People change their names via marriage, adoption, divorce, or for the sake of being someone new. Titles change for those who graduate to a higher level of education. Movies stars, recording artists, con-men, and authors have pseudo names. It’s all about the identifiers.
But the most challenging part for me, as a writer, is naming the story itself.
There, I said it.
Story over, you can all go home now!
What? Why, when you only just got here…
Titling those Titles
So, you’d think after years of posting weekly pieces of flash fiction I’d be an old hand at titling stories. Sure, I can create titles, but do they stick?
Not long ago I learned a fabulous lesson in publishing, my story would only get accepted only if they could change the name with the editor-provided choices.
I liked the name I’d written.
It suited the story.
I didn’t want to change it.
But…
While under the illusion of prescribed medications in the hospital, I asked anyone and everyone which title they’d prefer. Yep–I opened up the bidding to random strangers.
And the final voter’s choice is …
Not telling.
But I’d learned the lesson about never getting attached to a title and I’ll never forget the term ‘Working Title’. This lesson should be scratched into that great big book of ‘what the neophytes should know – but don’t tell ’em until it’s too late!’
Which brings me to my latest lovely offering to the masses, which I hope includes you…
(*insert drum roll here)
Avoiding the Pity Party.
It was originally called Hardware Blues. I’m sure, once you’ve read it, you’ll understand why.
So how did I come up the new name, AVOIDING THE PITY PARTY?
The obvious was it is one of the heroine’s favourite terms.
But, at the time I was having my own pity-party recovering from knee surgery. And for someone who likes to go hiking, that time-period pretty much sucked. It’s like I was being grounded as a grownup!
Its like being grounded as a grownup! (Tweet this)
Title Confusion
There was some confusion over the Hardware Blues title:
Was it about IT gurus?
Was types of hardware were they playing with?
Why was the hardware blue?
The possibilities were endless.
Believe me, I’d had this in-depth discussion with a group of teenagers in the hospital waiting room – I think we were all on the same meds.
It’s amazing how spontaneous conversation can be with complete strangers while wearing your pyjamas in public!
It’s amazing how spontaneous conversation can be with complete strangers while wearing your pyjamas in public! (Tweet this)
Aiming for Originality
Sure, Hardware Blues would’ve been the only book on the planet with that title. In today’s publishing industry do you know how rare that is?
So too is AVOIDING THE PITY PARTY– we checked.
And now we’ve hash-tagged it— #AvoidingThePityParty.
I like the title. Many do, many don’t.
Some confused it with a self-help book!
Boy, I bet they were shocked to read it was something else entirely.
Lessons learned in this Anniversary update:
After a year, AVOIDING THE PITY PARTY was published in an E-book and in that year a lot was learned…
Publishing is hard!
It never stops when it comes to marketing, writing, rinsing and repeating.
Not Any Wiser A Year Later, the book blurb got changed twice.
The cover, three times.
It’s makeover fit with the genre and its sister novel called Unplanned Party.
FYI: The titles to these standalone stories were never meant to match, but they did. Flukey, huh?
Why Change Covers?
Um, well… Even though I thought the first cover was cute, it was dismal.
I had no sales.
No one would read it.
Even those who promised wouldn’t touch it.
I couldn’t give it away.
It was a lesson on what-not-to-do with book covers. I’d completely ignored the wise words of many who’d trodden the path long before me.
So, with wounded pride, I studied up on blurbs and book covers. And practised.
From the above image, the cover on the left was AVOIDING THE PITY PARTY’S first release. The middle two covers were never released in the public, ever–until today. The one on the right was what replaced the first cover within three months of its initial release.
A few said it looked like a self-help book. Many agreed it fit with my brand (not that I know anything about that).
But then along came…
UNPLANNED PARTYand a surge of studying and learning about covers began.
The Cover Obsession Begins
I kid you not. I became obsessed with book covers.
I even created a Pinterest Page dedicated to this art form. And, some is art.
Some… well, they left me confused.
Covers that made the top 10 were of some form of blurred abstract art and not my taste. Yet, the stories were amazing for those in contemporary commercial fiction.
Then you look at romance and it’s all bare-chested blokes. Um…
So, still confused, I persisted.
And I experimented.
A Strangers Storm
A Strangers Storm got a makeover. It’s my FREE short-story for new readers to try out my writing style and as a gift for those joining me on my Wordjourney.
Incidentally, the title for this short-story never changed from its first draft, and I doubt it ever will.
The first cover, The blue one below, took me over six days to create. Today, I find that kissing couple on many covers, not in a stormy wintry blue though. But the sparkles did give it the magic effect.
Below, is A Strangers Storm’s new cover with an upgraded tagline. It took a few hours, one afternoon, and I was only playing. But a writer friend liked it and made me publish it, and whaddya know people clicked on it to read! Huh?
What do you think?
I even made new book trailers to match the upgrades. You can check out the older versions, just don’t choke mid-chew of the popcorn while laughing HERE.
What have I learned?
Lots… and nothing.
Okay, now we got that sorted out, let’s pack up and go home.
Not.
Against all the wise opinions of the many, I still do my own covers.
Why?
Because I like doing them.
I really do.
I enjoy it.
Although, my many misses are massing into this file crowding my cloud but its digital art to me. Will it sell me any books?
Only what I see fit to sell, and keep them here.
But I’m still learning.
Now, putting the party books together:
Are the Party Books chick-lit?
They’re standalone women’s fiction, not a series.
However, they share many similarities, such as crossing genres within their pages. Both deal in crime, quirky families, love interests, self-esteem issues, and they definitely have that Happily Ever After.
