A title generator will not hand you the finished title of your book. It gives you a pile of candidates, and the useful work starts after that: deciding which one is worth keeping, and what to change so it fits your book. This post covers how to read a list of generated titles, how to test the ones that survive, and what to check before you commit to one.
Read the list for shape, not for words
Most generated titles come from sentence patterns with words dropped into slots. A tool such as the PlotGenerator book title generator shows this openly. It lists 14 patterns, for example "The {noun} of {place}", "Where the {plural noun} {verb}" and "A {adjective} Kind of {noun}", and fills them from word lists for each genre. A run for fantasy might return titles like Before the Oath or The Heir at Elderwood.
Once you know titles are built this way, you can read a batch differently. Skip the individual words at first and look at the patterns that appeal to you. Maybe you keep stopping at the "Before the ..." titles, or the ones with a place name in them. That tells you what rhythm fits your book. The words are the easy part to replace. If you like the shape of The Orchard at the Island but your story has no island, keep "The ___ at ___" and write in your own nouns.
Match the title to the genre promise
A title tells a browsing reader what kind of book to expect, often before they see the cover or the description. A cozy mystery with a horror-style title will attract readers who then feel misled. A romance called something cold and technical will be passed over by the people it was written for.
Genre-specific word lists help here, since a horror list leans on bones, whispers and hunger while a romance list leans on letters, roses and vows. If you generate with the genre set to "Any", you will get mixed results and have to filter more. Pick your genre first, then generate several times. Eight titles per click means a few clicks give you a few dozen to scan, which is plenty.
Four quick tests
Shortlist three to five titles, then run each through these:
- Say it out loud. If you trip over it, readers will too, and word of mouth depends on people being able to say the title to a friend.
- Shrink it. Online stores show covers as thumbnails. A short title stays legible at that size, and a long one turns into a smear. Picture the title on a small cover in a store grid.
- Search it in quotes. Type the exact title in quotation marks into a search engine and then into the bookstores where you plan to sell. If a well-known book in your genre already has it, drop it. A book with the same title from another genre, years ago, is a smaller problem.
- Say what it promises. Write one sentence about what a reader expects from this title. If that sentence describes a different book from the one you wrote, the title is wrong, however good it sounds.
What the law says about titles
Authors often worry that a generated title is "taken" in a legal sense. In the United States, copyright does not protect titles. The U.S. Copyright Office states this in its circular on short phrases and similar material: Copyright Office Circular 33 says that names, titles and short phrases are not protected by copyright.
That is not the whole story. A title, and especially a series name, can sometimes function as a trademark if it identifies the source of a line of products. The USPTO explains how trademark protection works on its trademark basics page. The practical result is the same as test three above: search before you commit, and be more careful if you plan a series or merchandise under the name. Laws differ by country, so if you will publish outside the US, check the local rules.
Do not skip the manual edit
The best use of a generated title is as a first draft. Three edits tend to improve one:
- Swap in a word from your own book. A name, an object or a place that appears in the text makes a generic title belong to you.
- Cut a word. Many patterns produce titles one word longer than they need. "The Last Heart" works better than "The Last Heart of the Island".
- Change the verb. Verbs carry the mood. Changing "wake" to "burn" or "sing" to "wait" can move a title from one tone to another.
Keep a running file of every title you like, including the ones you reject, because a rejected title for one book is sometimes the right title for the next.
A short workflow
- Choose the genre, then generate until you have a long list in front of you.
- Mark the patterns and words you respond to, not only whole titles.
- Shortlist three to five and edit each by hand.
- Run the four tests, including the quoted search.
- Sleep on it. A title that still sounds right the next morning is usually the one.
These steps work with any list of candidates, whether it comes from a generator, a brainstorm or a notebook.
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