Like people’s names book titles are important.How does a book come to have the title it has?
A good title should fit the story and tell you something about the tale within, without giving too much away. It should intrigue. It should make a would-be reader want to pick up the book and learn more and ultimately purchase the book.
I’ve gotten to the end of several books and closed them shaking my head, trying to figure out why it was given the title it was. Some, I could eventually kind of come up with a roundabout way the title might fit, but only if I hold my tongue just right. Others, I think they gave the book an intriguing title and didn’t care if it fit the story. Or maybe the element in the story the title reflected was edited out and the title not changed.
Most of the books I’ve written have retained my original titles. When titles have gone through a change, the publishers have asked for title suggestions. The process is generally expeditious and without much fuss.
Courting Her Amish Heart didn’t follow the norm. We went through 65 or more titles before landing on Courting Her Amish Heart. My editor and I went back and forth over several emails.
Here is a small sampling of some of the options.
Courting Doctor Kathleen (my working title and still how I think of this book)
Courting the Amish Doctor
An Unconventional Courtship
The Return
A Plain & Simple Education
A Plain & Simple Doctor
Against the Rules
A Special Kind of Courtship
The Amish Doctor Sets Up Practice
The Amish Doctor’s Returns
You may think this was too much fuss about something as trivial as a book title. But there is science (a science I know nothing about) behind titling books. The marketing and sales departments at publishing houses study titles and have a feel for what sells and what doesn’t.
When the marketing and sales department says that your beloved title needs to be changed for such-and-such reason, it’s wise to listen to them. They know far more about titling a book than I do. I have only my opinions and my preferences for one title over another.
By the time we finally decided on this title, it tickled my funny bone at all we had to do to get the right title. I think both my editor and I were relieved when we’d found that right title that was going to work for this book.
I can’t argue with marketing when my book landed on Publisher’s Weekly’s bestseller list for mass market novels. There are some pretty heavy hitters above me. I’m in good company!
COURTING HER AMISH HEART is a contemporary romance, the first in the Prodigal Daughters series.
A doctor or an Amish wife? She can choose to be only one…
Kathleen Yoder comes home after fourteen years in the Englisher world. Practicing medicine means sacrifice—no Amish man will want a doctor for a wife. Widowed Noah Lambright offers a cottage as her new clinic, seeing how much Kathleen’s skills can help their community. But as their friendship deepens, could love and family become more than a forbidden dream?
#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance
MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January 2018, Courting Her Amish Heart in March 2018, The Widow’s Plight in July 2018, Courting Her Secret Heart September 2018, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December 2018. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.
Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:
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