Quick question about my book's title - Writers Forum

Danny77 · 04-28-2007, 08:38 AM

Just finished a book which is entitled Black Sun Rising. Halfway through writing it I found out that this is a name of a book written back in 1991.

Im just beginning the editing stage, and if Im going to change it, its gotta be now. Theres a lot of analogies and reference and other things involved with this title, so its not just a 'simple switch'. Which is part of the reason why I dont want it to be changed. But would having that name significantly hurt my chances of getting looked at by agents?

What are your thoughts?

Rob · 04-28-2007, 09:43 AM

There's a good chance that an (agent or) publisher might want to change your title anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Cheers,
Rob

Cran · 04-28-2007, 09:52 AM

It would not be the first time, Danny77, that the same title (with different content) has been published before ...

How publishers would react will depend a great deal on the publisher ...
if the story has potential, they might recommend (or even insist on) a name change ... though it might be a minor one ...

it may come down to how important is that exact phrase - Black Sun Rising
would it still work as (The) Black Sun?
or (The) Black Sunrise?
or (The) Black Dawn?
or (The) Rise of the Black Sun?
or (The) Dawn of the Black Sun?
or some other variant?

Either way, it might be prudent in your approaches to publishers to acknowledge the earlier publication (author, title, publisher and date), and point out that in content, the two stories are unrelated ...

mammamaia · 04-28-2007, 07:19 PM

once again, cran's nailed the meat of the problem... and offered good advice... i can but ditto it, in toto...

Danny77 · 04-29-2007, 08:56 AM

Sounds like good advice to me! But that leads me to another question. Say if I take this route, would a PS at the end of a query be the right direction to go with this, IE:

P.S. In no way does the content of this novel reflect that of the similarly titled Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman, and though I think this title to be well fitting, it, of course, is open to change.

thoughts?

Krim · 04-29-2007, 10:51 AM

If you're going to say 'of course', there really is no need pointing it out.

Azmakna · 04-29-2007, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cran

It would not be the first time, Danny77, that the same title (with different content) has been published before ...

How publishers would react will depend a great deal on the publisher ...
if the story has potential, they might recommend (or even insist on) a name change ... though it might be a minor one ...

it may come down to how important is that exact phrase - Black Sun Rising
would it still work as (The) Black Sun?
or (The) Black Sunrise?
or (The) Black Dawn?
or (The) Rise of the Black Sun?
or (The) Dawn of the Black Sun?
or some other variant?

Either way, it might be prudent in your approaches to publishers to acknowledge the earlier publication (author, title, publisher and date), and point out that in content, the two stories are unrelated ...

take note of this...

mammamaia · 04-29-2007, 06:38 PM

never add a ps to a query!...

and you don't really have to address the question of the matching titles at all... of course, if you don't, you may look like an idiot who didn't bother to check to see if it had been used already, but titles are often changed anyway, so why make a big deal of it... the best route to take is to change your title to something original...

Destroyer · 04-30-2007, 03:38 AM

I think I've read that one. I didn't realise it was that old.