Many of Jane Austen’s book titles changed along the way. Sense and Sensibility started life as Elinor and Marianne. Pride and Prejudice was originally First Impressions, Persuasion was The Elliots, and Northanger Abbey was Susan.
Present day authors often change titles along the way, too. Either of their own accord or when a publisher suggests that an alternate title might better appeal to readers.
And then the titles may change again if and when they are published in different languages. Some titles just don’t make sense in another language! I also read that in some countries, like Germany, titles cannot be re-used. That must take a LOT of creative thinking to come up with a fitting and unique title after all the thousands (millions?) of books already published! (Note: this is not the case in the US when several books may have the same title.)
I’ve been able to keep many of my working titles over the years, but for others I’ve been asked to come up with alternates. For example:
The Maid of Fairbourne Hall was originally The Maid of Maidstone.
The Sisters of Sea View, Book one in the On Devonshire Shores series, began life as Summers by the Sea, Book one in the Seaside Sisters series.
And Whispers at Painswick Court was The Mystery At Painswick Court.
And when Shadows of Swanford Abbey was translated into Dutch in the Netherlands, the title became De echo van Swanford Abbey (“The Echo of…”) and for Lady of Milkweed Manor they used the title Onvoorwaardelijk (meaning “Unconditional”). I like it!
I have to say, looking back, the final titles are usually better than the originals. Any authors here have other examples of their own title changes to add? Or, any readers surprised to learn that authors don’t always get to keep their original titles?
Either way, thanks for reading today!
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This is so interesting, Julie. And yes, I was shocked when I first started writing and learned that my publisher wouldn’t necessarily use the title I had spent so much time coming up with. 🙂 But over the years, I’ve learned that publishers know what they are doing when it comes to titles and as you said, they usually came up with the best titles.
My title for my first novel was: I, Jake. My publisher, Bethany House, renamed it A Vow to Cherish. My fourth novel with WaterBrook Press was called The Path Home but just weeks before it was to go to press, they changed the title because they’d discovered that another book called The Path Home was coming out about the same time as mine. The new title became A Nest of Sparrows, and it was perfect!
I am no longer surprised about title changes, as I have had more contact with various authors over the past 20 years. I must say I usually like the new titles better. Definitely think the Jane Austen titles are better. One thing I don’t always agree with is the cover changes I see. I became much more aware of how much control the publisher has over an author about 15 years ago when an author I read was told to stop her very popular series with book 16 and write stand alones.
Yes, I’ve had title changes. My first book I had called A Life Worth Living. It got changed to Wings of a Dream. Second book, I titled it More than a Sunday Drive, but it was given the title At Every Turn, which I loved! My other two full-length books kept my working title–yay! I think that’s one of the things that gets hard for me in indie publishing is that I don’t always have the “better title” ideas! I do miss that.