Quaking Soul Update #5.5

Posted on by jennifermzeiger

I have repeatedly been thankful for other authors who post about their mishaps or tips in regards to self-publishing.

So here’s a quick mishap/tip from me:

I’m honestly not sure what I was thinking when I picked The Adventure as my title for my first book. Perhaps I wanted to keep it as simple as possible?

It’s simple all right. It’s also so generic that if you put The Adventure into Amazon to find the book, you can scan through 100 pages and not find it. (Trust me, I’ve done this just to see).

I’d heard about picking a title that pops and that’s easy to find, but again, I have no idea what went through my head with The Adventure.

So, for Quaking Soul I put in a little more effort. If you type this into Amazon, you get seven books, none of which are YA Urban Fantasy. Perfect.

AspenNext came some reader polls. In other words, I asked people what they thought about the title. Some loved it, especially if they’re familiar with high alpine aspens, which are known as quaking aspens. (Yes, this has a part in the book. It’s about dryads ;)).

Others said it made them think of an earthquake or a Quaker romance. Erg! Not so good. I was looking for something that said fantasy like “The Sorcerer’s Stone” is clearly fantasy whereas “Waterfalls” says romance. After much deliberation, I kept the Quaking Soul part because it truly does have a lot to do with the main character. However, I’ve added a small line.

So, the book is now:

Hidden Mythics Quaking Soul

Kind of like “Ranger’s Apprentice The Ruins of Gorlan”

This makes more sense once it’s on the cover.

So there’s my two bits about title. If you’re self-publishing, be particular about your title. It makes a difference.

Blessings,

Jennifer

9 thoughts on “Quaking Soul Update #5.5”

  2. Hmm, I never considered that! I don’t usually pick up books because of the title, and know a lot of book bloggers, at least, who buy books based on the author or cover and not the title, so the title is never something I ever really thought about. Haha, now I’m freaking out about all the titles of my unfinished stories! Can’t wait to see the title on the cover!

    1. I obviously didn’t consider it much either when I published The Adventure! Now I know better. With how big buying things are on the internet these days, it definitely makes a difference. Can’t wait to share the cover! I’ve been working with the artist and it’s turning out better than I imagined.

      1. That’s true. I’ve gone in circles finding purchase information for some of the books I’ve reviewed, so I’m always grateful when the author sends it along because, for one reason or another, it’s not findable.

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