Help with Title of Next Book?

MarkMcElroy

What a kind and thoughtful response! I really appreciate it. :)

I'm about to start work on the cover art -- which means I'll have to make a decision about that title!

M.
 

daphne

Jokes are better spoken than written as we see all too often here at Aeclectic. The title you want to go with does come across as somewhat arrogant and conceited. I'm one of those folks who take issue with superlatives in tarot book titles - while you think it's the "best" lots of other folks probably won't. (And while it may be the best book you've ever written, a lot of folks will read the title as the best tarot book ever written.)

And as you found with the picture on the other book, folks will focus reviews not on the content of the book in and of itself, but in relation to the "best" appellation. So, sure call it that to yourself or maybe even make it the subtitle of the book on one of the inside pages. You could even make it the title of the Introduction to the book. But I would advise steering clear of using that as the title of the book itself.

Rodney

Same as Rodney here. The title sounds arrogant and over-inflated. I would never buy this kind of title, it goes too much in the hocus-pocus circus-man area, prepare to be amazed by the "best" and only.

And now I am really curious to see that green cover.
 

tarotbear

Remember:

"Cutesy" does not work. People see 'cutesy' as 'cheesey' and juvenile - and therefore it could actually BE the best Tarot book ever written but putting rainbow fairies and glittered unicorns on the cover of your book about Aliester Crowley's sex life is not going to get you many readers.

A 'creative' title is better than a purely 'in-joke' title because what % of your readers will get the joke?

Go ahead and put your name in the title - why not? You could start your own series of books which all begin with 'Mark McElroy Explains it for You: (insert subject)'.

Personally, I need to come up with a better cover for my "It's All in the Cards" books, but you have to pay a royalty to use others' card images - imagine! LOL!
 

MarkMcElroy

Thanks, Tarot Bear! I appreciate it! A promise: no cutesy titles.
 

donnalee

You have heard variations of this before above, but I wanted to mention that "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need" turned out to be sort of embarrassing for the guy who wrote it and then had to revise it a few times as life and the financial worlds evolved--it involved him having to make a lot of excuses in intros to each updated version, and I avoided it for years until I got it cheap and found that yeah, it was pretty decent despite the inflated title. I think that something that implies that it is for beginners and that you have your own approach to it would be of more interest to me as a bookbuyer than yet another title that is either 1) too-silly-to-me or 2) excessively registered-trademarked like the series written by "The Skinny B*itch" or The Idiot's or Complete Jerk's Guide to [something or other] in all their variations.

I would be most interested in a title that let me feel that yes, you may have a good sense of humour and fun with tarot, which implies that by reading your book I can have my own fun with it too. I wouldn't want something that just seems like "let me the author tell you all about me, me, me and my view in a way that gives the reader nothing more than a story but doesn't enhance skills". That came to mind since someone online recently promoted something she called "psychic boot camp" (trendy trendy title), and it turned out that she wanted people to give her $40 bucks for 3 hours of her telling you how not to get suckered by poor-quality psychics, but you don't learn anything about your own intuition or psychic abilities; my psychic self would fully expect it to be an in-person infomercial for herself as a psychic basically. To me, the title implied the complete opposite of what the text described it to be, and that made me grumpier and more against it than if it had a title which seemed more honest: "What To Look For In A Psychic Reader" or something.

I am wordy today! I hope this helps to give an idea of what one reader might find appealing or not. Good luck with it! Might sound silly, but why not flip a few cards and see what that brings to your mind...?
 

Hooked on TdM

Sorry to say but I am unaware of your work before this thread.

So as a tarot person that hadn't heard of you, this is what would draw me in. What is different about your book for learning tarot then all the other books aimed at beginners? I wouldn't waste a second or a dime on anything claiming to be the best, internally useful, or all I'll ever need. That's just bs and I wouldn't take it as a joke just a scam. If you could convey why your book is different to learn from then the others, then I would have my interest piqued.

Not sure if that's helpful or not, but it is what would make me look when I've never heard of the book or author before.
 

ann823

It would be helpful to have a word in the title that is fairly unique and not too long so that when someone does a search online your book comes up. Words like learn, best, tarot ,easy, beginners and such bring up a bazillion choices. It would come up under the author's name on places like Amazon, but if someone wants to find it other places, like forums and blogs it would help to have a word that narrowed the field.
 

Glass Owl

What about something like...

Down To Earth Tarot Reading: A Practical and Comprehensive Guide
 

tarotbear

It would be helpful to have a word in the title that is fairly unique and not too long so that when someone does a search online your book comes up. Words like learn, best, tarot ,easy, beginners and such bring up a bazillion choices. It would come up under the author's name on places like Amazon, but if someone wants to find it other places, like forums and blogs it would help to have a word that narrowed the field.

Mark - I would avoid the unique words 'furslugginer' and 'farkackta', although some people might refer to it as "That Farkackta Tarot Book."

{This is all very tongue-in-cheek, folks! My tongue is drilling through my cheek right now! PS - it helps to know some Yiddish ... } })