More Titular Musings

I am going to say more about titles and nothing about tits. From my previous post, you would think I am the Grand High Pooh Bah of title creations. Not so. I have had my hand slapped by contest judges more than once. In my effort to get rid of the word LOVE in my titles, I changed Loving Blindly to The Earl's Ugly Mistress. Now that title got attention, mostly good, but one person chastised me by saying a romance should never use the word "ugly" on the cover. I disagree and haven't changed it - but haven't sold the book either.

My other brush with the title police occurred when I wrote a story about an American bull fighter who becomes involved with a woman who uses her sexuality to draw rich husbands. I entitled it Bull Bait, referring to both of the characters. The word used to describe that title was "repellent". I've waffled a little on this one. It is now paired with another book under the title Deserving of Love? There's that love issue again. I still like Bull Bait. What do you think? As it is also unsold, I can play with this title as much as I want.

I called another story with a reincarnation theme Star-Crossed?, but now realize how many times that title has been used thanks to Romeo and Juliet. I'm thinking of changing this one to Always Yellow Roses. In another case of having too common a title, I switched Masks to A Devil in Disguise (too many those out there, I found) to its current incarnation as Courir de Mardi Gras under which heading it sold. Did the title change help? I might never know, but Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball (formerly High Water) and Mardi Gras Madness (previously Flames), all stories in which Fat Tuesday plays a pivotal role will be coming out in 2012. You never know what will happen on Mardi Gras Day.

While I am having great fun switching up titles, it is probably driving my web master crazy because she has to keep changing the the copy on my site every time I get a new inspiration. Enough for today. Taryn, thanks for following my blog. I promise you Kicks for a Sinner will be out soon. The delay came because of a change in cover and pricing beyond my control. Spoiler Alert: No half-naked guy on this one which is fine with me, but I hope it doesn't hurt sales.