The headline read "Pope says no to married priests." It grabbed my attention, in part because my brother is a (celibate) priest, and in part because a friend's son-in-law is, in fact, a married priest. So what would the article have to tell me...
Nothing at all about married priests if seemed! It described how the Pope had addressed various items brought up in a letter to him--how he supported environmental issues and wanted groups to move forward, etc. But, it said, he didn't address the suggestion that allowing married priests might be a good idea in that particular situation... so maybe he sort of said "no" by default, maybe...
And I felt cheated. I should have known better. Headlines are clickbait for readers. Click more and the owner of the site earns more. So who cares the article matches the headline's attraction?
Book titles might look like clickbait too. We want the reader to pick up the book or click on Amazon's "look inside" to learn more. But we don't get paid by the click. We get paid if someone buys the book; if someone decides the contents are worth paying money for. So... best not to cheat the reader; best to give them some reason to believe the title will make sense when they've finished the read.
I called my first book Divide by Zero. I think it made sense. The first pages introduce a very conflicted character--a man divided against himself perhaps. Then Infinite Sum--a woman who felt weighed down by a wealth (a sum?) of tribulations. Then Subtraction and a man who felt as if everything he'd had was taken from him. I think the titles made sense, though the novels didn't sell. And I'm wondering, perhaps...
Perhaps book titles need to be clickbait AND make sense; who's going to click on math when they're looking for fiction? Could my editor have helped?
Editors don't normally edit your titles for you. But you're welcome to ask. Because editors love words, and we do like to help.
Nothing at all about married priests if seemed! It described how the Pope had addressed various items brought up in a letter to him--how he supported environmental issues and wanted groups to move forward, etc. But, it said, he didn't address the suggestion that allowing married priests might be a good idea in that particular situation... so maybe he sort of said "no" by default, maybe...
And I felt cheated. I should have known better. Headlines are clickbait for readers. Click more and the owner of the site earns more. So who cares the article matches the headline's attraction?
Book titles might look like clickbait too. We want the reader to pick up the book or click on Amazon's "look inside" to learn more. But we don't get paid by the click. We get paid if someone buys the book; if someone decides the contents are worth paying money for. So... best not to cheat the reader; best to give them some reason to believe the title will make sense when they've finished the read.
I called my first book Divide by Zero. I think it made sense. The first pages introduce a very conflicted character--a man divided against himself perhaps. Then Infinite Sum--a woman who felt weighed down by a wealth (a sum?) of tribulations. Then Subtraction and a man who felt as if everything he'd had was taken from him. I think the titles made sense, though the novels didn't sell. And I'm wondering, perhaps...
Perhaps book titles need to be clickbait AND make sense; who's going to click on math when they're looking for fiction? Could my editor have helped?
Editors don't normally edit your titles for you. But you're welcome to ask. Because editors love words, and we do like to help.