Choosing A Title

Million Dollar Titles: Titling Master Class Part 1 of 2 (podcast) - Tyler James

How to Title Your Book (video) - Jenna Moreci

What’s In a Name? Choosing an Effective Title For Your Webcomic (article) - Sarah Driffill

Your title, along with the cover art, is the first thing people will see when looking at your comic. Because of this, a good title will often be the deciding factor for whether or not someone will pick up your book.

When choosing a title you want to consider the following:

• Your title should hook the reader in. Titles should be catchy, mysterious and fill your readers with intrigue. The Killing Joke. Y - The Last Man. Bitch Planet. Titles like these immediately make you want to know more.

• Your title should be unique. Do a google search for the title of your comic. What are the top results? These results will be your “competition” when people go to look up your story. If something popular already exists with your title, you may have a problem because it’ll push your comic down in the results. This doesn’t just apply to other comics. If you name your comic “Star Wars” people are going to have a tough time finding it in google searches (not to mention the legal issues).

• Your title should be memorable. With the millions of titles out there, you want to make sure yours is the one people remember.

  • In general, the longer something is, the harder it is for people to remember it. Because of this, shorter titles are usually better. There are of course exceptions (Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me)

  • Alliteration (V for Vendetta, irony (Cyanide and Happiness), puns (Locke and Key), portmanteaus (Cosmoknights). All these things contribute to a more memorable title. Be careful though, you don’t want to overdo it or misrepresent the tone of your story.

• Your title should reflect the main themes of your story. As much as possible you want to give the reader a taste of what your comic is about. If you had to summarize your story in four words or less, what words would you choose? Are there recurring objects or symbols in your story? Is there any imagery you could draw upon? Sometimes this can be as simple as a variation on your main character’s name (every superhero comic ever) or the location of the story.

• Your title should match the tone of your story. Make sure to promise what you will provide. If you title your gorefest horror story “Sunshine and Rainbows” you’ll be giving off the wrong vibe to your readers (actually now that I think about it, that might be the perfect horror movie title).