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For my friends who are writers: Don\u2019t let publishers push you into titles for your books that you dislike.<\/p>\n
I let this happen to me twice. I felt that I did not have the leverage to resist them, and perhaps I didn\u2019t. But I do wish that I had pushed even harder than I did.<\/p>\n
The first time I made this mistake was in 2005 and my book on discernment. I didn\u2019t have a sexy title for it, and the publisher insisted on the title, What God Wants for Your Life<\/em>. The problem with it was that the title suggested the very ideas that I was attempting to counter.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think that I-Questions are primarily about discerning God\u2019s will for me.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t about \u00a0\u00a0what God wants me to do or about how I can do the will of God. Discernment is primarily about God-Questions: Where is God at work?\u00a0 What does God care about?\u00a0 I also don\u2019t believe that discernment is a matter of guessing what is the one thing<\/em> that God has \u201cup his sleeve.\u201d Instead, I argued that we have real choices to make; that discerning the will of God is a conversation with creative possibilities; and that discerning a way forward is not just about \u201cme\u201d, but about \u201cus\u201d \u2013 the church, the body of Christ.<\/p>\n The second time I caved to a publisher over a title was in 2013, with a book that explored both how we think about suffering and how we talk with one another when suffering dogs the lives of our friends and loved ones. \u00a0I wrote the book during my brother\u2019s last year of battling brain cancer and \u2013 based on our conversations \u2013 I wanted to prompt people to think honestly about suffering; acknowledge its reality; avoid saying stupid, hurtful things to one another; and cultivate real hope in hard times.<\/p>\n The book was organized around ten questions the reader could ask themselves and ended with a personal postscript. I called the 10 questions, The Dave Test. But I knew that no one would intuitively understand what that book was about with a title like that. So, I proposed the title, When Life Sucks<\/em>.<\/p>\n My publisher was church-affiliated, and they nearly lost it. They couldn\u2019t possibly use language like that.\u00a0 I pointed out that the very first chapter was entitled, \u201cCan you say life sucks?\u201d They were grudgingly willing to let that stand but they insisted that they couldn\u2019t use the title. I even suggested they use my title and sell the book in a paper bag.\u00a0 (It probably would have worked.)\u00a0 But they insisted. The book\u2019s published title is The Dave Test<\/em>, and that, of course, has obscured the purpose of the book ever since.<\/p>\n My second \u201cdon\u2019t do this\u201d recommendation arises out of my experience with the same two books. Don\u2019t let publishers convince you that subtitles can do what their lousy titles won\u2019t.<\/p>\n The truth is that \u2013 not since the 19th<\/sup> century, have subtitles served the role of defining what a book was all about.\u00a0 Technically, yes, a title hooks the reader, and theoretically a subtitle defines what the book is all about.<\/p>\n But the fact of the matter is that the subtitle of most books is as easily forgotten.\u00a0 They are \u00a0\u2013 as Mary Laura Phillpot puts it \u2013 as memorable as most people\u2019s middle names.\u00a0 As she notes:<\/p>\n The ubiquitous\u00a0Eat, Pray, Love<\/em>\u00a0was actually\u00a0Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman\u2019s Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia<\/em>, although I bet no one ever called it that. (When you were in eighth grade and your mom asked you what you were doing your book report on for school, did you say, \u201cWhy, I\u2019m reading\u00a0Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus\u201d<\/em>?)\u00a0 Once a book becomes popular, the subtitle typically disappears from our consciousness.<\/p>\n So, fight the good fight.\u00a0 Do what you can to control the title of your book.\u00a0 It may be your only chance to reach your readers.<\/p>\n Heaven knows, the publisher isn\u2019t going to do that.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Photo by G\u00fclfer ERG\u0130N<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For my friends who are writers: Don\u2019t let publishers push you into titles for your books that you dislike. I let this happen to me twice. I felt that I did not have the leverage to resist them, and perhaps I didn\u2019t. But I do wish that I had pushed even harder than I did. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":7152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5082,5076,5073,5085,5079],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-authors","category-book-subtitles","category-book-titles","category-publishers","category-writers"],"yoast_head":"\n