If youre an author, there couldnt be a more useless piece of advice not only do readers judge a book by its cover, but they pay particular attention to the title. Spam or selfpromotional the list is spam or selfpromotional. Selecting and protecting the title of your book how to use. However, if you have other title ideas that arent already in use, id recommend considering a changeif only. Its difficult because titles are essentially short hooks that advertise your book using the fewest words possible.
How not to title a novel marketing departments seem to have homogenised the business of christening novels. Below we have taken the top 25 books from each category and listed the title. The old adage is to never judge a book by its cover. Hopefully your book title wont appear up above, but if it does, dont worry, most books go through several names before settling on the one that makes them a bestseller.
For example, if your name is common, you may want to include portions of your title. Book title generator make hundreds of book titles with. As for whether or not its a good idea to go with a title thats already been usedand in the same genre, no lessthats a question best suited for your editor. And the great gatsby does not appear to be a federally registered trademark for books or movies. The most important thing about a book is its title. Understanding why cannot apply to names and titles. This name generator will give you 10 random book titles for one of 10 genres based on your choice. As the knowledgeable people have already said, no, book titles are not ed. Titles may be copyrighted copyrights are not anymore, like they originally were, letters of the king authorizing. This may be a working title, which will not necessarily be the title of the work when it is distributed to the public.
How to create brilliant book titles with examples bookfox. When i was originally looking to buy a copy online, i was struck by the fact that there are roughly a dozen earlier novels by the same title that are still in print including works by such wellknown authors as agatha christie and. To a book completely, however, the author needs the added protection of federal registration. If a title could be considered a trademark, you can use the trademark system to attempt to protect your title, but it will be an.
Give your work the best chance of being picked and read by coming up with a title that will blow your publisher away. Track title on a cd if you are registering the entire cd contents titles episode of a tv series title of work being registered tv series series title one article from a magazine title of work being registered magazine title if youre not registering the entire magazine title of larger work one book. Samples of a long page and a short page are provided so readers can copy and paste them into their own book files, ready for customization. How does one go about getting books ed, and then edited. Book title generator the ultimate bank of 10,000 titles. There are titles by famous authors like mark twain, victor hugo, aristotle and others. Mystery book title generator the ultimate bank of 10,000. Writing the book might seem like the most difficult partand then you have to actually title the darn thing when it comes to writing a book, coming up with reasonable book title ideas is surprisingly one of the hardest parts to complete. Its an eclectic taste of weird and wonderful fiction from, predominantly, the turn of the century pioneers of weird stories. Many authors will use quotations from literature as the title for their works. As i discuss below, under trademark law, some titles are more worthy of. Coming up with a good book title or book title ideas can be maddening. If you dont believe me, look up first hundred million by editor e.
At the same time, these titles have a variety of structures to ensure that you can find the most suitable title. While titles cannot be ed, the same rules for using identical titles. Generate a random story title thats relevant to your genre. During these challenging times, we guarantee we will work tirelessly to support you. Read on to learn more about how to a book, what actually protects, and how secure your. The following is a partial list of book titles taken from literature. If youre agonizing over your book title, youre not alone. Youve found the perfect title for your book but come to find its already been used by another author. Any book published before 1923 is in the public domain, but beyond this quick and easy rule determining if a book is still under. As an example, an appropriate hook for the secret sauce for any successful book is the book hook. Without a good title, people wont pay attention to your book. This may be done as a conscious allusion to the themes of the older work or simply because the phrase seems memorable. The content of the book isnt important, this is about titles.
Just like how browsing a swipe file helps you come up with ideas, this list of books might help kick your brain in the right direction while trying to come up with a book title. The book itself is most certainly a work, but lets imagine the situation if applied to the title in its own right. Titles may not be ed, but if they are used to identify a. There have been some rather unfortunate coincidences in book titles recently.
