Maybe all the gin poorly influenced him

Remember how I said I was reading a book from a favorite of mine but that the title was horrible.  I stand by that assessment.  The book was wonderful and I’ll be writing a review for it on my examiner.com site for those of you interested.

That comment made me want to tell those of you who don’t know, at least with the romance genre, the author has almost no say in the title of their book.  The marketing department comes up with the final title based on what they think will sell.  This is even true for the superstars like Julia Quinn.  She told the Sisters that she had to fight tooth and nail for the title of her last book.  You’d think she’d have more pull, but no.

Also, the author has even less say on the cover.  Just so you know.

So I found this and thought it very appropriate.

A title can make or break a book, and F. Scott Fitzgerald had a devil of a time coming up with a good one for this greatest novel.  He originally planned to call The Great Gatsby by the title Trimalchio in West Egg(a too-clever reference to a character in Petronius’s Satyricon).  His editor, Maxwell Perkins, thought better of that and persuaded him to change it.  For a while, Fitzgerald was hot on The High-Bouncing Loverbefore hitting on the classic, succinct title we know today.  Even then, Fitzgerald had his doubts.  Just before the book was to be printed, he cabled Perkins with the suggestion that they change the name to Under the Red White and Blue.  What would be the consequences of delaying publication, Fitzgerald asked.  Perkins’s cable, one word reply: “Fatal.”

You have to admit, several of those trashed names are terrible.  Thank goodness cooler heads prevailed.