Need Advice on a Title for My Second Book
For a long time, the working title of my second book was "Conversion Theory." The current title is "Little Misery." But the idea of having Misery in the title is an easy setup for a bad review.
I envision this: "January Gill O'Neil is back with a miserable book called "Little Misery." Imagine! Ugh, that is my biggest fear. (For those who don't know, the long poem in the m'script is called "Misery Islands," about two islands off the coast of Salem, MA, called Great Misery and Little Misery.)
But the title I do come back to is "Tether," which is the name of a poem in the last section. Carl Phillips has a very fine book called The Tether , which won the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. But a friend of mine looks at it this way:
So, is it bad form to name a poetry collection with the same title as someone else's collection?
Would love to have your feedback ! Thanks.
I envision this: "January Gill O'Neil is back with a miserable book called "Little Misery." Imagine! Ugh, that is my biggest fear. (For those who don't know, the long poem in the m'script is called "Misery Islands," about two islands off the coast of Salem, MA, called Great Misery and Little Misery.)
But the title I do come back to is "Tether," which is the name of a poem in the last section. Carl Phillips has a very fine book called The Tether , which won the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. But a friend of mine looks at it this way:
"From treading water, walking from Great Misery to Little Misery to the realization that being tethered to loved ones (your children) is keeping things whole (letting you shape the clay on the wheel after you expunge all the air). Maybe consider 'Tether' or 'This Kind of Tether.'"
So, is it bad form to name a poetry collection with the same title as someone else's collection?
Would love to have your feedback ! Thanks.
Comments
But I also don't think it's nec. bad if two books share the same title -- much worse to share the same art work, I think -- although it can be confusing to potential buyers. I think a variation would be wiser if you go in that direction. Still, most people look for books by author, so it's probably not a big deal.
The larger imperative is to find the title that speaks to you, that you feel best captures the essence of your book, without regard to market concerns. In the end, the title only becomes a big issue when it's clearly bad!
Here's hoping my book won't make people vomit. :)
I should mention that a big portion of the collection is about divorce.
I hope to go out to the islands and snap a few photos for the cover. Good advice.
p.s. word verification: perfers. Yep.