John Crowley's LJ (RSS Feed)
05-25-2008, 06:58 AM
I have been persuaded by persons more knowledgeable than myself about the marketing and selling of books to make a small but (to me) not insignificant change to the title of my upcoming novel from Morrow (a division of HarperCollins -- I think the lack of a space between these once-independent publishers is de rigeur). The title I originally submitted for the book was 4 Freedoms. The slightly sidewise or skew-whiff allusion to Franklin Roosevelt's 1940 promotion of freedoms that the democracies of the world acting in concert should guarantee to all people -- freedom from fear, freedom from want, freedom of religion, freedom of speech -- was intentional, i.e. that maybe four other freedoms might be meant.
Well my agent says, and my editor agrees, that these days numerals instead of names of numerals (there is a word for that, "four" not "4" , what is is it?) appear exclusively in the titles of non-fiction books. Books like 7 Habits of Impossibly Succesful People, or 4 Days to Wealth Beyond the Dreams of Avarice or 3 Rules for Utter Happiness -- well you know.
So rather than have my book misfiled under Self-Help or False Promises of Wealth and Happiness, and also avoid having it entered into databases wrongly (way up top as "4" or much farther down as "four") I have decided to change the title. It is now Four Freedoms. Those who feel that I have compromised artistic integrity by this -- like the correspondent on a previous topic who grieved that novels were being infected with the universal lust for mere entertainment -- are invited to castigate me (maybe with suggestions as to how I can avoid the problem posed by editor and agent); those who understand my quandary may be able to think of similar compromises once demanded of suffering geniuses.
(Original Post) (http://crowleycrow.livejournal.com/87198.html)
Well my agent says, and my editor agrees, that these days numerals instead of names of numerals (there is a word for that, "four" not "4" , what is is it?) appear exclusively in the titles of non-fiction books. Books like 7 Habits of Impossibly Succesful People, or 4 Days to Wealth Beyond the Dreams of Avarice or 3 Rules for Utter Happiness -- well you know.
So rather than have my book misfiled under Self-Help or False Promises of Wealth and Happiness, and also avoid having it entered into databases wrongly (way up top as "4" or much farther down as "four") I have decided to change the title. It is now Four Freedoms. Those who feel that I have compromised artistic integrity by this -- like the correspondent on a previous topic who grieved that novels were being infected with the universal lust for mere entertainment -- are invited to castigate me (maybe with suggestions as to how I can avoid the problem posed by editor and agent); those who understand my quandary may be able to think of similar compromises once demanded of suffering geniuses.
(Original Post) (http://crowleycrow.livejournal.com/87198.html)