Incidentally, UNPLANNED PARTY ‘S original working title was The Parte Van. If you read it, you’ll understand why. I was glad for the change of title.
The Current Covers Explained:
A STRANGERS STORMwas changed because it is set in a hot tropical island in Bali. Not on the mountains of blue Siberia. Plus it’s an intense short-story and it suits the cover.
I also like the wordplay on the tagline:
“A marriage made of magic & Adventure.”
Read it for Free and find out why, HERE.
AVOIDING THE PITY PARTY I went for fall leaves because Fall, is an American term for Autumn and as far as wordplay goes, it suited this story.
Also, the heroine, Deanne, can run in heels, and her life falls apart in the Fall. ( I did mention I’m a wordplayer, right?)
Also, a lot happens in her family’s backyard, which is what the updated tagline mentions:
“bad boys, big brothers & other backyard botherers”
Many readers agree that this new cover suits.
UNPLANNED PARTY the heroine, Emma, can’t walk in heels. She’s known to fall over where gravity is not her friend. The balloon is because she’s a party planner.
As for the glitter, well, that gets found in the most unusual places…
You can check out the story here to find out why and where.
What about the rest of them?
THE FOOTBALL WHISPERER is the original title of the story from the first draft. But, the cover took me ages. And ages. And ages.
I cursed photoshop and scanned hours and hours of Youtube tutorials. In the end, I had many to choose from but this was chosen by my readers who said not only did it suit the story, but the genre.
It’s our heroine, Zara, who has a shy habit of hiding her lips in her jumper. The stadium gives you the hint that it’s about a sport, Football. And the dog, well that’s Max. Everyone loves Max. And I’m sure you would too once you read this story.
Now, do I need to upgrade the cover?
You tell me.
Well it got, not one but two cover upgrades to help sell the story. It’s true, as much as I loved the first cover, it was due for a refresh in time for it’s two year anniversary.
The choices were, as follows:
It didn’t do as good as what I thought.. and well, to be honest, does this say romance to you? It looks dark and… not romantic! I like it. But many didn’t.
So, in time for it’s shift from KU to wide and then onto print, the 2nd year anniversary book cover for the FOOTBALL WHISPERER is
(Inserts drumroll here)
It screams romance, for a story that’s got whispering in the title! He-he.
Moving along…
THE ART OF DUST is the first of the Elsie Creek series. Originally, she was called Summer Lovers, then Beyond Summers End briefly. Until the epiphany of calling the DUST series hit at some ungodly hour. Once the Dust settled, pun intended, the name fell into place. (*bwahaha)
Creating a series, it was all about covers and studying those who did have series. So, more cover-stalking occurred while I matched titles to the stories, some I’ve already written, some yet to be written.
I then spent my summer playing with images as the characters from this small town series swam around my head vying for attention. Yes, I’m weird, but I like being paid to listen to the voices in my head.
“I’m so happy because today I found my friends–they’re in my head.” Kurt Cobain.
Many artists will tell you their work is never done. All we see is the faults while finding the courage to share our art with the world.
For me, it took a while to find that perfect backdrop to carry the story forward…
When I finally found the courage to release this cover, I was overwhelmed by the positive response. I’ve never had so many people request a book in print or posters. I hadn’t even shared the blurb or release date, yet they pre-bought this story based on the cover alone.
It ticks the boxes of the genre, being Ru-Ro. AKA, Australian Rural Fiction, the Aussie version to the modern westerns. But it’s the outback. And the outback is wide and flat and does have dust storms (aka the willy willy). And nearly everyone has a ute, which is part of this story.
What’s a ute, let alone a willy willy?
Well, if you joined my newsletter, The WordJourney, I’d tell ya!
The other to fit into this edition are: (coz it’s my page and I can brag about it)
WINTER’S WALK was founded after many versions. It went through the most bizarre, yet fascinating journey of discovery to end up with the final result.
What’s the cover represent? The road ahead and a lone woman walking. It suits this story on so many levels in the form of wordplay. I had fun with it.
Then I lost the lot! My laptop crashed and it was gone, so I had to restart it all over again.
Only it got better.
It was such a grand adventure itself, I made an entire blog post all about it as the great cover reveal.
Well received by my readers, because most of them voted on it.
Works for me.
But is it attractive enough for you to rush out and buy one?
Yep, just had to sneak the sales-pitch in there, somewhere. After all, covers are only a sales tool. Right?
Have we got it all covered?
Probably not, because I’ll add to this page as more covers are revealed over time.
But I created this post just to compare my first cover to the anniversary cover, you can see the similarities are still there. Petals for falling leaves, heels, title…
How will they look a year from now?
**Thank you to the following, for the following:
All images, impressions, typography, music, and processes relating to this post’s topic and covers published by Mel A ROWE were created from the talented & fabulous creatives who dared to share, thank you, everyone.
Images were discovered at https://unsplash.com/ and https://www.pexels.com/. If you do use these sites, do buy these guys a coffee and follow them on Instagram. It’s where I found them.
Typography was purchased directly from Canva.com, Photoshop or the creators, via CreativeMarkets.com or FabricaFonts.com who found them first.
Envato.com for the music on the book trailers. FYI, these guys also include their how-to’s on graphics, images, typography, and the easiest lessons on YouTube with so much more. It’s a virtual gold mine of diamonds to discover.
***If I missed out anyone, please let me know, I’d be more than happy to include you to this page.
it’s all part of the #Wordjourney to #FindingLost in that #Escape2HEA
#FootballWhisperer #AvoidingThePityParty #StrangersStorm
#UnPlannedParty #ElsieCreek #ArtofDust #WintersWalk
