Two arguments on a book title

I'm not sure how it'd work as a branding tool - maybe as part of a series?

As someone said above, you don't want to call a collection of essays on the Bible "LESBIAN VAMPIRE KILLERS DISCOVER DICK ISN'T SO BAD," but your title doesn't need to be deep and meaningful to the plot, either. Just like the cover it should give the reader a hint of genre and tone and, like the cover, it's more important to draw readers in than to be accurate to the content inside the book. Cover artists at publishers usually haven't read the book, because it's irrelevant.

 

I wasn't expecting that description lol. I used to read a lot of Lee Child, whose real name, by the way, is Jim Grant! Even your name has to match genre expectations

 

I was the one who made the bible joke thing, just for the record.

But anyways, it's a branding tool because it's branding your story with a name. It doesn't necessarily need to be a series name. "Harry Potter" is a branding for the whole Harry Potter series, where as "Philosopher's Stone" was a branding for the very first Harry Potter novel (and was the original UK version's full title, in fact. The series wasn't known as Harry Potter and the _______ until it came to the USA).

If I only release one book called, I dunno, "Shit Fighter: Streets of Fecal" that isn't part of a greater Fecal series, my title is still branding my book. If someone else made a book and they called it "The Fecal Fighter", that'd really intrude a bit on my branding, wouldn't you say?

 

Both could be acceptable titles . . . for something . . . and apparently have been. But neither seem to fit the plot line in the original post. I mean, isn't it the point that the hero has to fight to prevent the age of darkness from coming? An Age of Darkness implies it's already here, and this is what happened in it. For that matter, "An" Age of Darkness is weak. Like it's some generic thing, no big deal, and we're going to get an overview tour of it.

I dunno. I'd experiment with something like "Series Title: The Rising Dark" or "Series Title: The Dark Knight's Menace." Though you don't want it to sound like a Batman or Star Wars reference.

 

I'm sure you've gotten a lot of good advice from the other users to sit upon, so here are my thoughts to add to the pile. Both titles sound generic and - honestly - I wouldn't read them. Not to sound rude or aloof, but "An Age of Darkness" sounds like a bland high-fantasy book from the 80s and "Time Bender" sounds like a whimsical book for kids. From the plot synopsis you've given us, both titles don't fit the narrative and I suggest creating another title. Not only would this abate the argument you have with your co-author, but also find a much better title befitting your story; to add, I would brainstorm with your co-author (as mentioned by @big soft moose).

 

Oh, we're using branding in different ways. I thought you meant branding as in having a brand, not just giving something a name. In terms of a marketing brand, titles could contribute as part of a well-known series. I would say Game of Thrones and Harry Potter are brands, not just titles. But for most authors, their only brand is their author name or the publisher's name, not the title.

 

I just wanted to add a third title to the mix and see what people thought of it.

 

And what is it? I can add it.

 

It's "The Prophet of Time"

 

Done. And I like The Prophet of Time btw

 

Thanks! I appreciate that!

 

The only other thing is, I wanted to edit the thread itself to talk about "The Prophet of Time" in addition to the other two titles.

 

To my understanding (I don't know much about marketing myself but part of a team I'm on includes two marketing experts), branding is any sort of name attached to yourself, including names of products. For instance, I'm part of an indie video game team called Soul Forge (yes we know the name is tacky but we needed literally anything to publish the first game we made so whatever) and our first product was a game called Pixel Star, Pixel Star being our branding for the product (for instance, the game's name is stylized "PIXAL STAR", but the 'A' is replaced by the spaceship you play as).

Everything unique to you is part of your branding, as far as it's been explained to me. Game of Thrones wouldn't want "A Throne Game" (in reference to the first SoIaF book, not the TV show) to encroach on its branding and Harry Potter wouldn't want another book using a font similar to the classic Harry Potter style. This is just how I understand it all, at least.

 

I work in marketing and we've always defined it more specifically than that, but most terms in marketing are pretty loose and open to interpretation. Or just bullshit middle-management phrases

I don't think it matters much: in my mind a title is a marketing tool, and it should be chosen with that in mind rather than prioritising its meaning in the manuscript. It's much more important for a title to be intriguing, and to accurately reflect the genre and tone of the book, rather than to be deep and meaningful to the story. That's how I go about it anyway!

