Title Doctor
I create fresh titles, subtitles, and series names. They grab attention and evoke a feeling of connection; a laugh; or intense curiosity. We can collaborate after your book is drafted, but before you query; when you’re beginning a book-length MFA project; when you’re crafting your book proposal, or when you’ve sold your book. Even if you have a working title; it’s often helpful to have two or three alternates. Or, you may have the perfect title but are stuck on a subtitle. A title that reflects your work helps you get representation. If you have an agent, a great title provides a confidence boost, whether this is your first or fourth book.
Title Doctor Appeared at 2022 Boston Book Festival
I had my first booth at the Boston Book Festival. It was amazing to sell book and Title Doctor services with Maine author Elizabeth Garber, who sold her new book I titled, Sailing at the Edge of Disaster.
Title Doctor Creates 2021 Contest Winner
Sometimes I create dozens of book titles before winnowing the list to a final choice or two. When titling an essay drawn from her memoir, Virginia DeLuca revisited the short list we’d created and rediscovered “My Brand-New Ending,” a title she’d decided not to use for her book. She submitted the essay with the Title Doctor title to The Writer Magazine’s 2021 contest. It won! It was rewarding to see how my service contributed to the success of “A Brand-New Ending.” Congratulations, Virginia!
Gotham Writers Conference 2022
After Gotham Writers Dean of Faculty Kelly Caldwell heard me speak at HippoCamp 2021, she featured Title Doctor on the school’s blog. Even more exciting, I’ll present “Title Doctor: Discovering a Title That Entices Agents” at Gotham Writers Conference 2022. I hope you’ll join me on Saturday October 15, from 10-11 a.m.—online—for a dive into creating titles across multiple genres.
Letting Grief Speak: Writing Portals for Life After Loss
Originally: Grief: A Year of Writing Portals for Life After Loss
This craft book needed to address writing about grief without making readers fear they’d be stuck there forever. The solution lay in making room for expression and freedom. My essay “Blight” will be published in this textbook as an example of a nature braid. The book is forthcoming in 2024 from Columbia University Press. A special thank you Diane Zinna for your generous mentorship.
“This process included three hours of collaborating about potential concepts and my goals. I gained not only a great title, but also a clearer vision of my book and its audience.”
If You Must Go, I Wish
You Triplets
Originally: The Perry Project
Nobody could tell what the book was about, and agents weren’t biting. With the new title, readers get an immediate laugh and buckle down for juicy relationship troubles. When the writer added the new title to her query letter, an agent requested a full. It’s now out on submission.
“The Title Doctor creative brief mapped out the essential ideas, words, and tone that my memoir title needed to touch. Thanks to her, I feel confident and happy with my title as I publish in fall 2022.”
I Now Mispronounce You
Originally: She Married a Jewish Gringa
The title of this memoir in essays, the author’s second collection, needed a humorous tone to reflect its writing. I changed one word of a marriage vow so the reader knew the book was a marriage memoir right away. In addition to being funny and alluding to the bilingual blunders of the book’s American and Venezuelan couple, the title also suggests the marital challenges at the center of the collection.
The Possibilities of Return: A Memoir of Life After Captivity
Originally: Released: A Hostage's Story of Finding Meaning after Captivity
Palestinian terrorists hijacked a 20-year-old woman’s flight. They held her captive in Jordan for three weeks. TIME and Newsweek reported the story. The challenge was to create a title that focused on the character’s journey: to not allow her terrifying experience to determine the course of her life.
Waving Hello, Bowing Goodbye: A Dual Love Story with Japan and a Man
Originally: The Fan Unfolds: On Finding Myself and Home in Japan
The original title contained a fan, an object readers would instantly associate with Japan. However, a more active solution was called for, one that captured the movements, both external and internal, of the book’s protagonist. “Bowing” captures both movement and Japanese culture. “Waving” represents movement and the character’s eventual return to America. The subhead, more specific and compelling than the original, reflects the memoir’s through line: the pursuit of both love of a country and romantic love.
Pink Lady, Fictional Girlfriends, and the Deity That Answered
My Plea
Title: Crying in a Foreign Language
This memoir had a strong title but needed a fun subtitle. This one makes readers wonder which language the title refers to, while enticing them with a mysterious deity and a girl group.
“I love my title. Readers know immediately they’ll be reading about a couple and that they can expect some laughs.”
Sailing at the Edge of Disaster:
A Memoir of a Girl’s Daring Year
Originally: A Lost Girl at Sea: A Memoir
On September 13, 2022, Maine indie publisher Toad Hall Editions published Sailing at the Edge of Disaster: A Memoir of a Young Woman’s Daring Year. I’m thrilled to have been part of Elizabeth Garber’s incredible book. Congratulations, Elizabeth! It was a 2023 Maine Literary Awards Finalist in Memoir. Elizabeth and I sold her book and talked about Title Doctor at our booth at the 2022 Boston Book Festival on Saturday, October 29.
Two Strings: Me and Fay
in America
Originally: Two Strings: A Memoir
The two strings of the erhu that are referred to in this hybrid memoir needed a subtitle that provided the reader with more information about what to expect. The new subtitle hints at an immigrant’s journey and introduces Fay, the book’s imaginary character.
Only the Stars Divide Us:
A Memoir of a Muslim
Mother’s Love
Originally: A Mother’s Truth
The original, vague title only told us the narrator was a mother with some kind of truth. The new one makes us feel and imagine how a mother finds her way after unimaginable loss.
Searching for Maria: The Story of One Amateur Genealogist, One Baby, One Country, One Orthodox Jew in Brooklyn, Six Million Lost, and One Plot Twist He Never Saw Coming
Originally: Look Up
A nonfiction author needed a title and subtitle for her second work of nonfiction. It’s the story of the man who founded the largest database of Jewish vital records worldwide, which enabled Maria to search for her birth family. Although One Click Closer was a fit, Searching for Maria was the perfect compromise with the author’s agent and MFA advisor. We created a subtitle that transmits excitement and mimics the twists and turns of Maria’s epic journey to find her roots.
“Your spirit has energized me!”
Cassandra and the Falling Girl
Originally: Girl on the Roof
This YA novel blended the myth of Cassandra with a modern-day mystery set in New York. Adding action drawn from the plot of the mystery thread and naming the woman in the myth thread added movement and specificity.
Rebel Without a God
Originally: Heaven and Earth
The author had written a humorous, character-driven memoir focused on her and her husband’s divergent spiritual beliefs, but it was hard to tell from her original title. The new title communicates the book’s central conflict, and highlights the quirky character at its center. Ultimately the client preferred I’ll Be Worshiping Over Here, a revision of a chapter title.
Shadows Ceding to Light
Originally: Blackroot Breaking Through Snow
“Kristen came to my rescue when I was struggling with a title for my first chapbook. My working title didn’t grab me, and I doubted it would entice others. After reading the poems, Kristen identified several concepts and numerous titles to consider. I had fun polling friends about their favorites. It was very illuminating. I’m delighted with the title I chose.”
“Thanks so much for all your ideas and brainstorming. I’m thinking I’ll use some of the titles for chapters or somewhere. You never know where the journey leads...”
“Thank you Kristen—so much for this great sailing adventure with words and heart of the book and finding what worked for the title! Such a great time with you!”