The Making of a New Name

Random village coming up with a book title. It's what they do.

New titles happen all the time. And with a title like WILL AND ZOE, I was expecting a note to the effect of "Well, it tells us . . . something about the story, but I think we can do better."(The note was far more gracious than that, of course.)

My lovely editor sent a long list of catch phrases she'd pulled from the novel - a huge boon! - and I cherry-picked my favorites to start a dialogue with my critique group. There are a zillion reasons a good critique group is invaluable, and just one of those reasons is the wide range of ideas and perspectives available when brainstorming a title. Contributions to the discussion ranged from linking a dictionary of auto terminology to debating whether one particular word should come before or after another word to throwing the brakes on one possibility because it resembled a movie or book already on the market.

We narrowed the possibilities down to a few favorites, which I sent back to Lovely Editor. The Title Team grew from there as she discussed options with fellow editors, the marketing team and the head of the imprint, and I shared ideas with Superstartastic Agent. It takes a village, you know?

Finally, after another round of meetings, Lovely Editor came back with a possibility I liked. I tossed the title around in my head. I switched up a word, thought I liked it better, then decided I didn't and changed it back. I grew to really like the alliteration in the title, the way it suggested aloneness, desperation, a character-driven story. So I gathered final thoughts from friends; a chorus of positive feedback helped solidify the choice. And as a few more days have gone by (it took about a week total to decide on the new title), I've discovered I really love the title. So, what do you think? The novel that was formerly WILL AND ZOE is now officially: NOBODY BUT US.

Wait.

Officially: **NOBODY BUT US**!!!!!

(yay!)