Jessica Russell's Blog - Posts Tagged "titles"
It Really Comes Down to THIS?
Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back to life. Curiosity is the biggest thing new authors have going for them. If you can get someone curious about your novel, chances are you can get them to read it. Summaries are extremely important, as well, because they tell potential readers the primary storyline, which usually tells them whether or not it’s the type of book in which they would be interested. However, the summary won’t help you much if nobody reads it.
It’s important to understand how you GET them to the summary. The two things that make people stop and read a summary are the book’s title and the book’s cover. Yes. After all that hard work, blood, sweat and tears, it comes down to those two things.
They are also the two things that most new writers make mistakes with.
Covers and titles are an art form. No matter how many different approaches there are, both the title and the cover need to do two things: make the book stand out, and make potential readers say “I wonder what THAT means?” If those two things happen, they’ll likely move on to the summary, and if the summary is written well, they’re far more likely to buy the book.
Especially for authors who are not yet well known, covers have to be eye-catching. Not eye-catching in a garish, overly busy way, but eye-catching in a way that makes you want to keep looking.
Bland covers subconsciously tell readers that the book will also be bland. Many times, bland covers fail to catch the reader’s eye at all, and their eyes simply land on a book that DOES have a striking cover. This is also true with titles. The latter should peak readers' curiosity and put a question mark in their mind. Boring titles are the kiss of death.
One of my favorite books, “A Perfect Evil” by E.C. Sheedy got my attention because of the cover and the title, and the rest was history. The cover depicted a girl pulling the curtains back to look through a window, but all that appeared to be on the other side was a blinding white light. At least that was my perception. Guess what I said? “I wonder what THAT means?” The title, of course, speaks for itself.
One of my favorite old Victoria Holt novels “The Witch from the Sea” depicted a girl in what appeared to be the 1600s racing down a rocky shoreline in the midst of a thunderstorm, and there was a ship crashing onto the rocks not far from her. It made me very curious, so I got the book, and she became one of my favorite authors of all times.
Sounds oversimplified, but it’s a proven fact. After all that effort to create a great novel, if you miss on the title and the cover, readers just might miss you! Write on!
It’s important to understand how you GET them to the summary. The two things that make people stop and read a summary are the book’s title and the book’s cover. Yes. After all that hard work, blood, sweat and tears, it comes down to those two things.
They are also the two things that most new writers make mistakes with.
Covers and titles are an art form. No matter how many different approaches there are, both the title and the cover need to do two things: make the book stand out, and make potential readers say “I wonder what THAT means?” If those two things happen, they’ll likely move on to the summary, and if the summary is written well, they’re far more likely to buy the book.
Especially for authors who are not yet well known, covers have to be eye-catching. Not eye-catching in a garish, overly busy way, but eye-catching in a way that makes you want to keep looking.
Bland covers subconsciously tell readers that the book will also be bland. Many times, bland covers fail to catch the reader’s eye at all, and their eyes simply land on a book that DOES have a striking cover. This is also true with titles. The latter should peak readers' curiosity and put a question mark in their mind. Boring titles are the kiss of death.
One of my favorite books, “A Perfect Evil” by E.C. Sheedy got my attention because of the cover and the title, and the rest was history. The cover depicted a girl pulling the curtains back to look through a window, but all that appeared to be on the other side was a blinding white light. At least that was my perception. Guess what I said? “I wonder what THAT means?” The title, of course, speaks for itself.
One of my favorite old Victoria Holt novels “The Witch from the Sea” depicted a girl in what appeared to be the 1600s racing down a rocky shoreline in the midst of a thunderstorm, and there was a ship crashing onto the rocks not far from her. It made me very curious, so I got the book, and she became one of my favorite authors of all times.
Sounds oversimplified, but it’s a proven fact. After all that effort to create a great novel, if you miss on the title and the cover, readers just might miss you! Write on!
Why Do We Do It?
During a completely unrelated episode in my life, where I had to just scratch my head and say to myself "why would somebody DO that?" I also started to think about why readers and writers do some of the crazy things they do.
For example, what on earth would drive someone to throw a full throttle hissy fit because a person didn't like a book that they liked? There are several books out there right now that have dyed in the wool cult followings and Heaven help ANYONE who indicates that they think those books are anything less than five-star.
Newsflash:
It's okay not to like a book.
Second Newsflash:
It's okay not to like a book that everyone else likes.
Third Newsflash:
It's okay not to like a book that got a celebrity endorsement or was the Book-of-the-Month according to a famous person.
Was that kind of silly the way I did that? Well that's exactly the way I scoff at the people I see practically throwing angry fits because a person didn't care for a particular book.
Everyone is different. If you say you don't like a book, you're not a "hater" who has something against the writer. You just didn't like the book!
If you say a book wasn't realistic enough for you, you don't need to be beaten down by a dozen people telling you that a book doesn't HAVE to be realistic to be enjoyable. You weren't contesting that. You were just saying it wasn't realistic enough for YOU. (You're allowed to do that.)
In this world of hatred and anger, sometimes we need to settle down and realize that what were getting mad about really doesn't matter. At the end of the day, what difference does it make to you if you liked a book and so-and-so didn't? These are the little things that make human beings human beings. Were not all the same.
So the next time someone says they didn't like Where the Crawdads Sing or Golden Girl, just remember...you don't have to go into a blind rage over it. Honest. Write on!
For example, what on earth would drive someone to throw a full throttle hissy fit because a person didn't like a book that they liked? There are several books out there right now that have dyed in the wool cult followings and Heaven help ANYONE who indicates that they think those books are anything less than five-star.
Newsflash:
It's okay not to like a book.
Second Newsflash:
It's okay not to like a book that everyone else likes.
Third Newsflash:
It's okay not to like a book that got a celebrity endorsement or was the Book-of-the-Month according to a famous person.
Was that kind of silly the way I did that? Well that's exactly the way I scoff at the people I see practically throwing angry fits because a person didn't care for a particular book.
Everyone is different. If you say you don't like a book, you're not a "hater" who has something against the writer. You just didn't like the book!
If you say a book wasn't realistic enough for you, you don't need to be beaten down by a dozen people telling you that a book doesn't HAVE to be realistic to be enjoyable. You weren't contesting that. You were just saying it wasn't realistic enough for YOU. (You're allowed to do that.)
In this world of hatred and anger, sometimes we need to settle down and realize that what were getting mad about really doesn't matter. At the end of the day, what difference does it make to you if you liked a book and so-and-so didn't? These are the little things that make human beings human beings. Were not all the same.
So the next time someone says they didn't like Where the Crawdads Sing or Golden Girl, just remember...you don't have to go into a blind rage over it. Honest. Write on!
