Book Review: Now All We Need Is A Title

Qualification: Now all we need is a title

Subtitle: Famous book titles and how they got it

Author: Andre bernard

Editor: WW Norton and Co.

Dated: nineteen ninety six

ISBN: 978-0-393314-36-6

I really enjoyed reading this book. I found it fascinating to read up on some of the behind-the-scenes work on how many of my favorite books finally made it to their title. It was a lot of fun watching the back and forth struggles between publishers and authors over the title of a book. Although not a how-to book, this fun little book will certainly appeal to all writers and publishers.

The book looks at more than 100 different famous fiction books, such as “Jaws”, “The Great Gatsby”, “The Maltese Falcon” and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, and how their title came about. One of my favorites is the story of “Gone with the Wind.” First it was called “Pansy”, then it was changed to “Tote the Weary Load”, and then to “Tomorrow is Another Day”.

Bernard’s book also has great advice, scattered throughout the book, from authors and editors on choosing a title. One of my favorites is a quote from Walker Percy: “A good title should be like a good metaphor; it should intrigue without being too disconcerting or too obvious.”

Some historical literary facts are also given for many of the titles. One of my favorites is the story of Lewis Carroll as the first to suggest to his publisher that the dust jacket bears the title of the book. Carroll’s “Hunt for the Snark” became the first book to be published with a printed dust jacket.

In Bernard’s Introduction, he says that this book is a “… an anecdotal account of how some of the best-known book and play titles came to be. It is not intended to be a complete compendium of all catchy titles, but rather a lighthearted look at a struggle that has plagued writers for centuries. “

As an author and publisher, I can really appreciate how important a title can be to the financial success of a book. Today, a title should not only be attractive, but also keyword rich and search engine friendly, if you have any hope that it will be found on the internet. The right title is essential if you want your publication to stand out from the large number of publications that are published every day. If you are an author or editor, you surely know that a good title is an essential part of a successful marketing plan for any publication. In Bernard’s book, you will read about very famous authors going through the same (but on a much less sophisticated level) agonizing process that we, authors and publishers, go through today. Developing the best title is even more important today than it was when most of the books discussed in Bernard’s book were written. But it was still very interesting to see how these famous authors and renowned publishers dealt with this important process.