December 29, 2007 dave taylor writing and publishing 14 comments im writing an instructional book almost done and i. As publishers its important to know that you cannot the title of your book. Book title a good book title can mean the difference between a bestseller and a. By continuing to browse or by clicking accept all cookies, you agree to first and thirdparty cookies being stored on your device to enhance navigation of our site, and to help us analyze our site traffic and personalize our content and ads.
As for whether or not its a good idea to go with a title thats already been usedand in the. Even if you cant a book title, or the other items listed above, you can register the title as a trademark. To help you find the perfect title for your work, weve looked at some of the best book titles of all time and come up with some tried and true titling. How to write good book titles authority selfpublishing. Your focus is not just creating a best selling book, but best selling book byproducts. How to create good book titles authority selfpublishing.
Copyright page samples you can copy and paste into your book. If a book is no longer ed it is very old is it possible to copy for profit online. If you dont find the book or author youre looking for in the first page of results the chances are its because it is not one that we have featured. Some of the best book titles today emerged only after much teeth gnashing. Please select a title andor author, or article in the search options. If the type of work is a sound recording or musical work and the work being preregistered is an album, give only the album title here. A book hook is similar to an elevator pitcha creative sentence or two that explains what your book is all about and what problems it solves. It can also persuade an editor to read your manuscript. But thankfully, we no longer have to go it alone because there is an incredible tool called a book title generator that has helped me with just that. As technology has progressed to the point where it is easy to carry around vast amounts of literature in ones pocket, a whole new world was made available to me. Enter individual track titles, if known, on the next screen. A good book title can mean the difference between a bestseller and a lifeless shelfdweller. The names are separated into different categories, but. Fiction titles should lead a reader to pick up your book, not because they need a.
Lots of books that have made the top 200 seem like blatant spam by selfpublished authors whose work probably wasnt good enough for a real publisher to accept. However, if you have other title ideas that arent already in use, id recommend considering a changeif only to alleviate confusion in the marketplace down the road. List of book titles taken from literature wikipedia. Which is evident from the fact that you can find plenty of books with the same title. The right title helps you stand out and make that important first impression. Scott fitzgerald, who reportedly took forever to think of a good title. How to write an unforgettable book title that screams buy me. If you use a title in a way that might cause confusion in the. We have collected more than 100,000 titles, including all kinds of book names, whether it is fantasy or crime, or mystery, scifi, or romance, you can find very suitable names. However, specific characters, phrases, branding can be protected by trademarks.
Although its not a requirement for a great worklolita, 1984, and on the road all are pretty underwhelming titles a great name can force a double take with even the slightest mention. Copyrights cover works fixed in a tangible format, but because titles are typically short, they dont fall under protection. The site is searchable by title, alphabetically, or by name of the author. An author owns the to a book the moment it is writtenbefore publishing the book or looking at registration. If you are searching by title, and the work has both a title and a sub title you should start by searching for the title only and see if your search produces a result. Ive taken the top 100 titles and organized them by what makes them unique many would fit in multiple categories, and some of the categories are just a shade different from one another, but i. For example, there was a book about the prehistory of food and cooking and the evolution of humans called catching fire. If i were to copy a book that is no longer ed and put it online for sale is that illegal. He explains that changing just the book title can rocket a book from selling 6,000 copies a year to 50,000 copies a year in this post im going to give you a list of great book titles, but im also going to. This is true even if a great deal of effort went into making the product, as with a phone book. This book title generator can generate book titles. You can pick between fantasy, crime, mystery, romance, or scifi.
Unlike series titles, titles of a single work, whether a book, periodical, song, movie, or television program, normally, will not be protected under either trademark or unfair competition law. How to write a book title thats not taken placeit blog. Giving the author credit does not always let you off the hook some people mistakenly believe that they can use any material as long as they properly give the author credit. There are a million things pulling on peoples attention. Many selfpublishers do not understand, yet in a few minutes you can learn the basics of the law. Oh and, by the way, were not storing these so feel free to come back to this tool as many times as you want, and check all your ideas. As my first submission to listverse, i have decided to share somewhat of a passion of mine. Book bot is a great resource where you can read non ed books online for free.