But first a little about the author and the book.
Married,
with four children, Louise Wise lives in England. She is a pharmacist
technician by day and a writer by night. She was educated in an ordinary state
school and left without achieving much in the way of qualifications; you could
say she was the result of a crap school. Hungry for knowledge she enrolled in
an Adult Education centre and studied English, maths and creative writing. Whereas
other young girls asked for makeup and clothes for their birthdays, she asked
for encyclopaedias!
Louise Wise
used her general love of romantic fiction and interest in astronomy to write
her first book. The book received many rejections stating the novel was too original
for the current market, until finally, an agent took the book on but subsequently
failed to find a publisher for it. Instead of becoming despondent, it made
Louise realise that becoming a published writer WAS possible. She turned her
back on traditionally publishing, threw herself into the indie world and went
on to publish her first chick lit book, A
Proper Charlie and then Oh no, I’ve
Fallen in Love!
As for the
‘too original’ Eden it has been such a hit that Louise has now
followed it up with the sequel, Hunted. So
far, they are both selling well.
Oh no, I’ve Fallen in Love!
On the surface, Valerie Anthrope was happy with her life.
She had her own brokerage with Sunny Oak Insurance and was financially solvent.
But once asleep, she was plunged into a world of nightmares that reminded her
she was cursed.
And that meant she couldn’t fall in love. Ever.
Lex Kendal was a multi-millionaire. Women flocked to him,
preened and flaunted for his attention. But one woman, Valerie, knocked him
back. Hard. It dented his pride and Lex set out to convince himself he still
‘had it’ by pursuing her.
Only he found himself being needed in a way he never, ever,
expected and, for once in his life, money wasn’t the answer.
And finally, here's the article - a very brave decision I thought, so I am wishing Louise the best of luck with it.
Why sometimes an
overhaul is needed
by
Louise Wise
The Fall of the Misanthrope has been re-launched with a new
cover and title: Oh no, I’ve Fallen in
Love! I should’ve listened to advice when I released it back in 2012. ‘It
sounds too literary,’ they said. ‘What the heck is a misanthrope?’ they cried.
‘Awful title,’ they moaned.
But I liked
it and I stubbornly stuck with it. My character was called Valerie Anthrope and
single so therefore Miss Anthrope, which becomes misanthrope. Geddit? She isn’t
an easy person to like and the misanthrope word matched her personality
perfectly. I thought I was onto a winner!
It didn’t do
too badly in the beginning and I told myself it needed to be out for a year
before I saw decent results. Oh how we convince ourselves we’re right!
After that
first year, I played around with the blurb and tag lines. I tweeted it and
shared it (and begged others to do the same) but to no avail.
So, to all
the people and especially my editor Doug Watts, I’m sorry. You were right and I
was oh so very wrong.
My advice to
those looking for a title is to write a list and then Google each and every one
to see (1) how many books there are sharing it and (2) see what the title is
matched against (horrible to find later that your sweet romance is matched
against an erotic title!). Delete the ones on your list that are too popular or,
better, that are the same as yours and also delete those that have something
linking to the title that you don’t want to be associated with.
Your list
should now be a lot shorter.
Then sit on it
for a while, just like your final draft, and go back and arrange them in order
of preference. List why they SHOULDN’T be used: too long, too short, too
obscure, too cliché…
Narrow your
list.
Ask writer
friends for their opinion (especially those who have read the book) and take
into consideration what they feel. Don’t just ask them what they think, ask
them what feelings your title evokes.
And, like
me, if your book has been out a while, don’t be afraid of changing it. That’s
the beauty of being an independent author.
You can buy the book via the following links:
Nook – http://store.kobobooks.com/en-gb/Search/Query?q=9781497774339&fcmedia=Book&query=9781497774339
Apple
iStore: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id678574837
Amazon - http://bookShow.me/B008ATGF4I
Twitter: https://twitter.com/louise_wise
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/bookjunkies/
Blog: http://louisewise.com
Thanks Susan for allowing me on your blog today.
ReplyDeletepleasure, Louise. Good luck with the book!
ReplyDelete