Book Titles Are Hard
- Sara Lilienfeld
- 6 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The saying goes "don't judge a book by its cover" and we all know by now that judging books by their covers is exactly what readers do. Choosing a title is, I'd argue, equally important as choosing the right cover.
On the shelf, a great cover will draw a reader in, but having a good, intriguing title and blurb convinces them to buy it. Or at least, that's how I chose most of the books I buy. Titles also feel more permanent. Changing a book's cover isn't rare; giving a book a new title is. (I know authors have changed their titles after publication sometimes, but it's not a common practice.) I tend to shy away from using terms like "book baby" when I talk about my writing, but giving a book a title kind of feels like naming a child. You want to pick the right one, it can be hard to choose, and once it's out in the world, changing the name might earn you some odd looks.
I finished the first draft of my third book recently, and I'm completely lost regarding what to title it. You might be thinking "you have more than enough time to figure that out", and on an objective level, you'd be right. A title isn't critical at this point. I don't need to know it to write another draft or figure out what ideas I want to dig further into. Some of my fellow author friends have written three or four drafts without knowing the title of their project.
I've never been in this position before, however. For my debut, Magic & Murder in the Holler, I selected the title when I was around the 75% mark on the initial draft. For my second book, Death & Destiny in the Mountains, I chose the title before I started the first draft. Those titles came very easy to me and I didn't struggle to decide. For this third book, which will also be the third Arcane Codex book, I've run into writer's block. Or, more accurately, naming block. The titles of the first two books in the series have a clear theme, and I want to keep that going, but I'm struggling to find the right words to hint at what the story's about, while keeping some of the mystery of the story intact. I came up with some working titles, but none of them feel right. I can't picture myself saying "let me tell you about my third book, Working Title" for any of the current one potential candidates.
Adding to my frustration is that I know the titles of two other, unrelated books that I haven't even started writing yet, but I haven't found the right combination of words to name Arcane Codex 3.
Logically, I know I'm overthinking this problem. And overthinking the fact that I'm overthinking it. The name will come to me, eventually, but it feels difficult now. There's this strange pressure to pick the perfect title that I didn't feel with my first two books. I can't really articulate exactly why this feels so important to me right now, but it does.
I've decided to take this struggle as a sign that I should shift my attention to one of those unrelated projects in May and give myself some space from Book 3.
In summary, naming books is hard sometimes. And behind every book, there might be a frazzled author like me desperately searching for the right combination of words to call it.
Until next time!
Magic & Murder in the Holler is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop and most other retailers. I'm also selling signed copies directly on my Ko-Fi shop.
Death & Destiny in the Mountains will be releasing in September 2026.