the cinema and watching films - but what annoys me is later, after I've decided a film is my all-time favourite, finding out that it was actually a book first.

Internet Movie DataBase

Books and films are different media. You can do different things with them; you can use different devices to tell the story. A full novel will never fit neatly into 120 minutes. Plus a lot of the time, the film doesn't even follow the storyline of the book, or it changes the ending so completely that people debate whether the book or film was better.

(I realise that on C day, I talked about Fight Club - a film I like, which was first a book - so I hope this doesn't come across as too hypocritical. I was just as disappointed to discover Fight Club wasn't an original screenplay.)

It often seems like the film is cashing in on the success of the book, and the author cashing in on the success of the film. Fair enough, I concede that money is important, we need to buy food and fuel - that's not really part of my argument.

The real complaint I have is if you're the scriptwriter tasked with the adaptation, why change the story? If you want to do that, why not write your own original script? Worse, if you're the original author writing the script, why tinker with the plot you thought was perfect? (That last example may or may not have happened, I'm just covering my bases on that one.)

Some authors claim that the film is a separate entity so they don't mind what the director does with it, but I'm not sure if I could detach myself like that. Maybe one day I'll be in this position myself, but hopefully I'll have the strength to say stick to my story, please.

Because today's post isn't a recommendation, I'd love to hear your opinions on books being turned into film. If you're a screenwriter, I'd love to hear from you too.

B is for Books

Uh-oh! Only the second day, and I'm cheating already. The theme of my challenge is to highlight the authors and books that have inspired me, and I've come up with books!

However, books in themselves have inspired me. When I was young, I had a book that I loved - although I sadly can't remember the title or the author. But, for the purposes of this post, it doesn't matter.

You see, I only read the book once or twice. What I really loved about the book was the pure white pages, slightly thicker and smoother than the paper in other books I had at the time. I'd hold that book, feel the weight of it, flip through the pages, and I imagine my own words between the hardback, fabric cover. Just the feel of something so beautiful made me want to write, and not just write... it made me want to write something worthwhile, something mind-blowingly brilliant. Not just any story would be printed on these pages. They were reserved for something special.

I'm not sure I've written anything worthy, yet. But in the back of my mind, those pages of that book keeps me striving to be better.

Spring cleaning

Spring definitely sprung in the Crawford house today. Lots of cleaning, moving furniture and throwing away to make space for the summer. It was lovely. And even nicer to sit down with my cuppa at the end of it (except it's not the end, there's still a few more boxes to be stored or taken to the charity shop).

Everything was going so well, until I found myself face to face with my book shelves: off the books came, divided into three piles. The first to keep out for continual reading, the second to be stored (sob!) in the loft for the forseeable future and the third to be taken to the charity shop...

And that's where the system failed, completely. Everything else was divided into the same three piles, but I couldn't - never, never, ever - even think about parting with any of the books. Even the ones I've never been keen on (The Lovely Bones and Oryx and Crake particularly were in my hand, ready to be thrown onto the charity pile but ended up in the loft box).

Why? Because books are so much more than the stories they tell. They are the emotions you felt, the holiday you were on, the glass of wine you were drinking, the sound of the rain, the flu you were suffering. As I flicked through the pages, I could smell these things; and longed to read them all again, at once. But, at least half had to be packed up, such is the lack of space I'm suffering at the moment. I'm already looking forward to the day they all come back out and I get to read them all again.