What’s in a Title? By Sarah M. Anderson

A WOMAN WITH A GUN

Dan Armstrong can’t tell if the figure in the trees is a ghost, an Indian princess, or a hallucination—until she takes a shot at him and disappears without a trace. With only the bullet hole in his hat as proof, he starts looking around for a beautiful woman with a grudge. Rosebud Donnelly fits the bill. She’s beautiful, she’s an Indian, and she’s the tribal lawyer suing his family over water rights. But does she really want him dead? There’s only one way to find out. As he gets closer to Rosebud, Dan can’t tell which is in more danger—his head or his heart.

A MAN WORTH FIGHTING FOR

Attorney Rosebud Donnelly has a case to win. And she never lets anyone see her sweat.  But her first meeting with Dan Armstrong doesn’t go according to script.  No one warned her that the COO of the company she’s fighting would be so…manly. From his storm-colored eyes to his well-worn boots, Dan is an honest-to-goodness cowboy.  But is he honest? Her yearning for the Texas tycoon goes against reason, against family loyalty, against everything she thought she believed in.  And yet, in Dan’s strong arms, Rosebud feels she might be ready to risk everything for one more kiss….

 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

According to Shakespeare, a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. But does that hold true for book titles? Let’s look at my own recent example—my debut novel from Harlequin Desire.

 

When I began this novel, I named it Indian Princess. I did this for a very good reason—the hero, Dan Armstrong, sees the heroine, Rosebud Donnelly, on page two. She rides down out of the trees, bareback on a paint horse. She’s wearing a buckskin dress, moccasins, and not much else. Dan is sure he’s dreaming or something, because she’s an Indian princess, riding straight out of the past.

 

Of course, she pulls a gun and puts a hole in Dan’s favorite hat, but his first impression isn’t wrong. Rosebud had even won a queen contest. And once they get past that whole armed-and-dangerous thing, Dan realizes how right he was.

 

The first problem was, of course, I couldn’t say Indian. It wasn’t politically correct. Then, since no European-style royalty was involved, I couldn’t use Princess. Let me tell you how much Native American Pageant Winner didn’t ring.

 

Okay, that was fine. The book had sold; we could call it Bitty Bumpkin’s Fun Day at the Park for all I cared. Still, that kind of title didn’t exactly hit the target market. We had to call this book something.

 

So I looked at past Desire titles. There were some humdingers, if I may be so bold. Okay. So I began to explore other options, such as they were. We tossed around some really awful suggestions: Lust in the Dust, Prairie Passions—oh, the horrors. Eventually, I decided the best option I could hope for was The Oil Tycoon’s Native Woman. I could live with that, it was descriptive of the title, and my father could probably say it in mixed company without cracking a joke. Probably.

 

Then, a wonderful thing happened. My editor, Stacy Boyd, sent me an email. “We’re going to be moving in direction with the titles,” she said. “Create a title that’s not campy or over-the-top.”

 

Thus I was narrowly saved from The Oil Tycoon’s Native Woman. And there was much rejoicing!

 

We went through 76 title options. The deadline approached, then passed without something my editor, the marketing department, and I could all agree on. We were literally down to the 12 hours to come up with something. It was Sunday night, and the title was no-point-of-return due the next morning. I was doing dishes after my husband had made dinner. I hate doing the dishes, but I had promised. When my husband said, “Oh, you’re doing the dishes?” I said, “Honey, I am a woman of my word.”

 

There was an approximately 32-second pause. We looked at each other, and I said, “THAT’S IT!” I sent my editor an email, and the first thing next morning, she sent me a reply that said, in its entirety, “That’s IT!”

 

The thing is, no matter what the title—Indian Princess, The Oil Tycoon’s Native Woman, A Man of His Word—it’s still the same book. Rosebud still plugs a hole in Dan’s hat; there’s still a scene in front of a campfire you know you’re going to read twice. But the thing we’ll never know for sure is if readers would have liked the book more or less with one of the other titles.

 

Thankfully, we won’t have to find out.

 

I’m giving away an autographed copy of A Man of His Word and also registering people for the Locket of Love, a custom-made locket valued at $185. Just leave a comment and tell me: What’s your favorite title?

 

Bio: Award-winning author Sarah M. Anderson may live east of the Mississippi River, but her heart lies out west on the Great Plains. With a lifelong love of horses and two history teachers for parents, it wasn’t long before her characters found themselves out in South Dakota among the Lakota Sioux.  She loves to put people from two different worlds into new situations and to see how their backgrounds and cultures take them someplace they never thought they’d go.

 

When not helping out at school or walking her rescue dog, Sarah spends her days having conversations with imaginary cowboys and American Indians, all of which is surprisingly well-tolerated by her wonderful husband and son.

 

This post is brought to you as part of the A Man of His Word Blog Tour.  For a complete tour schedule and rules, visit http://www.sarahmanderson.com. Comments on this blog will be entered to win a signed copy of A Man of His Word. All blog comments are added to the Jewelry Grand Prize list. Jewelry Grand Prize announced on January 1^st, 2012 to one randomly drawn name on the list.

 

Next tour stop is Romancing the Book on December 4^th.

 

Beginning December 6th, 2011, A Man of His Word is available! Visit your favorite bookseller, at Amazon, or for the Nook.