 

Just so everyone knows. I have added a possible third title to the mix. Please tell me what you all think of it!

 

As far as fantasy goes "Game of Thrones" is a pretty sexy title.

Sorry to say, but the three titles given in the O.P make me assume you're telling a very generic story.

 

Honestly the first time I heard it, I thought it was about an intense game of chess.
Then I found out that was not the case. Needless to say I was disappointed.

 

No offense, but what would you consider an original title that pertains to a story you are writing and you would consider "non-generic?" In almost all circumstances fantasy novel titles are very cheezy and "generic." I believe that titles should be interesting and tie in well with the story, as well as be able to draw people into reading it. "The Prophet of Time" is the most recent third option I've come up with and I've made sure that it is the only title of its kind. AKA... There is no other novel in the world with this title.

 

What's "cheezy and generic" about The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe or A Horse and His Boy?

The well-known titles that we're familiar with may sometimes feel generic because we're familiar with them. But there's nothing inherently generic about:

The Subtle Knife
The Hobbit
Dune
The Mists of Avalon
A Wrinkle in Time

or hundreds of other titles.

 

Wrinkle is the saving grace in an otherwise generic title. "Prophet" is pretty generic in my opinion.

 

I guess we have extremely different opinions because to me "Prophet" is a much more intriguing word than "Wrinkle." Not saying the book isn't good but in my view, "A Wrinkle in Time" isn't an interesting title at all in my opinion. Although I do know it is a popular book, It doesn't seem like an intriguing title. Also, my question was to ask you if you had a title that you think is intriguing that you can come up with yourself.

 

It's not really about whether someone else has the same title that makes yours "generic" or "unique" - it's about playing with words. (off the top of my head, A Prophet in Time has a more unique ring to it than The Prophet of Time) It's about evoking in the reader something that feels different, something they haven't read about or thought about before, or that makes the reader wonder about what the title might mean or what the story might entail.

Tenderiser is right to say the title is more importantly a marketing tool (she's a copywriter by trade and a published author with an agent, so I'd honestly listen to her if I were you) - because in the end, if the reader never picks up your book, they're never gonna know what your story is about, and thus they will also never know how or whether your title is relevant to the story itself. You first gotta get the reader to pick up the book - and how do you do that? Title and cover are the first two things, next the blurb, next the first few sentences or few pages. So yes, the title should obviously reflect what's in the story, but it primarily needs to be a marketing tool. If it's related to the story, then it's enough. Anyway, the truth is, I'm not sure you actually get much say in the title anyway if you went for traditional publishing - maybe someone who's been published @Tenderiser @BayView can correct me. What I mean is, you might be worrying over something you in the end have little control over.

The reason why people are saying "The Prophet of Time" sounds generic still is probably because of two things: the word "Prophet" is used heavily in fantasy genres - we've all read that story about the chosen one and some unfulfilled prophecy, haven't we? Thus, the term "prophet" doesn't evoke anything exciting, because every reader thinks they know what it's going to be about based on how often they've read prophecy stories. Whether your story is similar at all to those other stories doesn't matter here - your reader doesn't know, your reader only knows your title and will base their opinions off that and off their own experiences. "Time" says very little - by itself it is a fairly plain word. A Prophet of Time gives the impression that it's probably about someone who has some control over time, which will be pivotal to the plot - however, the person who can control time is hardly a unique concept. It's been done before, many times. So, you've got two fantasy staples in your title. This means, it does not sound unique to the very readers you're trying to entice.

"The Age of Darkness" - again, "Age" is pretty generic. What does it tell me except that it is a period of time? The Stone Age, Ice Age, Prehistoric Age. It's old (pardon the pun). "Darkness" - again, what does that really tell me? Ok, it is a period of time in which things have gone bad. Ok, so? Bear in mind that I, as the reader, have no idea about your world, no idea about your characters, no idea about how exciting or refreshing everything in your story might be. All I'm seeing is, there's an unspecified period of time, which I know nothing about, and apparently the people in it are going through shit. Ok, great. Name me a book in which the characters aren't going through shit You know what I mean, right? Every book includes one or more characters who are struggling for something, who are going through a hard time. So, your title tells me, "Here's a book about a time when someone's going through a hard time." The word "darkness" doesn't have the kind of weight you're looking for when there's no context.