{"id":3077,"date":"2018-11-15T05:38:12","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T13:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=3077"},"modified":"2018-11-15T05:38:12","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T13:38:12","slug":"thoughts-for-thursday-the-mystery-and-awe-in-cat-related-book-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=3077","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts for Thursday \u2013 The Mystery and Awe in Cat-Related Book Titles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"One of my challenges as the author of cozy mysteries with cats is creating titles for so many books. By comparison, it\u2019s easy to come up with titles for nonfiction books. In order to attract the right readers for your nonfiction book, you must be literal in your presentation of it; and a major part of that presentation is the title and subtitle. Here are some examples of my nonfiction book titles. The Mainland Luau; How to Capture the Flavor of Hawaii in Your Own Backyard<\/em>. And how about this one: Youth Mentoring; Sharing Your Gifts With the Future<\/em>? And this one: Creative Grandparenting Across the Miles; Ideas for Sharing Love, Faith, and Family Traditions<\/em>. These titles pretty much describe the book you\u2019re about to buy. Then there are my publishing-related books, for example, Propose Your Book, How to Craft Persuasive Proposals for Nonfiction, Fiction and Children\u2019s Books<\/em> and A Writer\u2019s Guide to Magazine Articles.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, these titles are fairly straightforward and will attract the reader for whom the book is\"\" intended. But it\u2019s not as easy to capture the essence of your story in a brief title for fiction. I tell authors that if the main title isn\u2019t descriptive, always use a subtitle\u2014yes, even in fiction. My subtitle for my novels is always \u201cA Klepto Cat Mystery.\u201d Then folks know this is a mystery and part of a series and it involves a cat\u2014one that presumably takes things. They get the idea that this story is fun, probably light, and entertaining. This is a technique used by many novelists.<\/p>\n

If the author insists on using a one- or two-word title such as, \u201cAbandoned,\u201d \u201cForgotten,\u201d \u201cThe Girl on the Train,\u201d \u201cShattered,\u201d \u201cLonesome Dove,\u201d for example it helps the potential reader if you explain further on the cover. You can do this sometimes adequately and sometimes only partially through your cover design. But still the reader wants to know is it a novel, a memoir, true account or \"\"what? I suggest adding \u201cA Novel,\u201d \u201cMemoir of a Street Urchin\u201d (War Veteran, Holocaust Survivor, etc.) or \u201cA True Story.\u201d You can see that my friend Mollie Hunt has done this with her series of cozy mysteries. The title of this book is “Cat Cafe.” The subtitle says, “The Fifth Crazy Cat Lady Mystery.”<\/p>\n

With fiction, titles are not as direct and this is why I spend so much time trying to create titles for my Klepto Cat Mysteries. I\u2019ve complicated matters by always using a word indicative of cats\u2014even if it means I have to create new words\u2014MEOWvelous, for example, PAWtners, PURRfect, PURRsuit and so forth. And I use catty phrases, such as \u201cBy Crook or By Cat,\u201d \u201cCatnapped,\u201d \u201cMansion of Meows,\u201d \u201cClaws for a Cause,\u201d and \u201cCats in Cahoots.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I hear a new use of a cat-related word, I write it down. I have a file folder full of cat-related terms I could possibly twist into a meaningful title\u2014aMEWsing, PAWssible, CATastic, PURRpose, Felinest, HISSterical. Fun, isn\u2019t it? But after having created titles for 33 books in the series, it can become a bit overwhelming. So any ideas you want to send my way, I\u2019d appreciate. PLFry620@yahoo.com. (By the way, yes, Book 32 is with the editor as we speak–the title is fixed, and I’m working on Book 33 with a working title in place.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my challenges as the author of cozy mysteries with cats is creating titles for so many books. By comparison, it\u2019s easy to come up with titles for nonfiction books. In order to attract the right readers for your … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3078,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions\/3078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}