3

I've written a book (the first in a series) and am getting read to Kindle Direct Publish the book. While I do have a good name for the world and series, I am having a hard time coming up with the name for the book.

What are your thoughts of releasing 3 books like this:

World Name - Series Name - Volume #

As opposed to:

World Name - Series Name - Book # - Book Name

If I did this, then anytime I wrote a series in that world they would be labeled with simple volume numbers, while stand alone books would have a name like this:

World Name - Book Name

Thoughts?

Are there any other series that have done this?

Is this a crazy idea?

Improve this question
2
  • 4
    How self-contained are the books in the series? If you read only "Volume 1" but not the rest, will you be satisfied that you got a story with a reasonable narrative arc? Could someone pick up #3 without having read #1 and #2? Using a number-only title suggests to me that the books are much more tightly tied together than if they had separate names. If your series is one single story that you're splitting up for commercial reasons (e.g. to make each book a reasonable size both to write and to buy), you might consider using "Part 1" instead of "Volume 1" to be even more clear about this.
    – Blckknght
    Commented Nov 3, 2017 at 4:55
  • I'm having trouble with titling overall, although I know the theme for my universe and want to use that; But I think each book will need its own title that serves it (the individual book). Your solution is appealing to me, but it also feels somehow lazy at the same time. I suspect there is an art to good titling, and it is one more skill that should be learned. In my mind, I am trying to frame the title (which has been a bugger to discover) as one more element that contributes to the experience for the reader, so that the chore of learning to find the right title will be less tedious.
    – SFWriter
    Commented Nov 3, 2017 at 16:07

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

I personally would not find a title appealing if it was written as Lord of the rings: Fellowship of the ring - Book #1. If books have multiple parts, usually this is put on the spin or made known in front/back matters. Also as readers, they will usually chop off the Book #1 or Volume #1 part anyways when they talk about it. It's easier to do your main title ---> Subtitle and then in the front matters say... this is the first of three books in the epic tale of.... If you are worried about people knowing which goes first, a lot of that also has to do with marketing it right as well. Just my 2 cents but I believe leaving the volume/Book number off of the title has a better flow to it. Put the book # on the side if you must have it on the cover.

Improve this answer
1

If you already have the second and third books at least in outline form, it should be possible, but you'll want to stick to a reasonable schedule in releasing subsequent books in a way that's tighter than the way you may have been able to get away with things if books had been named. If you miss your schedule, readers may feel cheated and abandon the series.

The potential problem with this approach is that some readers will put off buying any of the books until they're all available (I'm a bugger for this with things like Netflix or equivalent : Star Trek Discovery? Looks interesting. I'll wait until all the episodes are there...).

Without a title for each book, it might be best to think of it as one book you're releasing in three parts - though there will still need to be a logical beginning, middle and end for each.

Improve this answer
2
  • 2
    Star Trek Discovery is awesome And we are enjoying being asked to wait! Ha! It's like a throwback experience, but then we watched TOS in real time, so maybe that's the allure for us.
    – SFWriter
    Commented Nov 3, 2017 at 16:04
  • 1
    @DPT - true enough. I suppose I should look at it that way - sitting around the television waiting for the opening credits each week is something we've lost. Back in the day, a good television show was like a dinner date.
    – ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
    Commented Nov 4, 2017 at 8:28

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.