Attached Link: http://www.writersweekly.com/this_weeks_article/002477_03092005.html

Naming Your Baby: How to Choose a Selling Title by Carolyn Campbell Your book title is very important. It encapsulates the essence of your book in just a few words. Like choosing a name for your child, selecting a title for your book is a critical decision. Just as your child is known by his name for a lifetime, your book will be known by its title for its entire publishing history. Even before you sell your book, its future title can help attract the interest of a literary agent or publisher when you include it in query letters. It will also appear on the first page of your book proposal. It's never too soon to start creating a possible title for your book... Presented to you by Writers Weekly (and you may just want to look around the site while you're there...lots of good information.)

Anyone want to share their working titles? How they came about, how they have changed?

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My Arthurian novel has gone through many title changes.

Below are the current working titles.

It started out as a single novel, and progressed over the years into a trilogy
with the Main working title of: Merlin and The Trinity
[The Trinity being; King Arthur, Queen Gwen, and Lancelot]

The first book subtitled; Merlins Story
Exploring the adventures of Merlin, from his birth, to the birth of King Arthur

The second book subtitled; The Coming of Age
Interweaving chapters with the lives of the three main characters [from birth] as they mature under Merlins influence. Ending with the meeting of the three and the beginning of their friendship, and the glimmer of Camelot.

The third book subtitled; The Years of Camelot
Starting with the rise of Camelot ending with its downfall, and the destruction of the Trinity.

Epic! I think titles change as we get to know the story we are writing. Sometimes the title doesn't change (the short story I wrote called "The Scavengers" was always named that, and will always be named that for me), but other times, something happens that make it necessary to reconsider the first impulse. I have a hard time coming up with interesting titles. One of my novels has a working title of "Memories, Murder, and Other Lies," because that's pretty much a synopsis of what the book is about. I don't remember the other titles I tried, but there were several. Another is called "The 39th Quadrant" because that's the address where the action primarily takes place. Why 39? Because it's 3 times 13 and I thought 13 would be too predictable a number for the kind of story I was writing, and I am attracted to three as a number. My brain works like that.

Out of the dozen or so books I've had published, my editor retitled at least eight of them. Yes, it is important to have a good title to attract attention to your book--initially. Once it sells, though, it then has to work into the publisher's book list. They have to be careful about titles that sound too much alike, titles for several books in a series, etc. So, just don't get attached to your title because you probably won't get to keep it! When I sold my first book to Berkley, the working title was The Winter Man. I change the title to BloodWork when I submitted it to my agent to send along to Berkley. My editor called me and said they had a book called BloodWork in the line already. They were going to call my book, The Winter Man. "Isn't that a great title?" she gushed. Denny

Your first instincts were correct! Too funny. I think all titles are working titles until the books get published. :)

I have the hardest time with titles. Except when I write songs because the idea for my songs usually (about 70% of the time) start with a title. My current working title is "Mind Games" but that isn't going to be what sticks. Although it has stuck for over 3.5 years. I will set a few people, such as my wife, read it and see what they think.

The novel I'm working on is called Beyond Mason Square... I've not ever changed it in the past three years I've been working on it, but who knows. :)