The Name Game in a Book Title

It’s funny how life throws you curveballs. Everyone gets a difficult pitch every now and then. It’s how you handle it when you’re at bat that matters.

A little while back, I publicized the cover of my forthcoming debut novel. Everything was set. I was only waiting for some help with reformatting the text. It was good to go.

Then a week ago, I opened one of my many book related emails and let out a gasp. There, among April’s new releases, was a novel with a similar title and a blue cover. By a best-selling author in my genre, no less. One whose books I’ve read and enjoyed.

You wouldn’t be off base by saying, Lisa, this woman is a New York Times best-selling author. Why would she care if anything about your little independent publication was similar? You are correct – she wouldn’t care. It will probably never even come to her attention. But I care.

The last thing I want to do is appear as if I’m trying to trick someone into buying my book. Or that I’m attempting to copy something successful in hopes of gathering some of her runoff. There’s no way I could have known what she was working on so my conscience is clear. But that’s not the point. It’s optics. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but I want to be me – not a knockoff of someone else. There are writers who deliberately try to capitalize on someone else’s success in this way. I would rather quit writing than become one of them.

The Covers in Question

Griffin. Women. Sisters. Yikes! It’s not exact but it’s too close for comfort. I consulted some publishing pros I know as well as authors on Threads and everyone agreed I should make some changes. I already knew that in my gut. But what changes, and how many of them?

There’s Nothing Like a Griffin

At first, I couldn’t see my way beyond changing the sisters’ surname. Derek and I tossed lots of ideas around. My pal Dan and I spent a half hour lobbing names back and forth. I almost changed Griffin to Grantham. Mr. Grantham was my grade six teacher who encouraged me to write. But I decided it sounded too regal. I needed something ordinary. Bryce, Page, Jones, Taylor, Thompson, Gilbert, Miller, Carter – we tried them all. I had already been through this exercise when I chose Griffin and none of the new options felt quite right.

Taylor came closest to the feeling I was looking for. I changed Griffin to Taylor in my manuscript and was surprised to discover that I’d only used the surname 31 times. Maybe it wasn’t so significant after all? But Taylor stopped feeling right, too, especially when paired with the girls’ parents’ names.

A couple of people on Threads suggested that I only change the subtitle – The Griffin Women – but keep the surname. If I kept Griffin off the cover, it would be a lot less trouble to fix. But what do I call it? Everyone and their uncle has already used any decent title. In fact, Pieces of Us isn’t terribly original but I feel it fits the story perfectly, so that stays.

Back to the Beginning

When I started writing these stories – which feels like a decade ago – I used a terrible working title. It was all I could think of at the time and I hoped a better title would reveal itself as I wrote. “Me and Mitzi, Now and Then,” is what I started with. Then it came to me. My main characters’ names are unusual. Why not use them as the subtitle and make it all my own?

That’s how The Griffin Women series became Felicity and Mitzi. If you want to get deeper into the weeds with me, Felicity’s name used to be Emily. Once I discovered how many fictional characters are named Emily, I changed her to Felicity, nickname: Fee. Mitzi is just a name I’ve loved since I met the sister of a childhood friend who has that name.

I have no illusions about my book’s chances of Jennifer Weiner level success. Most independent authors are lucky to make their production costs back. But if that was the only reason for doing it, none of us indies would bother. It’s like painting for painting’s sake. We have the opportunity to put our art out into the world easily, and let the world judge it.

So, I coincidentally chose the same surname for my sisters as a famous author did for hers. And they’re both coming out the same month. Ms. Weiner deserves to have someone like me scramble to avoid seeming like her wannabe. She’s earned it. Even though she’ll never even know it happened.