NOTES FROM THE MARGIN
What’s in a name (or three)?
Name changes mean Lorraine Mace worries she won’t recognise her own books
YI’m wondering if books can suffer crises of identity. During the time they are being written they are assigned working titles. These often get changed by the authors when it’s submission time. Sometimes a helpful agent suggests a tweak to make the book more appealing, but usually the second title is the one that ends up on the desks of publishers.
I have no idea how frequently publishers decide to give books yet another title, but I would imagine (if others are as useless as I am when it comes to thinking them up) it happens on a fairly regular basis. After all, it’s a publisher’s job to decide which words will grab the attention of the target market with enough pizazz to generate sales.