The Abbeville Manual of Style has just published a nice post on great book titles. While this is a nice post I’m realy just using it as an excuse to tell you about a terrific blog. Well written posts, a nice elegant design and plenty of useful links. If you have a moment give them a comment; comments help blogs quite a bit by adding ever so slightly to their overall content (we appreciate it!). PS – feel free to let us know what your favorite titles are…
Choosing the perfect title for a book is an art form unto itself. Many readers assume that the choice is the author’s prerogative, but when you work in publishing you soon learn that the editorial staff and the publisher also have a strong—and sometimes definitive—hand in the decision-making process. That’s especially true when, like us, you work primarily with nonfiction books, which tend to carry subtitles (more words to juggle) and whose titles need to convey a set amount of information in a short space (less allowance for obliquity and ambiguity).
Thank you so much for the kind words, and we wholeheartedly return the compliment!
– The Abbeville Manual of Style Team