During Monday night’s “Writing for Publication” class we talked about choosing titles for magazine articles and books. Obviously, picking the right title is critical; it’s the first thing a reader sees and the first thing to catch his or her attention. It has to be good.

As a writer, it’s our job to pick a winner of a title but the final say is always the publisher’s. Titles get changed all the time. Fortunately, I’ve not had one of mine changed yet. But sometimes you come across a book and think, Ouch, how did that slip by?

Okay, here’s some really bad book titles I found while browsing the web:

Really? The editors didn’t catch the obvious double meaning of these Winnie the Pooh books? They’re children’s books, for crying out loud! Children are obsessed wth poo.

Somewhere along the line either an editor or marketing person said, “No really, guys, I think the title will work. Teens will dig it. I mean, everyone wants to be awesome, right?” And the rest of the team bought it. Shame on them. Apparently, the guy with the blonde hair has mastered Awesome.

Okay, I have a September 1 deadline for my next book, Darkness Follows, and that means I need to get started now so I’m not crunched for time come June. So that means I’ll have to cut back on the frequency of these blog posts. I’ll try to post at least a couple to three times a week but don’t hold me to that. Of course, if there’s any breaking news or anything profound I must get off my chest, I’ll be here. Check back often because you never know when I’ll show up . .  . muhahaha . . . muhahaha . . . MUHAHAHA . . . okay, that’s enough.