How to chose a book title?
13 Jan 2006
I really need your help, not to mention your prayers.
OK, here I am getting ready to sign contracts to write two books, and the thing I am struggling with most, is a title for each, to put on the initial contracts. Thankfully they can be changed, but just to get started, I am scratching my head. I know they need to be catchy and intriguing but not so ambiguous that people can’t get some idea of what the books are about.
So maybe if post the book concepts here and my very very bad title ideas, some of you creative types can suggest some better ones, and I’ll acknowledge the best one if I get to use it. I also want to involve people in the writing process of these books as much as I can, and incorporate it into the books, with support from the publishers.
The Middle Way: This comes out of my doctoral dissertation, which was titled ‘Via Media’, and explores the wisdom of a middle way for doing church between the extremes of stiff conservativism on one hand and the reactionary ultra fluidity and pragmatism on the other, and how theology can steer us through both. It’s a book for pastors and leaders, who still love and believe in church, who are open to issues of culture and change, not wanting to react defensively to emerging culture and context, but don’t want to go down the ‘lets be post-church route’, and want some help.
The Life You Already Have This is a general, non leadership book on spiritual formation. It would take the experiences, stories, teaching, and practices from my church community, for content, but is specifically about my church. It’s more a how can people find, develop, grow in faith in community in an emerging context. I’m hoping it will be a book that ordinary people can read, and again help them avoid the two extremes of conservative reaction, and post-church pragmatism, and get into issues of emerging church through a middle way.
So what on earth would be intriguing and at the same time give and idea of what these book are about? Don’t be shy post some suggestions please! And if you are up for it, please link to this and help me get as many suggestions as possible.
Tagged: Book-Title, How-to
16 comments
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Comment by St
12.44 pm on 13 Jan 2006
Some ideas which may take your thinking on, or in a different direction:
How about Centre (or central) Parting for the middle way book?
Curved down the middle
Navigation tips for the terminally curious
For the other one:
Where am I?
Where are we?
I wouldn’t start from here
Can we start again?
Whaddya Know?
Feel free to bounce others around with me by e-mail. Have spent the last fifteen years doing this and had to come up with the titles of over 30 books at the last count.
St
Comment by David Leonard
6.30 pm on 13 Jan 2006
You could always take the puritan route and have your above description actually BE the title of your book. But alas your publisher may object…
Comment by Paul
6.56 pm on 13 Jan 2006
Middle way:
Building on the rock: church between reactionary places
The post-church still sing choruses twice?
Conservatives to the left of me reactionary prgamatics to the right… Striking the middle with you
The middle stumped but not out (hmm americans might not get that one :)
Spiritual formation bk:
plain honest faith that is far from simple
experiments in following and failing
The church that walks with a limp: stories from sutton vineyard
Naked church: Seeing each other at our best and worst
Comment by PurplePastor
8.46 pm on 13 Jan 2006
Jason,
If you’re looking for honest feedback, here it is. I like “The Middle Way,” but I do wonder if you’ll inadvertently create a wall between the book and some of your potential readers. It sounds like a title that might be very popular in the Anglican communion. My only concern is that what you have to say might be obscured by a potentially sectarian title, even though that’s not your intent. I heard you speak for just a few minutes at the “G.O.” conference in Bethesda, MD, and was delighted by what you said.
As far as “The Life You Already Have,” it sounds like a parody of John Ortberg’s book, “The Life You’ve Always Wanted.” I’m not sure if John’s book made it across the pond. If it did, you may want to reconsider your title. Either way, best of luck in your writing. May God be with you.
Blessings.
PurplePastor (aka Tom)
Comment by graham
9.11 pm on 13 Jan 2006
For ‘The Middle Way’ I think that something like ‘Above and beyond?’ might work better.
I suspect that it captures the idea that it’s not about choosing a perfect position between the two, but of thinking about things outside of that partisanship.
Comment by ConradGempf
10.13 pm on 13 Jan 2006
Oh, goodie. I like doing titles. (No one else ever likes what I come up with though. *sigh*)
1.
