You pick up a book on the shelves of your local bookstore. Why? There could be a number of reasons behind it. The cover art, the author name or… drum roll, please – the TITLE. Stop and think of the way the book was placed on the shelf. Did you see the entire cover or just the spine? If it was just the spine, I’m willing to bet it was the title that jumped out at you and cried “Pick me! Pick me!”

Coming up with a title for my fiction pieces drives me to distraction. A magic wand or some sort of incantation would be wonderful for conjuring up a title… Hocus Pocus and poof! When the smoke clears, the title is there.

And after you’ve agonized over your title and think you’ve finally hit paydirt with it, there’s still no guarantee your publisher will fall in love with it like you did. Chances are, it will be changed. Why? Maybe they don’t find it catchy enough. Maybe there’s another book out there with a very similar title. They know the markets and what they’re talking about.

So we will continue to agonize, scratch our heads, compile long lists to choose from, enlist the help of others and just maybe, we’ll come up with a winner.