I need your help.

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The last blurb for my new book on writing craft has come in (another good one!) and I’m ready to produce and release it. However, a couple of industry pros I respect greatly, and who have given very positive blurbs for the book, think the title is bad. The current title and subtitle are:

Jump-start Your Novel with Kitty-cats in Action
And keep the pages turning with coaching from Flogging the Quill

Please give me feedback and suggestions

So I’m asking you for your input via the polls below. Please take a moment and give me your thoughts. Because this is important to me, I’ll probably leave this request up until I’ve heard from a goodly number of folks. The more people who respond quickly, the sooner the flogging will resume.

I’m asking your help specifically because, according to the who-are-you poll on the blog, about 80% of FtQ’s readers are unpublished and working on a novel—my “target” audience. You are likely to be the person my book is designed to help.

Please respond to both polls for your gender.

There’s a gender separation because I suspect a gender difference in response to the title, and want to see if there really is one.

UPDATE New question added below.

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New Question! Mai makes an excellent point about "Flogging the Quill" being my "brand," and having a certain attention-getting quality of its own--the "quirk factor" that Kathleen mentioned in comments. Also, while "jump-starting" a book is a vital part of the book, it is broader than that. So here are more title ideas that spring from that. What do you think? Alternatives welcome in the comments.

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If you're curious, there's more about the book here, including a sample.

PLEASE give me your feedback and thoughts. It will be greatly appreciated.

ALSO I don’t want to deprive the writers who have material here for a flogging, so please scroll down and visit if you haven’t yet. The newest one, Renee’s, was a page-turner for me.

Thanks,

Ray

© 2009 Ray Rhamey

Comments

[Hannah]

Why not JUMP-START YOUR NOVEL by itself as the main title and use a sub-title for the rest. In keeping with the jump-start image, maybe something along the lines of Techniques to Power Your Fiction.

[Jodi]

I agree with Hannah, I like plain old "Jump Start Your Novel". Next in line, I like "...for Publishing Success". But I'm not big on " . . . with Kitty-Cats in Action" because it doesn't tell me what your book is about. Perhaps if it were only a subtitle?

[Sandra]

I think the orginial title could be confusing to someone who's never read your blog. He or she might think you really recommend adding cats to the story. ;) For an alternate, how about something like, "Jump-Start Your Novel with the Power of Story, Conflict, and Questions"? Reading your blog has shown me how important conflict and unanswered questions are in creating a compelling story, which is why I think they should be emphasized in the title.

[Hayley E. Lavik]

Knowing what the book is about, and seeing how you've used kitty-cats in action on FtQ, I like it and would look forward to seeing the finished product. When I first heard of the title, however, I really didn't know what to make of it, and expected it to be more fluff and insubstantial.

I feel sort of suck now though, because looking at the other options in the polls I'm really stumped, because those titles sound so standard and typical of a how-to book, that I don't think I'd look. I like the unique aspect of your concept, and I wouldn't want to lose that.

I don't think I can offer specific alternatives, but I'd suggest either a different but equally quirky title to catch a writer's eye, or a cover that instantly answers a browsers "What the...?" moment when they spot the title on the spine in a book store.

[Sherri]

A plain "Jump Start Your Novel" would work fine. I found you after reading about the book...can't remember now if it was a guess blog situation or a review. The book, WHATEVER the title, is on my "Must Buy" list!

[Jessica]

I have to add my vote for plain ol' "Jump Start Your Novel", with a subtitle to the effect of "Advice and Coaching from Flogging the Quill."

Good luck!

[Kathleen Bolton]

I'll admit I like the quirk-factor. The book is funny, so the title should be clever too.

But the words "publishing success" grabbed me.

Jump Start Your Novel for Publishing Success: Let Kung-Fu Cats Show you the way

Kick Start Your Writing Engine and Drive Your Way to Publication.

How to Fix Your Very Lame, No Good, Drivel-Laden Novel: Lessons and Advice from Flogging the Quill.

Hey, this is fun!

[Ray Rhamey]

A question for proponents of a simple "Jump-start Your Novel:" what got me to thinking about this was wondering why the industry pros didn't like the existing title. One was not serious enough, but it also occurred to me that there was no benefit implicit in the title.

So today I'm inclined to look for a solution that starts with "jump-start" because that's the organizational principle for the book, but to somehow connect that act with a benefit to the writer.

Make sense?

[Millar Prescott]

Ray, I think your tagline from this blog is a perfect compliment -
Jump-start Your Novel - Pursuing the Art and Craft of Compelling Storytelling, or have you used that elsewhere?

[Sarah Jensen]

Okay, I like Millar's and Hannah's. And I will buy it regardless, but I have to say, when I first started reading you blog last year, I read Story as River but not Kitty cats in Action, one reason being, I'm not a cat person. I didn't know what to think, and so I didn't look at it. After a while, I wanted to read everything you'd written, so I put my cat allergies aside, and read it.
But I really like Hannah's and Millar's. Good luck. And I'm getting it as soon as it's available, no matter the title.