The Tightrope
The Way of Balance
The Respectful Revolution
Innovation with Appreciation
“New” Needn’t Be “Anti-Old”
Where Post- Meets Past
Emerging in Continuity
Of Computer Slides and Stained Glass
Both/And
Moving On With It Without Giving Up On It
2.
For the second one, you really need a strong story/analogy/parable that embodies the thing and take a line from that. Like the book about writing where the author, Anne Lamott, tells the story of the time her kid brother was in tears over a huge science project he’d left till the night before, cataloguing and writing a piece on migratory birds or something, and their dad said to the little guy, “C’mon, we’ll tackle this together; bird by bird.” And so she named her book on writing _Bird by Bird_. If you’ve got a story that summarizes your approach, chances are you’ve got a title in there.
Conrad
Comment by marc
10.41 pm on 13 Jan 2006
Here’s so ideas for the middle way:
Halfway horizons
Are you recieving?
for the next one
empirical and spiritual
The message and the medium
Sacred Convergence
That’s all for now!
Comment by Jason Clark
11.41 pm on 13 Jan 2006
Thank you so much everyone, keep them coming!
Jason
Comment by jason
2.49 pm on 14 Jan 2006
jason – wow, i’d really love to read via media. i just finished emerging churches by gibbs and bolger and found myself very inspired (a great read by the way!), yet craving a little less deconstruction-for-deconstruction’s-sake. your concept sounds like another application of “the radical middle.” unfortunately, that title has already been used…how about:
between here and there
between two cultures
leading between the lines
leading from the center
occupying the center
the center of intention (ha! this is fun!)
there and back again, a hobbits ta…(oops, already taken)
the path of least persistence (what??? that’s terrible)
the church in the middle
middle of the road (ugh)
on the tightrope
hire wire act
balancing act (“act” is just the wrong connotation isn’t it?)
picking up the pieces of a deconstructed church (sounds more like a subtitle)
moving forward, reaching back (i’m obvoisly losing steam here…)
becoming all things
in those days there was no king (from judges)
hmmm. i like your navigation theme (“how theology can steer us”), what about something along those lines?
the postmodern compass
gazing at the stars
navigating the straits
finding the map
keeping your eyes on the road
the leaders true north
north and south of the river (do song titles count?)
i better stop before they get any worse. for the second book, i really agree with conrad. you need a narrative that established a memorable tone or theme.
thanks for the fun!
Comment by Paul
1.00 pm on 15 Jan 2006
a couple of other suggestions…
niether there nor here
blessed to be a blessing
Comment by brett Jordan
3.46 pm on 16 Jan 2006
my current favourites are
- the baby and the bathwater
- searching for goldilocks (based on nasa’s catchphrase for ‘planets that can sustain human life, i.e. ‘not to hot, not too cold’, would need an introduction, but makes a memorable title)
- observing the pendulum
- the life amphibious
with these as also-rans
- the church appropriate
- wish you were here
- learning to learn
- making the most of what we have
- positive church (with the ‘positive’ as a cross symbol)
Comment by Caroline
6.40 pm on 16 Jan 2006
Fortnum and Mason?
two titles, probably work better as names for cats though :-)
Comment by Gary
7.21 am on 17 Jan 2006
‘Off Centre’
‘A Midpoint Edge’
‘Mixing midpoints’
‘The Ambiguous Middle’
Comment by Matybigfro
2.46 pm on 17 Jan 2006
for the middle way,
“Middle of the Road?
,atleast you won’t be lonely”
-pre your -post
Walking the knife edge
Making freinds on both sides of the fence
Holding hand’s with oppossing teams
Comment by graham
3.06 pm on 17 Jan 2006
I really like Brett’s suggestion: ‘the baby and the bathwater’.
Comment by Jonathan Hallewell
9.18 am on 20 Jan 2006
Book 1:
The big thinkers guide to the narrow pathway
or
The idiots guide to complex emerging ecclesiology (ha ha)
Book 2:
(provocative) normal ways to follow Jesus
The real life guide to following Jesus
I don’t expect you’ll use either of these, I wouldn’t – but the concept of real life or realistic life should be important for the second one – it would be great if the first book could have a fun title.
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