Naming a book is in some ways a bit like naming a baby. There is no copyright on book titles, so rather like a child’s name, you can copy whatever name takes your fancy. It also has to suit your baby or book, and reflect a bit of its character, or content.
As regular readers will know, for my latest novel my publisher liked How to turn your husband into your lover. I couldn’t really say it without cringing, but could see the benefits of the sales it might generate. I would probably at least look twice at a book with that title. But what I wanted was something a bit more elegant. And less like a ‘How to’ book. There are so many possible great titles, I didn’t want to end up with something I didn’t love. So I looked to other titles for inspiration. Some of my favourite titles, in no particular order, are:
A Streetcar named Desire
The Devil Wears Prada
Like Water for Chocolate
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Pride and Prejudice
The Age of Innocence
The Postman always rings twice
So the task is to combine the intrigue and the subtlety of these, with sex. Because my publisher is adamant that we need sex in the title. Sex sells books. Although 40 Shades of Grey, which has now become the fastest selling book since Harry Potter has no sex in the title. Unless I am missing something. Lots of sex inside though apparently, not that I have read it yet. I have it on my ipad and keep meaning to, but just haven’t got round to it. Maybe if I really wanted to write a best-seller I should just write a book with lots of sex in it and not worry about the title at all?
Anyway what I have come up with is the following:
The Nostalgia Trap: How sex with an old boyfriend can get you into real trouble
Thoughts?

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2012